Rugeley Community Church started in 1973 with 2 families in a living room because there was no evangelical church in Rugeley. Initially called Rugeley Evangelical Free Church, the church slowly grew and in the early 80s was able to buy land and build its very first church building, which opened in 1984. The church grew and built an extension in 1990 to cope with growth.
The early 90s was a difficult period for the church with various challenges both internally and externally, but God was faithful and it began to grow again with a name change to Rugeley Community Church and joining the New Frontiers network.
The noughties brought more change and upheaval, but again God was faithful. Richard Miller stepped up from within the church to become the lead elder and his vision was church family together on mission.
With the church outgrowing its building, Richard's vision was for a facility that would enable us to serve the town and through God's amazing providence we took on a lease in 2015 of the former youth centre in the heart of the town. We renamed it Rugeley Community Centre with a vision to be a central hub to show God's love. Again through God's providence we were able to buy the building from the council in 2020 and realise our dream, with thousands every year using our Foodbank, free English tuition, weekly lunch club and various other activities or projects over the years. We also partner with local groups and agencies to provide a wide range of support for local people.
At the beginning of 2024 Richard Miller handed the leadership baton to Chris Fielding who stepped up from his role managing the Community Centre. The church has a vision to see Rugeley revived to know Jesus, through community restored to what Jesus modelled, through church reformed to who Jesus says she is.
For a detailed look at our history and God's providence throughout here's a 3-part series from Chris marking his inauguration and our 50th anniversary.
