Christian Communities Honour, Celebrate Black Church Founder in Britain

|PIC1|Dr Oliver Lyseight, the founder of the first ever National Overseer of the New Testament of God (NTCG), which is one of Britain’s largest black majority churches, has died after suffering from a long-term illness.

A major celebration of his life and achievements are now being planned to take place on March 16th, and thousands are expected to attend, along with members from the international leadership of the Church, to honour the loved Christian.

In 2004, a public poll was held that voted Dr Lyseight as joint second in the 100 Great Black Britons.

Lyseight founded the NTCG in Wolverhampton in 1953, and since then it has grown to become one of Britain’s largest black Pentecostal Church denominations, with 120 congregations and 350 trained ministers serving 30,000 followers across Britain alone.

Bishop Eric Brown, the current National Overseer of NTCG commented, “Dr Lyseight, has left a spiritual and social legacy the black community and the wider Christian community can be proud of. The NTCG has, since 1953 served as a haven for the thousands of Caribbeans that immigrated to the UK during the 50s and 60s. Whether they were Christians or not, the NTCG offered them inspiration, hope and support, and helped them to cope with the hardship and difficulties they experienced making a life for themselves here in Britain.”

He continued, “Dr Lyseight’s spirited leadership and vision lives on in the training school he started for ministers, the missionary work he established in Africa and his ecumenical work in the wider Christian community. Dr Lyseight is a fine example of what can be achieved through the efforts of someone who commits their life to God.”

|AD|Realising that the NTCG was a potential spiritual home to the large numbers of West Indians that were immigrating to the UK, during the 50s and 60s Dr Lyseight gathered together a group of young ministers, and under his leadership they set up NTCG congregations in cities where there was a growing black population.

Birmingham, Walsall and London were the areas initially targeted, and as the church grew greatly throughout the 50’s and 60’s, and the Church expanded into many new cities.

Lyseight’s served as National Overseer of the NTCG between 1953 – 1978, and in 1962, he established a bible school to provide training for new church leaders across the denominational spectrum.

A heart for world mission also burned in Lyseight, and he often expressed his desire to relate to Christians across the denominational spectrum, and he worked for the former British Council of Churches (now called Churches Together in Britain and Ireland) to build connections between the black and white Christian community.

Dr Oliver Lyseight’s funeral takes place at the Bethel Convention Centre, Kelvin Way, West Bromwich on March 16 at 10.30am. He leaves behind his wife Rose, as well as their children and grandchildren.