OUR HISTORY
The founders of the work at SCF London (Southall Christian Fellowship were Walter and Ellen White, who were brought up in the strictest of Plymouth Brethren. Meetings were originally held at their home and that of another believer, Mr. Bradbrook, (Grandfather to Keith Pearce, Pastor of the Egham church) and later in in the Drill Hall in Featherstone Road. As the church grew, it became evident that a permanent place of worship was needed.
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Sometime in the early 1920's the church purchased their own plot of land in Hortus Road and later bought an old army mess hut, which was duly adapted to fit the land. The building is now 90 years old and still going strong!
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The church building was completed in 1923 and officially opened as a Christian Brethren GOSPEL HALL in 1924. The church was a sister church of several Christian Brethren Assemblies in Southall at the time.
Just prior to 1926, the family who built and opened the Hortus Road Gospel Hall came into a Pentecostal experience, being won over to the Pentecostal movement with reports of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Wales and elsewhere, in the early years of the 20th Century. Shortly after they brought the whole fellowship in Hortus Road into Pentecost.
Shortly after the assembly was handed over into the care of William G. Keen, son-in-law to the founder. Pastor Keen and his wife Phyllis, then pastored the church form the later 1920's until 1982, when Pastor Keen became too ill to care for the Assembly.
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During his time as pastor, Pastor Keen had Smith Wigglesworth come and minister at the Assembly. Pastor Keen and his wife Phyllis lived in Hortus Road, at No. 20 until their deaths. Living next door to them was Jessie Thompson, a faithful believer and tireless "backroom" worker over many years in the Southall Assembly.
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In 1982 Pastor Denis Beedie and his wife Polly were visiting Southall on a number of weekends "spying out the land" as they felt a call to live and work for a time in the area. Pastor Bernard Porter, an executive member of the British Assemblies of God, not knowing that Pastor Beedie was visiting Southall Christian Fellowship regularly with a desire to work for the Lord there, approached him and told him of the Assembly in Southall and of Pastor Keen's illness. Pastor Porter asked Pastor Beedie if he would prayerfully consider pastoring the Hortus Road Assembly. Pastor Beedie felt this was the hand of God, and after much prayer and fasting accepted the invitation. Pastor Beedie was inducted as pastor in 1982 and throughout the 80's, God moved in a marvellous way. Many Hindu, Sikh, and Muslim families were touched and healed by the power of God in the church in Hortus Road and in the homes of hundreds of Asian families where Pastor Beedie and his wife were invited to minister. Another faithful worker in the church was Cyrus, a believer from Granada, who along with his wife served as an elder in Southall Christian Fellowship for many years.
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Timeline of SCF London Pastors Over the Years:
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Early 1900 - Founders -Walter & Ellen White
1920 - 1982 - William & Phyllis Keen
1982 - 1988 - Dennis Beedie
1988 - 2000 - Visiting Ministers
1991 - 2000 - Chris Scott
2000 - 2003 - Bally Bhatti
2003 - 2004 - Nico Effiong
2004 - 2022 - Jabez & Brenda McCall
2022 - Present - Nigel & Caron Lurrie