Ken and Lois Gott founded Sunderland Christian Centre (SCC) in 1987 in the north-east part of England. Although they moved into a new building in 1992, by the summer of 1994 they felt very dry spiritually. Then, in August of that year, Ken Gott visited Holy Trinity Brompton in London with four other Pentecostal leaders, and he was deeply humbled by the sense of God among Anglicans. Andy and Jane Fitz-Gibbon wrote in Renewal (issue 227, April 1995, p. 11), that "stereotypes were shattered as Ken and the other Pentecostalists received a new baptism in the Spirit at the hands of Bishop David Pytches. The change was so profound in Ken that the members at SCC took up an offering and sent Ken, Lois and their youth leader for a week on Toronto. Like most of us who have made the same pilgrimage, they were profoundly touched, 'soaking' in God for a week, never to be the same again."
Upon their return from the Toronto Airport Vineyard, the Gotts decided not to tell the church about the phenomena they had seen. Ken said, 'We wanted to have a visitation, not an imitation' (quoted in ibid). Andy and Jane Fitz-Gibbon (ibid, p. 12) wrote:
On their return, the Holy Spirit landed on SCC! In a similar fashion to the beginnings at Airport Vineyard, the church met nightly, thinking it would last for a few nights.After two weeks of nightly meetings without a break it seems the renewal 'kicked into another gear.' Without advertisement, word began to extend across the region. People started to come to SCC from a spread of 70 miles.
Numbers attending in the third week grew to 600 a night.... there have been occasions when the ministry team are still praying into the early hours of the morning....
Catholics lie on the carpet next to the Plymouth Brethren. Anglican priests have fallen, shaken, and jerked along with the Baptists....
Each night testimonies are given to God's changing peoples' hearts and lives. One woman testified a month and a half after her first visit that 'God has done for me in six weeks what counsellors had tried to do for 10 years,' so deep was the change in her life.
Teenagers have been given new boldness in testifying of their faith to their friends. Children as young as seven or eight are seeing amazing visions and publicly giving testimony to the fact that they know God is with them.
There have been a number of dramatic physical healings and a great increase in the release of prophetic ministry....
Each night there is a ministry team composed of members of different churches throughout the region. Leading and preaching are done by a team of pastors and others who have been touched by the refreshing. The renewal meetings have become a 'melting pot' of God's people in the north-east.... among those who have come have been pastors and their spouses needing a fresh touch from God. Most have been spiritually dry, some even to the point of resigning from the ministry before they came to Sunderland. Many of these have testified to a renewed vision, a new sense of direction and a new empowering and anointing. Having been met powerfully, they have returned home and God has transformed their churches.
Needless to say, the effect on the church itself has been profound. Membership doubled in 1994, to just over 400. There have been many commitments to Christ during the renewal meetings.... One man, who had a criminal past, was brought to the meetings by his girlfriend. Half way through the meeting he ran out, unable to cope with what was happening. A few days later he was back, gave his life to Christ and received the Holy Spirit in a powerful and dramatic way....
In January [1995] the renewal at Sunderland moved to two meetings a day with a daily prayer meeting in the afternoon.
By April of 1995, Charisma (vol. 20, no. 9) was reporting of Sunderland Christian Centre that its pastor, Ken Gott was leading six meetings a week at that church. "The nightly meetings have remained constant since last summer, when Sunderland's leaders visited the Airport Vineyard Christian Fellowship in Toronto. ... Visitors from Australia, the Netherlands and the United States have been to Gott's 400-member church, and the region's independent TV company has filmed services" (p. 58). Charisma quoted Gott to the effect that "We're just aware that the place is saturated with God's presence.... Visitors regularly claim they have [even] felt God's presence in the parking lot outside."
On June 19, in two posts to the new-wine list on the internet, Jon W. Cressey reported that Sunderland Christian Centre had been experiencing continuous meetings for 43 weeks, and that car theft and crime, according to Alpha magazine, had allegedly dropped by 45% in the city area over the previous year.
In August of 1995, Andy and Jane Fitz-Gibbon reported in Renewal (issue 231, pp. 14-18) that John and Carol Arnott had made their second visit to Sunderland in April of that year:
The conference took place in the Northumbria Centre on the Stephenson industrial estate. Members of Sunderland Christian Centre worked hard to organize the large-scale event....Over 1,300 people had registered for the full three days, with several hundred others enrolled as day visitors and with many more attending the evening meetings, which were open celebrations. Many had travelled hundreds of miles to attend. We know of people who had come from Holland, Norway, France, West Africa, new Zealand, Australia and Thailand as well as from all over the British Isles.... Every night probably over a thousand people fell under the power of the Spirit and lay row after row, side by side as they soaked in God's presence.
We asked if John [Arnott] had any idea why Sunderland became like a smaller version of Toronto. He commented, "We can only speculate. I know God uses people. Ken and Lois Gott got powerfully touched. They had a desire to do it. They went back home. God exploded on them and they had the faith to keep it going. God is looking for people that are willing to pay the price, risk it all and go for it." We hope God "finds" many such people.