History

The Well began in 1987 when Phil Stokes and Julie Stokes moved to Camberwell, and in partnership with Ichthus Christian Fellowship gathered a small group of students dedicated to the task of planting a church in this needy area. In subsequent years we moved site to Wells Way and joined forces with another small group.

During these early years church members started several social action projects in response to prophetic words. In partnership with other local churches, PECAN re-employment project was birthed in 1989 in one of our back rooms. In the words of Simon Hughes MP; “Pecan is one of the organisations that, in the last 20 years, has transformed Peckham and South London from being, to be honest a bit of a ’no go’ area for many people, into being a place where there aren’t really any ‘no go’ areas left and people are much more confident and you can see the signs of change.”

Similarly, we launched a nursery that grew into Hope Primary School with room for up to 100 children. It ran for over 15 years and saw more than 500 children through their primary school years in a safe environment of prayer and faith that gave them all a strong start in life.

A high street charity shop was opened with affordable clothes and goods and ran for eight years, and more recently we have focussed on the arts and on regenerating business in Camberwell through the development of the HOUSE cafe gallery, a trendy high street arts cafe and gallery space.

Phil Stokes is chair of a network of leaders across the borough of Southwark called Southwark For Jesus. They organise leaders prayer and borough wide events such as ‘Word on the Street’ and Transform Southwark receptions at the Town Hall, and facilitate London wide events such as March For Jesus and the Global Day of Prayer

Our emphasis is building communities that will serve the inner city, equipping people that are obedient to the gospel of Christ, and bringing hope where it is most needed.

We are grateful to God for all he has done, and continue to work with anticipation and joy that “..all may come to the knowledge of the glory of God‘

We invite you to join in this journey with us…