MAY/JUNE 2008

The beauty and the beast

(Above): Baptisms in the sea. (Below): An excerpt from John Wesley’s diary. He visited the Cornwall area 32 times between 1743 and 1787.

A seaside town in the bottom left-hand corner of England, Penzance is surrounded by picture-postcard beaches of golden sand — the perfect place for surfers, sunbathers and vacationers. But just beneath the surface lies a beastly reality: Penzance is a hotbed of drug abuse, teen pregnancies and occult activity. Thankfully, five years ago God brought Light and Life FMC to Penzance.

Started in Helston, Cornwall, in 1985 by Ken and Joan Leech, and then under the leadership of John Townley, Light and Life church grew rapidly. In 2001, God gave a vision to see churches of 1000+ in Helston, Penzance and Truro. That vision is becoming reality!

Wesley’s Penzance

“The wind and rain beat hard on us as we arrived at Penzance. However, hundreds were there to whom I preached God’s good news. It is remarkable that those who were the chief of the county for swearing, fighting, drinking and all manner of wickedness; but many of the lions have become lambs and are continually praising God and calling their companions to the Lord.”

Light and Life Penzance grew to 60 people, and in 2004 appointed their first (and current) pastor, Andrew Ollerton. The church has outgrown three facilities and draws 180+ people. “Since June we have baptized 22 in Penzance,” said Ollerton, “and more are booked in to be dunked on Easter Sunday.”

The church runs Alpha courses where one woman, for example, came intending to help others become atheists like herself. “Instead she met Jesus, has been baptized, and the after-Alpha group now meets in her home. The gospel really is the power of God for salvation and is working today even at the end of the earth (at least for us Brits)” says Ollerton.

With people being saved most weeks, baptized in the sea and discipled at the packed Bible school, many say that “Light and Life is like the New Testament church (but without the Corinth stuff)!” says Ollerton. “The truth is, it is only a faint reflection of those Pentecostal days and it hardly compares to the revival that the Wesleys enjoyed in Cornwall. But it is certainly a cloud the size of a man’s hand, and pregnant with promise. Soon the rain will come and our community will be soaked in the life-transforming power of the Spirit!”