About us

A front room on Napier Road, 1963.

That is where this church started, and it is worth knowing, because nothing about us was ever handed down from above. It was built by people who had been turned away from somewhere else and decided to make their own welcome instead.

Who we are now

We are a long established church in the South ward of Luton, in the south west of the borough, and the congregation looks a good deal like the town does. We stand in the Pentecostal tradition, which in practice means we pray expecting something to happen, we preach from the Bible, and we worship with some volume.

What we are trying to do is easy to say and hard to keep doing. We want to live the way Jesus taught: love, truth, justice, mercy and forgiveness, worked out in ordinary weeks rather than announced from a platform. Every ministry on this site, and every rota behind it, comes out of that.

  • Our mission Word-based, Holy Spirit led; where people matter and grow together.
  • Our vision Reaching people and making disciples who make disciples.

How we got here

Our story does not begin in Luton, and it does not begin with a building. It begins with people who crossed an ocean, were told they were not welcome in the churches they found, and started their own.

  1. 1886

    Tennessee

    Where it starts

    The Church of God begins in the hills of Tennessee. It is now in nearly 180 countries with more than seven million members, and we are one small part of it.

  2. 1953

    Wolverhampton

    Eight people in a YMCA

    On 20 September, Oliver Lyseight holds the first New Testament Church of God meeting in Britain, at the YMCA on Stafford Street. Eight people are there, his wife Rose among them. Most had been turned away from British churches and told to find somewhere more suitable. So they built somewhere.

  3. 1955

    England and Wales

    Made official

    That gathering is formally recognised as the first NTCG branch in the country. Lyseight becomes the first Administrative Bishop and serves for twenty five years before retiring in 1978.

  4. 1963

    Napier Road, Luton

    A front room in Luton

    The Luton church begins in the home of Mr and Mrs Hunter on Napier Road. No building, no budget, no sign outside. Everything here grew out of that room.

  5. 2018

    New Town Street

    Pastoral care, formally

    After three years of training and preparation, the Pastoral Care Ministry team launches in December with four members. It is now part of the Association of Christian Counsellors.

  6. Today

    Across the country

    More than 130 congregations

    NTCG is the largest black Pentecostal denomination in Britain, with over 130 branches and missions across England and Wales. We are the Luton one.

What we believe

The Church of God Declaration of Faith is our official statement of doctrine. In short:

  • The Bible is the written Word of God, inspired throughout.
  • One God, eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
  • Jesus Christ, the only Son of the Father, born of the Virgin Mary, crucified, buried, raised, and now at the right hand of the Father.
  • All have sinned, and repentance is required of everyone and necessary for forgiveness.
  • Justification, regeneration and new birth come through faith in the blood of Jesus Christ.
  • Sanctification follows the new birth, through the Word and by the Holy Spirit.
  • Holiness is God's standard of living for his people.
  • Baptism with the Holy Spirit follows a clean heart.
  • Speaking in tongues as the Spirit gives utterance is the initial evidence of that baptism.
  • Water baptism by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
  • Divine healing is provided for all in the atonement.
  • The Lord's Supper, and the washing of the saints' feet.
  • The premillennial second coming of Jesus.
  • Bodily resurrection, with eternal life for the righteous.

Who leads it

Rev Vincent Cox

Senior Pastor

Vincent leads the church here in the South ward. He is committed to making disciples who go on to make disciples, and to seeing people live full lives rather than merely attend. Teaching is where he is most at home. He is married to Donna and they have two sons.

Donna Cox

Women's Discipleship Ministry Director, and Music and Worship Team Coordinator

Donna leads the Women's Discipleship Ministry and coordinates the music and worship team, which means she has a hand in most of what you will hear on a Sunday.

What we hold ourselves to

These are the seven values of the New Testament Church of God in England and Wales. They are not decoration. They are what our members and our neighbours are entitled to expect from us.

  • Our Statement of Faith What we hold to, and why the rest of this follows from it.
  • Good stewardship Careful with money, careful with buildings, careful with people's time.
  • Equality of women and men In leadership and in ministry, not only in principle.
  • Justice and mercy Speaking up for people who cannot speak for themselves, without fear or favour.
  • Full access for all abilities The building is step free, and we would rather be asked than assume.
  • Valuing contribution Whatever you bring, and whether or not anybody sees you bring it.
  • Safe nurturing of children and young people Safeguarding is not paperwork. It is the condition of everything else.

Come and see for yourself

You can read a page like this all afternoon and still not know what a church is like. Sundays at 1:00pm, New Town Street. Bring nobody and expect nothing.

Plan a visit