New Wine Church facts for kids
Quick facts for kids New Wine Church |
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 New Wine Church
Location in Greater London
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| 51°29′36″N 0°03′30″E / 51.4932°N 0.0584°E | |
| Location | Gateway House, John Wilson Street, Woolwich, London, England |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Denomination | Pentecostal |
| Website | newwine.co.uk |
| History | |
| Founded | 25 July 1993 |
| Founder(s) | Dr Tayo Adeyemi |
New Wine Church, also called Gateway House, is a large Christian church in Southeast London. It's known as a megachurch because it has many members. The church first met in a rented building. Later, they bought and updated an old cinema in Woolwich. This church now has about 3,000 members and is located in the former Coronet cinema building, looking out over the Woolwich Ferry.
A Building's Story
This building first opened as the Odeon Theatre on October 25, 1937. It was a cinema designed by architect George Cole in a cool, modern style called Art Deco.
Inside, the cinema had special hidden lights and fancy plaster decorations on the walls. It had seats for 1,178 people downstairs and 650 upstairs. In May 1964, the inside was updated to look more modern. It stayed as the Odeon cinema until it closed on October 17, 1981.
Later, a new company called Panton Films took over the building. It reopened as the Coronet Cinema on July 14, 1983, showing the movie Return of the Jedi. On July 6, 1990, it was changed into two smaller cinemas. One part had 678 seats, and the other had 360 seats. The Coronet cinema closed its doors on June 6, 1999.
The New Wine Church took over the building in 2001. Today, it's known as Gateway House and is still used by the church. The church has made many changes and updates to the building. This building is special because it's a Grade II Listed Building, which means it's protected for its history and design. Besides church services, the building is also used for weddings, music concerts, big meetings, exercise classes, and business events.
Helping People Globally
The New Wine Church helps people in many countries around the world. They work with a group called New Wine Covenant Partners. They have done missionary work in places like Australia, the Netherlands, India, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Malaysia, Nigeria, Norway, South Africa, Tanzania, and the United States.
One big project they did was building 55 homes in Chennai, India, for over 100 people affected by leprosy. This housing area also has a full-time nurse, electricity, clean water, food, and a chaplain (a religious helper). The church also helps fund a water project in Zambia. This project provides clean water to 10 villages by drilling boreholes. They also run an "Operation Christmas Child" campaign. This campaign fills shoeboxes with gifts for children in Eastern Europe.
Past Leaders of the Church
Dr Tayo Adeyemi was the Senior Pastor of the church from 1993 to 2013. After him, Pastor Michael Olawore was the Senior Pastor from 2013 to 2018.
Minister Olu Ajanaku, who used to be a minister at New Wine Church, was one of the seven Ecumenical Borough Deans in Greenwich. These deans represent Christian churches to the local government in London. Mr David Chick took over this role in January 2015 and represents the Black-led churches.
