founded in 1999

Pastor Joshua Han came to the UK from South Korea in 1996. It was his sabbatical year after 6 years of ministry in a Presbyterian Church in Korea. During his stay in the UK, The Lord opened his eyes to the new possibilities on our doorstep here in Bournemouth, which makes it possible to preach the Gospel to the whole world from a single place. He caught the vision of God to reach the Nations, train Christians and send those who we equip into the world to be effective workers for the kingdom of Christ.

BIC had humble beginnings, when a few International students gathered in Joshua’s home for prayer, to launch an International ministry to fulfil the vision God had planted in his heart. Then, in January 1999, a Sunday worship service was started in the afternoon, in a local church hall in Boscombe. BIC started growing rapidly and made a positive impression locally. However, there were growing pains, and a division occurred when a group of people left due to their desire to stress particular doctrines which are not part of mainstream Christianity.

After that painful experience, BIC found new worship premises in the centre of the town, and the church grew in grace and in the truth. At this time BIBC, Bournemouth International Bible College, was established and the ‘Serve the Nations Network’ was founded in the church. This was a challenging time as well as a time of flourishing. Many people trained by BIC went to back to their home countries, and were involved in the planting of new churches in China, Moscow, South Korea and London. BIC moved to different premises in the Boscombe area for worship on Sundays, and became a member of the United Reformed Church in the UK. The church developed a firm leadership structure

Sunday 5th March 2018 marked 20 years from the start of BIC’s ministry on Sunday 28th February 1998. On that day we were thrilled to be able to move into our fully equipped church building in Winton, which had recently undertaken an extensive 9 month building renovation project. After many further encouragements came the long period of disruption to our ministry due to Coronavirus. However this has given opportunities to reconsider our renewed vision for 2021 going forwards. A keystone of this is- ‘Connect with our Community’. As soon as restrictions end, we plan to launch a fresh set of hospitality ministries- The Café BIC and The Kitchen BIC- both of which aim to connect the church with our community. We also aim to see Bournemouth International Bible College re-established with a renewed vision and strategy.