St Thomas Church, Crookes — now known as 'STC Sheffield' — is an ecumenicalchurch with united Anglican and Baptist traditions, in Crookes, Sheffield, England. STC Sheffield is a large evangelical Anglican and Baptist Church, situated in the west of Sheffield.
The building
The building has undergone various building and ordering projects in the last 40 years. It still retains much of its original architecture, although a substantial expansion was made in the 1980s and a further extension was added in 2011 to join the building to the former Crookes Endowed School. The main church worship area is a classic Victorian church with a square tower and gothic arch stained glass windows.
History and previous vicars
Previous vicars/rectors of note include Mike Breen[1] and Mick Woodhead.
1840–1844 John Haigh
1845–1854 Francis Owen
1854–1855 Vacancy: services taken by Rev. Thomas Howarth
1855–1882 Charles G. Coombe
1882–1901 Constantine Clementson
1902–1916 Henry Martin
1916–1929 Norton Fleetwood Duncan
1930–1934 Cameron P. Newell
1934–1938 S. H. Maycock
1938–1942 L. J. Todd
1942–1950 J. S. Hepworth
1950–1956 W. J. Sawle
1957–1964 C. C. Jack Butlin
1964–1971 Michael J. Cole
1971–1992 Robert P. R. Warren
1992–2003 Mike Breen
2003–2021 Mick Woodhead
2022–present Tom Finnemore
St Thomas Crookes was founded in 1840 following an appeal to build a church for a growing rural population. The church and burial ground were consecrated on 1 October 1840 by the Archbishop of York.
In 1982 St Thomas Crookes joined with Crookes Baptist Church under a Local Ecumenical Partnership (LEP) which continues to the present day. The former Baptist church building was demolished and its site is now occupied by twelve self-contained flats for the elderly.
The Crookes Endowed School was built in 1790 and educated local children until 1981 when it closed due to falling rolls. The church purchased the building in 1981 and reopened it in 1982 after renovation.
St Thomas's Church was the site of the Nine O'Clock Service controversy during the 1980s–1990s, which grew to national prominence before being stopped following allegations of sexual and emotional abuse.[2] In 1995, a number of complaints began to surface of the sexual abuse of women in the group by Chris Brain. After an investigation by the Diocese of Sheffield, the group was shut down in August 1995. The Bishop of Sheffield demanded Brain's resignation after he confessed to having sexual relationships with young women in the congregation. The services were shut down by the Church of England in 1994 after Chris Brain admitted to 'having sexual contact with more than 20 young female members of Nine O'Clock Service.'[3]
Conservative Party MP, Miriam Cates, and her family were members of St Thomas' Church and she was the operations director of Network Church Sheffield from 2016 to 2018.[4] Cates' husband developed a mobile app for foodbanks.[5] The first client of the app was the S6 Foodbank based at St. Thomas' Church and run by Network Church Sheffield.[6]
