History

In the early to mid-nineteen sixties there was a move of the Spirit of God that was centred on a church connected to the Holiness movement. The key man was Mr George W North, who was the leader of that church.

Around the same time God was moving in other places. It was from here that links were forged between Mr North and other men, notably Rev. Norman Meeten, who had recently left the Anglican ministry. Norman invited Mr North to Liverpool to preach at the group forming there. He was living in the Longcroft then, a large family house in the Wirral owned by the Milner family and that had been gifted by them, to God, for His use.

It was soon after this that Mr North left the Wirral and Norman moved into the Longcroft to develop the work there.

The Longcroft became the centre of shared meetings, often monthly ones, but also an annual conference, with meetings held at The Longcroft, and other local venues.

There was significant expansion over these early years and soon it became necessary for the annual conference to find a larger venue for the work, so in 1968 the conference moved to Cliff College, the Methodist Bible College in Derbyshire, with new developments to enable more meeting accommodation, children’s’ meetings, camping site etc. Many of the Fellowships that were established by then took on differing roles to serve the conferences. Most of the preaching then was done by Mr North and Norman Meeten with the addition of a few other men.

The conference continued to grow requiring another venue to be found. So, in 1986 the conference moved to Rora Christian Fellowship in Devon. While God was moving in the north of England, there was a similar move in the South West, beginning in the home of a farmer and his wife, Malcolm and Christine Ford. They were already holding meetings in their home and developing a conference ministry though the year. A decision to move conference there enabled the conference to enjoy the potential of more space, and a freedom to develop the site with less constraints. Rora would have its own facilities enhanced by conference so all could benefit.

Many happy years were spent at Rora. It became apparent however that conference was largely dependent on the service and work taken on over the two weeks every year, one week for set up and one week for meetings, every year by a team of faithful people. As the years went by it became obvious that change was required and a different base was necessary.

After a lot of research and prayer we arrived at Quinta. And what great weeks we have shared together! The move has achieved all that we required, with more residential provision, food and meals on site, year on year improvements on site, some work necessary but mostly only that which is required to provide the ministry. The staff at Quinta have been amazingly supportive and we are so appreciative of all that they do to make the conference the blessing it is to so many.

We have seen recent growth at New Life Conference and would love that to continue. We are grateful to have successfully transitioned from Rora to Quinta. Now we are actively looking forward with anticipation to what The Lord will do amongst us desiring to see the vison of conference outworked in the next generation.