About Us

We are an evangelical church made up of people from very diverse backgrounds, covering six continents (we're missing Antarcticans).

As a church organisation, we are independently financed and we are registered and operated as a charity. We believe that the Bible is God's word, so we study it and try to apply it to all aspects of our lives. We believe in God the Father, His son Jesus, and in the Holy Spirit and we actively encourage spiritual gifts.

We work closely with churches in the city, particularly those within the Southampton Christian Network (SCN). We’ve had a strong historic link to the Icthus Christian Fellowship in London, and have adopted the Evangelical Alliance’s statement of faith.

WHO WE ARE

“I'd like to help others to connect with God who comforted me in my suffering.”

— James

meet the team

Simon joined King’s in 1992 and became Pastor in 2001.
Ask Simon what the weather was on any day in the last 30 years and he can probably tell you, together with Ian Botham's batting and bowling averages.

Brian is a trustee of the church and together with Joy sits on the leadership team at King's. He leads the Personnel Team.

Together, Brian and Joy have three adult children, and they are proud grandparents of 3 wonderful toddlers. Brian brings a balance to the leadership team, being the only clean shaven member of the group.

Josh has a heart for worship and youth and has been serving as our church intern for the past year. Josh is studying theology and worship at Westminster Theological Centre, he regularly leads worship at King's and has been catalytic in developing a new generation of youth worshipers in our church family.

Ellen is our church administrator, being uniquely talented at plate spinning.

In her spare time, Ellen makes up songs, such as 'Octopus (you are my Octopus)' and 'Get your socks on'. Future classics for sure.

Jif and Angie co-ordinate much of our outreach activities, having joined King's after doing an Alpha course in 1994. They have two boys and are based in North Baddesley.

Nathan and Miriam serve on the leadership team and have been with us at King's for over 10 years.

They help to run our Sparklers group for parents and carers with toddlers. Nathan also leads our worship team and is responsible for our website and media.

They live in Bassett with their four children, Reuben, Joanna, Malachi and Rosie.

Their family is estimated to consume 288 freshly made waffles every year.

Martin and his wife Lisa have been at King’s Church since 1990. They have four children, Becky, Nathan, Lauren and Rachel, and live in Bassett.

Martin serves as the chair of our trustees.

it's a little known fact that Martin can juggle with 5 tennis balls.

KING'S - OUR STORY

Ministries

Kid's Ministry

As part of our Sunday get togethers, we run a range of kids groups, Seeds (0 - 3 years), Roots (age 3 - school reception), Shoots (school years 1 - 3) and Redwoods (years 4 - 6).

It's our goal that the children meet with God to the same extent as the adults. The programme is diverse and aims to build a caring, nurturing environment where the children can learn and have serious fun.

Youth Ministries

The Youth (11-18s) meet fortnightly for InterAct, an evening of chilled-out fellowship at the Church Centre. This is bolstered by socials, ranging from bowling to bonfires. We're very keen on trampolining too. The youth also meet in small groups during the week for prayer, fellowship and Bible study.

Stuff for blokes

Every Friday morning at 7am, there’s a Men’s Prayer Meeting at our Church Centre. This is complemented by a number of one-off events including men’s breakfasts, curry nights and an annual weekend away.

Women's Ministry

Ladies’ fellowship group 'Oasis' meets every Friday at 1pm at the Church Centre.

Beyond this, we run special events, including cheese & wine nights and craft evenings, and a weekend away in the springtime.

For more information contact:

Sue Q (Oasis)

Pauline

Prayer is the essential ingredient in every aspect of church life - in fact, it's a key part of our calling as a church. This year, we are focusing on establishing a 'House of Prayer' in our church centre. Our vision is for everyone in our church to be encouraging others and being encouraged themselves. Getting along to prayer meetings is just a part of this. We run regular weekly and monthly prayer meetings, including early morning sessions, daytime and evening meetings.

We meet monthly to pray for our friends in China and the church there. We also have prayer meetings for France and for the Congo, where we have strong mission links as a church.

We're also searching out other ways to engage creatively in prayer. We have recently run a 48 hour prayer room.

Prayer

Pastoral Support

We aim to support everyone in our church through whatever trials they may be facing. We will often stand together with people, praying for them, reaching out with practical support when it helps. We have a network of pastoral helpers who we aim to equip and resource to serve the whole church.

Support networks range from individual discipleship groups, small home groups, teams within the church through to the leadership team which regularly meets to pray and support each other.

The pastoral support is overseen by Simon O.

Our faith in Jesus doesn't just relate to us, it's good news for everyone. Looking around our city, we're very aware that there are lots of us in real need. We've been running a project - The Hazel Project - for a number of years in direct response to seeing a need to reflect love, value and respect to people living on our streets.

You can find out more about the Hazel Project here.

The Hazel Project

Local Community

As a church, we are committed to serving our community with the same passion that Jesus did.

For us, that involves putting on events to engage with those living locally, setting up and running charitable organisations to support specific needs, and supporting other charities working with all kinds of groups in our area.

“Give justice to the poor and the orphan; uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute. Rescue the poor

and helpless…”

(Psalm 82:3-4)

Sparklers is a toddler group for children aged 0 - 5 and their grown-ups. We invite you to join us on Fridays at 10am for coffee & cake at the Church Centre. The group provides a great place for children to play and for parents to chat and support each other. Did we mention that cake is quite an important element each week? For more information, speak to Nathan or Miriam.

International Community

France

In 1999, Paul and Irene Mears went to work for a church in Douai, in northern France. They’ve since moved on to plant another church in Arras, where they’re currently based. King’s continues to support them financially and in prayer, and teams from King’s regularly visit our brothers and sisters in France. Their church website is at www.le-flambeau.fr (in French).

A team from the church visited le Flambeau in April 2019

China

We support Vision for China, a charity founded by two members of our church family, Cyril and Gabrielle. Originally set up in the 1980s with a view to providing English teachers for educational establishments in China, it has diversified to provide residential care for abandoned children, healthcare, training and rehabilitation for children and young people with special needs.

Pakistan

Jean is another member of our church family currently living in Pakistan, where she runs courses to teach church leaders how to provide counselling for people in their communities. These services are particularly needed in a country where poverty and violence are for some people a norm. We support her in prayer and with finance.

Congo

OneHeart is a new ministry of King's Church, set up to support people in the East of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

We are partnering with the ASDIG charity, set up by Bishop Desire and his wife Claudaline.

Tragically Désiré died very suddenly in July 2020 leaving Claudaline to continue to outwork their passion and vision for the poor in Goma. This in the context of a country that was the poorest in the world with a GDP of $394 per year (75p a day) between 2009 and 2013.

The ASDIG projects focus on women and children, running 2 schools: Hope school has 300 children in primary and 180 in secondary, while Grace school has 300 altogether. A tailoring school has provided more than a thousand women to date with a 6 month tailoring course providing an opportunity to be financially independent. Agricultural and micro finance projects also empower women towards independence.

A team from King's visited Goma in July 2017 and we welcomed our friends from Congo to the UK in 2018.

(Image: Hope School)

Find out more

Ireland

We have been supporting Cyril and Gabrielle in their work in Ireland for some years. We have a developing relationship with churches on the West Coast, particularly in Listowel. We have sent teams for short trips to support the work there, and have enjoyed visits from the churches to us in Southampton.

DISABLED CHILD INDIA

Disabled Child India works in the field of childhood disabilities and was co-founded by our friends Benny and Kumar from King's. The main aim currently of Disabled Child India is to support a day centre in southern India which is helping autistic children and taking opportunities to help other children with special needs. In addition Benny and Kumar are involved in a range of activities in the fields of healthcare and therapy in several locations.

We support the work of Disabled Child India and members of our church help to facilitate the work of the UK based charity.

CCD Thailand

King’s Church supports The Christian Care Foundation for Children with Disabilities (CCD) in Thailand.

http://www.ccdthailand.org/

CCD provides care and support to children with disabilities and their families, seeking to demonstrate Jesus' love by helping disabled children achieve their highest potential and become fully integrated into mainstream society. They run Rainbow House, a residential home for up to 40 children, two independent living homes for older boys, and Day-care Centres in Pakkred, a suburb of Bangkok. They also have community-based rehabilitation projects in three provinces.

In August 2015, a team from Ichthus Christian Fellowship in London moved to Pakkred, Bangkok, to plant a church there.

Rainbow Church is reaching out to share Jesus through Sunday services, a weekly Kid’s Club, Youth Group, English teaching classes, Church on the Street and visiting and feeding the homeless.

Teresa and Jan from King’s Church joined others from Ichthus to visit CCD and Rainbow Church in April 2018.

Friends International

We support Friends International (www.fisuk.org), a Christian charity that reaches out to international students in the UK. Over 6,500 international students from more than 135 countries choose to study at the University of Southampton each year. The aim is to give as many as of these students a great time in the UK, chances to experience real British culture and opportunities to hear about the Christian faith. This is done through engaging with international students in a wide range of activities and events including the iexplore course which provides an introduction to the Christian faith. Ellen is our church representative and Ellen, Graham and Jan W including some others from time to time help out with the iexplore course when they can.