The Beginnings:
Rev. Schweitzer is originally from Florida and is a retired US marine Captain who came to England as an exchange officer with the Royal Air Force. Eventually, he trained for the ministry at the Free Church of Scotland College and then did Doctoral work at Edinburgh University. Then in 2007 he was called to start the church plant in Gateshead where he and his wife have been serving ever since. See the picture below of the whole Schweitzer clan.
As 2007 turned into 2008 what had been in the works for some time became a reality as 35 excited believers met to for the first time as a church on February 8, 2008 with the hope and prayer that God would through them raise up a strong witness for His name in Gateshead! It had been fifteen years since a local family had started praying for a church, ten years since Durham Presbyterian Church, their planting church, had started praying for the same, and three years since the Schweitzers had started to consider it and now, by God's faithful grace, it was a reality.
Their purpose as Rev. Schweitzer writes in his introductory letter to GPC's website was this:
"We at GPC want to make known the good news of God's free grace, to nurture the family of faith and to enjoy together the unsearchable riches of Christ."Our brothers and sisters at GPC know that many people in their community do not see the point in Christianity, but they also know the incredible danger these people are in, living in rebellion against God, and it is their desire to be a light to their community that those who are now in great danger might be brought into a right relationship with God and into the joy of living in the community of His people. So in a nutshell this is how and why GPC came into being!
To be continued....
