Who We Are
Sharon Fellowship Church, Colchester, United Kingdom, began its journey of faith in the year 2019, when three families moved to Colchester and started worshiping God in Colchester. The fellowship was started by Pr. Jain Thomas with a vision of the expansion of the kingdom of God throughout the land.
Currently Pr. Shibu J Tharakan and Pr. Jain Thomas are ministering the congregation along with their families. Our church is a bilingual Malayalam and English Pentecostal congregation and is registered under the charity number 1195543. We are also a congregation connected to Sharon Fellowship Church UK and Ireland.
Our Vision
We are a church that seeks to be filled with the Holy Spirit, passionately following Jesus. Our goal is to change lives and communities through powerful worship, loving service, and sharing the message of Christ. We want to equip and empower believers to make a difference in the world with God’s love and power.
Our Mission
Our mission is to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We take immense pleasure in spreading the Gospel in and out of the city. We are commanded in the Great Commission of Jesus Christ (Mathew 28: 19.20) to evangelize the lost. We consider ourselves to be privileged in leading people to worship, witness and live in holiness.
Meet Our Pastor
Pastor Shibu John Tharakan was born and raised in a middle-class Orthodox Christian family in central Travancore. Deeply rooted in the faith of his upbringing, his journey took a transformative turn while he was in Mumbai for work after completing his education. There, under the guidance of Rev. P. I. Abraham (Kanam Achan) and Rev. Dr. B. Varghese, he embraced the Pentecostal faith, becoming the first in his family to do so.
Following this spiritual awakening, Pastor Shibu felt a divine calling to delve deeper into God’s Word and dedicate his life to ministry. In obedience to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, he returned to Kerala and pursued theological studies at Faith Theological Seminary, Manakkala, from 2003 to 2006.
After completing his theological training, he returned to Mumbai to begin his ministry and was ordained during this period. In 2008, he entered into holy matrimony, and together with his wife, he has faithfully served the Lord across India, the Gulf countries, and Europe.
On August 20, 2023, Pastor Shibu initiated ministry work in Great Yarmouth. Subsequently, from September 15, 2024, he has been serving as the minister of Sharon Fellowship Church in Colchester, continuing his ministry as a family devoted to spreading the Gospel and fulfilling the Lord’s work.
Our Core Beliefs
WHAT YOU BELIEVE DETERMINES HOW YOU LIVE.
God
God has existed in community with himself for all eternity. He has one essence or nature that is expressed in three distinct persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Whilst each person has a different function, all remain equally God. God is the uncreated creator, and the universe is sustained by his Word. He is all-powerful, all-knowing, and entirely good. He is the one true God; there are no other gods beside him.
Scriptures
Genesis 1:1; Genesis 1:26; 1 Corinthians 8:6; 2 Corinthians 3:17; Psalm 90:2; Hebrews 1:3; James 1:17; Psalm 147:5; Isaiah 44:6
Jesus
Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the Son of God and he is alive. He is a real man and is fully God. The Son was with the Father and the Spirit at creation, but he humbled himself and took on human flesh; he was conceived by the Spirit in the womb of a virgin. In obedience to God the Father, he laid his life down on a cross, taking upon himself all the sin and punishment that the human race deserved, the perfect sacrifice for sin. In this way, Jesus restored the possibility for humans to live in relationship with God. He was then resurrected from the dead and is now seated on heaven’s throne, and all authority in heaven and on earth belongs to him.
Scriptures
Matthew 28:5-6, 16-18; John 1:1-3; Romans 3:23, Romans 5:8, Romans 6:23, Romans 10:9-13; Philippians 2:6-11; Colossians 1:15-20, Colossians 2:9, Colossians 3:1; Hebrews 1:1-3, 1 Peter 1:3
Holy Spirit
The third person of the trinity is indeed just that: a person. He is God and therefore can be known, listened to, spoken with, pleased or grieved, and worshipped. He is co-equal with God the Father and God the Son. He is God at work in the world today and he indwells the people of God. The baptism in the Holy Spirit is a foundational experience for every Christian. Unlike being born of the Spirit, this is a subsequent filling and empowering; God himself enabling his people to live a life that looks like Jesus.
Scriptures
Genesis 1:1-2; Isaiah 11:2; Matthew 3:11-17; John 3:6-8, 14:15-17, 14:26, 16:7-11; Acts 1:8, 2:1-4, 2:38, 10:44-48; 1 Corinthians 12-14; Galatians 5:22-23; Ephesians 1:15-17
Baptism in Water
Baptism literally means to be fully submerged. It is something Jesus did as a pattern for us, and is a command to every believer. Baptism involves a declaration of our repentance from sin and faith in Jesus as our Lord. In baptism, the old life is buried and out of the water comes a new creation, raised to life with Jesus and brought into his family: the Church.
Scriptures
Matthew 3:16, 28:19-20; Luke 3:21-22; Acts 2:38-41, 8:12, 8:34-40, 22:16; Romans 6:1-11; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Galatians 3:27; Colossians 2:12; 1 Peter 3:27
Restoration
Restoration characterises God’s eternal plan to have a people who bear his name and ensure his will is done on the earth. This was his intention for Adam and Eve in the beginning. But they fell short. It is made possible once again for humanity because of the work of Christ, by which we are reconciled to relationship with God. In this new covenant, we are called God’s sons. God no longer walks with but actually lives in us, and we become agents of his Kingdom on the earth. In this restoration plan, Christians are the first part of an entirely new creation that will be revealed in fullness at the glorious return of Christ. This is God’s kind of restoration: he always goes beyond what was there in the first place.
Scriptures
Genesis 1:26-31, 3:1-24; Jeremiah 24:7, 32:38; Acts 3:21; Romans 3:23-24, 5:6-8, 5:15-19; 1 Corinthians 13:8-12; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; Revelation 21:1-5, 22:1-5
The Bible
The Bible originated in God. It is God’s word breathed-out to human authors; his spoken word written down. It is without error; it does not mislead nor deceive because it is God’s self-revelation. Its meaning and relevance are not limited to a specific time or culture because it was written by the author of eternity himself. Therefore it is totally relevant to all people, of all eras, from all cultures and in all spheres of life today.
Scriptures
Deuteronomy 8:3; Psalm 119, 138:2; Isaiah 40:8, 55:10-11; Matthew 4:4; John 1:1-5; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; Hebrews 12:1-2;1 Peter 1:24-25; 2 Peter 3:16
The Ordinances
We believe the local church is committed with the two ordinances – water baptism and the Lord’s Supper (Acts 2:38-42). We believe that baptism is an ordinance of the Lord by which those who have repented and come to faith express their union with Christ in his death and resurrection, by being immersed in water in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit to a new life (Romans 6:1-11). Baptism is an expression of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and is only for believers.
We believe the Lord’s Supper is ordained by the Lord Jesus, and it’s very meaning celebrates the memory of the Lord’s death. The Lord’s Supper is the commemoration and proclamation of His death until He comes and should be always preceded by solemn self-examination (1 Corinthians 11:28-32).
Apostles
Apostles are first among the 5 gifts of Christ to the Church listed in Ephesians 4: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. We believe these gifts continue to be given by Christ to his Church today as part of her continuing foundation. The purpose of these gifts is to bring the Church to full maturity and be ready for Christ’s return. Apostles, like master builders, are concerned with the total design of the church. It is their focus to ensure the faithful preaching of the Gospel and to establish the foundations of believing communities.
Scriptures
Matthew 10:2-4; Acts 2:43, 5:12-16; 1 Corinthians 3:5-15, 4:9-13, 12:27-31; Ephesians 2:20-22, 4:7-13; Hebrews 3:1-6
Holiness and Separation
We believe in the Holiness of personal living/life. Because, it is the command of the Lord:- You be Holy for I am Holy (Leviticus 19:2). He is awesome in Holiness, and so He is a consuming fire (Heb:12:29). And every man who has this hope in him purifies himself, even as He is pure. (1 John 3:3). Then only we shall see Jesus face to face, when He comes. Holiness is the standard of Christian living.
Separation from the world is the fundamental teaching of the Bible. The word world is defined as the course and the system of wickedness concerted by sin and Satan (Ephesians 2:1-3). So though we are in the world, we are not of this world, ie, should not be in the sinful course of this world. We ought to keep our identity. This is separation.
Death and the Second Coming of Christ
We believe that physical death involves no loss of our immaterial consciousness (Revelation 6:9-11), that believers will be taken into the presence of Christ in heaven. Christ is in heaven now (Acts 1:2; 3:21; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 4:16; 2 Thessalonians 1:7), and believers will go to be with Him. We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men, the saved to eternal life (John 6:39; Romans 8:10-11, 19-23; 2 Corinthians 4:14), and the unsaved to judgment and everlasting punishment (Daniel 12:2; John 5:29; Revelation 20:13-15).
We believe Jesus Christ will return to receive the church, which is His Body, unto Himself at the rapture, and returning with His church in glory, will establish His millennial kingdom on earth (Acts 1:9-11; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Revelation 20).