The History of Ridgeway Community Church
This account of The Ridgeway Story is abridged from a book by Neville Burt.
It is available at The Ridgeway Centre.
In the Beginning
August 1998 marked the 25th anniversary of the formation of a small house church, known now as The Ridgeway
Community Church. It was then, and remains still, an adventure in faith for those involved in it.
In September 1972 a small group 18 of like-minded people began meeting regularly. The primary reason was a
burning desire to rediscover New Testament Christianity, They were precious times as we began to experience
answers to prayer and a sense of awe in God's presence. The new House Church began to take shape using the name
The Dorchester Fellowship.
We thought we were the only people ever to have taken such a step. It was some time later that we discovered
that it was a general movement in the country known as the House Church Movement. There were undoubtedly
conflicts, and committed relationships were not always easy. Community was a key theme and we took steps to
express the community of believers in society.
We were not as alone as we thought. The Renewal Movement had been underway for some years and a group of
local charismatic leaders began to meet and started a regular open meeting. The meetings ran from 1975 to 1982.
There were many nationally known speakers, including Colin Urquhart, Michael Green, Bryn Jones, Arthur Wallis
and David Pawson.
Return to Wallingford
In 1977 we returned to Wallingford. We adopted the name Ridgeway Christian Fellowship, Ridgeway because it is
a path on high ground. We developed a friendly relationship with the Restoration churches and David Matthew
was appointed by Bryn to be our apostle, an arrangement which continued until 1982.
At leadership level there was a growing strength of purpose and sense of unity. The idea of a permanent and
visible presence in the town began to take root and quickly grew into the vision that became The Fountain
Bookshop.
1986 was a painful and difficult year for us and one that had a major effect on many people’s lives.
Gerald Coates brought prophetic words of encouragement but also about the need for surgery and change.
Michael, who was our full-time pastor, resigned from the leadership.
The remaining elders, Ted and I, agreed that we were prepared to allow Ridgeway to die and encourage the
remnant to join other churches. God spoke saying we were a jug of water knocked over but not everything was
spilled, that God’s hand would right the jug and pour fresh water into it until it overflowed.
Nomads
We approached Bernard and soon it was agreed that he would take up leadership after the summer. Radically we
closed down for the summer with a view to a fresh start in a new meeting place in September. For a few years
we met a various venues around Wallingford. David Pawson came once a month and delivered a definitive series
of talks providing keys to each book of the bible which took 5 years to complete. It was about this time that
we experienced something of what became known as the Toronto Blessing.
Home of Our Own
It was Muriel, one of our founder members, who noticed the for sale sign on a shop in St Mary’s Street and
pointed it out to Bernard in 1995. Then the manse next door came on the market at the same time which was used
as offices by a couple of small businesses. After much prayer and careful consideration the decision was made
to purchase both properties and move the Fountain from its Market Place site to the new premises.
The vision of combining the shop with a worship and community centre of our own began to grow in the hearts of
most of the congregation. A member of the congregation worked on a design and having already asked our members
to dig deep into their pockets for the purchase of the building only two years earlier it was something of an
adventure in faith to expect provision of the money for rebuilding work. Sunday 14 March 1999 we held our
first service in the refurbished centre and the official opening was on 22 May.
It took several years of de-toxification to shed the effects of a generation or more of decline and
liberalisation in most churches, but then, God built strength and maturity into his people. At least 1000
people have come and stayed for a while, some for a long time, in keeping with the prophetic vision that we
were to be a lighthouse rather than a lifeboat.
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