Encounter Church formerly known as Selly Oak Elim Church and formerly St Wulstan's is a

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

in the

Bournbrook Bournbrook is an industrial and residential district in southwest Birmingham, England, in the ward of Bournbrook and Selly Park and the parliamentary constituency of Birmingham Selly Oak. Before 2018 it was in Selly Oak Council Ward. Prior to ...

district of

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, but which is now an

Elim Pentecostal Church The Elim Pentecostal Church is a UK-based Pentecostal Christian denomination. It was founded in Ireland in 1915 by George Jeffreys and is the second-largest Pentecostal denomination in the UK. History George Jeffreys (1889–1962), a Welshm ...

History

St Wulstan's Church, Bournbrook, was established as a mission church to

St Mary's Church, Selly Oak St. Mary's Church, Selly Oak is a Church of England parish church in Selly Oak, Birmingham, England. History The parish of St. Mary was from part of the parish of St. Laurence, Northfield in 1862. The church is set back from the main Bristol ...

, in 1893. Countess Beauchamp laid a foundation stone for a new church building in Exeter Road on St Wulstan's Day, 19 January 1906, the inscription declaring that it was being built "To the Glory of God and for the benefit of the People of Bournbrook". The church was built of red and blue brick by the architects J. E. K. Cutts (1847-1938) and John Priston Cutts (1854-1935), was designed to accommodate 713 worshippers, cost approximately £5,600 () to construct was consecrated by the Bishop of Birmingham on 6 October 1906. In 1983 the parish of St Wulstan's, Bournbrook, merged with St Stephen's Church, Selly Park, and the Exeter Road building was swapped with Selly Oak Elim Church's building in Alton Road, Bournbrook. The local Elim congregation had been founded in 1936, and had initially met in people's homes before holding meetings at the Selly Oak Institute; hence why it is called the 'Selly Oak' Elim Church even though it is located in Bournbrook. In 2018 Selly Oak Elim Church changed its name to Encounter Church.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Selly Oak Elim Pentecostal Church Churches in Birmingham, West Midlands Former Church of England church buildings Churches completed in 1906