Looking Back...

320 years of worship & witness.

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Since the early 1700s there has been a gathering of Jesus followers meeting in our current location in Upper Cam. The Bible teaches us that it is the people that Jesus is building together in His Church. But the buildings we meet in inevitably come to represent the ongoing presence of that people. The congregation of 'disenters' would've met by candlelight, with the chapel heated by an open fire and the gallery was accessed by an exterior staircase. It's believed that at one point there would've been a regular Sunday attendance of over 200 people.

With over 300 years of history, our church has seen many things change in the wider world and our local community. Through it all God has remained faithful to His Word, His promises and His people.
With the first school room being built in 1859, there were between 120-140 scholars at the time. In 1895 this building was extended upwards, to increase the the number of classrooms to seven because of the number of students. The three pictures above were all taken between 1920 and 1930 - before R.A. Listers industrial operations had cast a literal shadow over the building and long before that 'shadow' was removed to make way for the construction of the Littlecombe housing estate.

It was in the 1990s that there were a number of significant renovations and improvements made to the building. An extension was built, the car park was added, an entrance hall created along with a new disabled access toilet and the pews were replaced. All of these changes were made to make the space more welcoming to a growing local community. Throughout the years various efforts have been made to 'share the timeless truth of the Gospel in a timely manner'. These have included participation in Cam Carnival, the annual Good Friday - Walk of Witness, a tent mission and various other special events including holiday clubs, concerts.

The relentless march of time has brought about yet more changes in recent years. Since 2020 we've replaced a rotten floor in our Community Hall and used the room to host a Warm Space, various social events have taken place in the building, local community groups have used our recently refurbished hall and at Christmas we organised a Living Nativity, along with a Christmas Fayre and musical entertainment.

Whilst Cam & Dursley continues to grow and change, our desire is to be relevant to our local community and faithful to the call that God gave to the founders of our congregation over 300 years ago. We want to seek God first in all things, to show His presence & power in our lives and share Him with those around us.
SEEK || SHOW || SHARE

Sources:
- Cam Congregational church History - https://camcongregationalchurch.weebly.com

- Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cam_Congregational_Church
- 'Faith for the Future' by Diana and John Snelling - https://www.amazon.co.uk
- Member's records and photographs.

Hello and welcome to our website.
If you are a new visitor, we have a page for you to get to know us and learn more about planning a visit.
Click here to see more.

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Planning your Visit

New to Church?...

A brief introduction to 3C Community Church.

Welcome Card Front

Sunday Worship...

This is an overview of a typical Sunday morning service so that you'll know, beforehand, what to expect when you visit.

Where and When

We meet in the Chapel (details here) for our Sunday Service starting at 10:30am. For your first visit, we recommend arriving 10-15 minutes early to ensure you get a parking space and find somewhere to sit before the service begins. When you arrive, you'll be greeted by someone on our Welcome Team.

Accessibility

There is wheelchair access via a paved ramp, and T-loop packs for anyone who needs them. Please let one of the Welcome Team know on your arrival and they will help you to get set up. There is an accessible toilet in the community hall.

Our Service

The service begins at 10:30am with a warm welcome from one of our members. This is usually followed by a time of sung worship, led by our band. We typically have 3 or 4 songs lasting approximately 20 minutes. Sometimes a person might pray out loud or read a small passage from the bible. Sometimes people share things that they believe God is saying to the whole church family. This might seem strange the first time you hear it but it’s all part of our connecting with God. We then share news and notices, usually about what’s going on in the life of the church. One of our leaders will then give a sermon that is bible based and that we can apply to our everyday life. We then finish with a final worship song. Sometimes there is an opportunity to receive prayer at the end of the service.

What about my kids?

We have a great programme lined up for kids of all ages:

Créche (0 months to 4 years). Parents/carers of younger children are welcome to use our créche facilities but they must remain with their child at all times.
Trailblazers (4-11 years)
Young people (11+ years) Stay in the service

It's best to register your children for their groups before the service begins - just speak to a member of our welcome team. Children stay with their parent or grown-up at the start of the service for the welcome, songs and notices. We really value worshipping God all together as a family. At the appropriate time someone will announce that our younger members will now go to their various groups. Whilst you are dropping your kids off at their groups, we may pause to take time to chat to someone sitting near or next to us, giving folk a chance to come back before the sermon begins.

The kids group activities vary depending on the age but usually there is a friendly welcome, bible stories, testimonies, praying, music, craft, drama, fun games and free play. Your children will be brought back to the chapel at the end of their session.

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Getting Connected...

Small Groups

While Sundays are a great way to meet new people, it is often in smaller gatherings that you can really get to know someone. Being part of one of our small groups allows you to make new friends, share together and support each other. We have a variety of groups that meet throughout the week, some mornings and some evenings. Check out Small Groups and see if there’s one that you could join. We can put you in touch with a small group leader who will be more than happy to invite you along to their group.

Serving and Volunteering

If you want to get involved in the life of the church and help us make sure things run smoothly, you'll need to talk to one of the leaders about joining a team.

Other Ministries

We also run the following ministries:

Men's Ministries
Women's Ministries
Nursing Home Services
Children's clubs
Crafting club
Warm Space
Foodbank

A Note from Phil, our Pastor...

Phil, Becks, Alice & Martha

Becks, Alice and I joined 3C in 2018. Since then Martha has been born, there's been a global pandemic and we've finally moved into the neighbourhood. I work full time for the church whilst Becks works as a music teacher at a secondary school in Gloucester during the week. We know that God led us to 3C and this ministry. He's been shaping us as individuals, a couple and a family to serve Him here in Cam.

Becks uses her musical gifts to serve God and the congregation as part of the music ministry team. She is also heading up the Sunday morning kids ministry - 'Trailblazers'. I lead the church eldership team along with some of our ministry teams. Though I've recently enjoyed a major church building maintenance project, my deepest joy is found in sharing the Word of Life with God's people.

We hope that whoever you are, you will feel at home at our church.

Every Blessing,

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Get in touch

If you would like to come and visit the church beforehand you are more than welcome!
Get in touch using the form below and we can arrange a day & time that suits you.

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Comments / Questions or anything you would like to say?

We'll contact you by email to say hello and help arrange anything necessary for your visit.