In early '97 Graham felt God speak to him about planting a church in Derby, whilst Anthony Henson was speaking about planting a church in Leicester with a view to planting churches across the East Midlands. Later that year Graham moved to Bedford to join the Newfrontiers Church Planting School and then moved to Leicester to work with Anthony there.
A group of 5 pioneers moved to Derby to start a small group that was part of the church in Leicester.
In February having started a second small group we started meeting on Sunday afternoons at the YMCA on London Road, from there we moved onto meeting at Bemrose School.
We launched Sunday morning meetings in April in the function rooms above The Waterfall Pub, opposite the Railway Station. Newday the Newfrontiers Youth Festival launched in Newark and saw outreach into Nottingham.
We were recognised as a Newfrontiers church in February.
Newday moves to Uttoxeter and outreach took place across Derby and Stoke and our first eldership team was appointed by the Newfrontiers Midlands regional team in November.
Newday returns to Uttoxeter and we continue outreach into Derby and other locations.
Newday's final year in Uttoxeter, building upon the work that had been done over the previous two summers, we were able to bring 3,226 young people into Derby over 15 projects with a total of 8,065 hours of social action and evangelistic activity. Not only were we able to run practical gardening and painting projects but we also ran a youth project in Alvaston park and a Kids Club in Sinfin.
Following a public consultation we launched the SMILE project - a respite facility for parents of children with additional needs, providing a monthly respite session at a local community centre. By the summer we had outgrown the facilities at The Waterfall and so in September moved to QUAD in Derby City Centre.
We launched our first small group in Burton on Trent.
Graham made his first visit to Cambodia teaching at a pastors conference. Our first LoveDerby day took place in April at the iPro Stadium in Derby. Volunteers joined staff and players from Derby County in organising a collection of food, toiletries and groceries to support the work of various food banks across Derby. 55 crates of produce were donated. In the summer we also took up a special offering to raise money to build a children's work building in Preah Neth Preah in Cambodia.
We held our second LoveDerby day in April, again volunteers joined staff and players from Derby County in organising a collection of food, toiletries and groceries to support the work of various food banks across Derby. 59 crates of produce were donated and ?740 collected.
A second small group was launched in Burton on Trent and the work here was formally recognised as a church plant by ChristCentral in Easter.
After a number of years running Pursuing His Presence conferences we launched Pursuing His Presence : The Academy which runs for two years. Gathering people from across the Midlands and North of the UK for teaching every other month.
We launched public meetings in Burton as Burton Family Church and launched our Fostering Baby Bags Initiative - providing bags to babies coming into care in Derby with basic supplies such as nappies, wipes, formula and bottles, clothing, a present for the baby and a gift for the foster carer.
Under our LoveDerby initiative we raised money to refurbish and equip the contact rooms at one of the contact centres in Derby. We also sent our Pursuing His Presence team to host a conference in Gothenburg for God First Church and support Sam and Abi as they move from the North West to Phnom Penh, Cambodia to begin preparations for planting a church in Siem Reap.
We launched online services due to the COVID-19 pandemic on the same week that the UK lockdown was announced. We pre-recorded services and then hosted zoom coffee afterwards.
We launched Jubilee Outdoors allowing us to re-gather following the lockdowns and re-launched meetings in September at QUAD. Also in 2021 we launched LoveDerby Sundays, where instead of meeting centrally on a Sunday we gather in smaller teams to serve our city.
Sam & Abi move from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap in Cambodia to begin the process of planting a church. John Batten steps down as an elder at Jubilee to fully focus on work at Burton Family Church, he had been an elder since 2006 and he and Julie have contributed hugely to us as a church family.
First public meetings of the Siem Reap church plant in Cambodia and Markus & Leah Weber move from Stafford to Chemnitz in Eastern Germany to plant a church there.
Towards the end of 2024 we became aware of a building which was in the process of being put on the market, right in the heart of Derby City Centre and we began praying about whether this was 'a place to call home'.
A turbulent year in Jubilee's history as we celebrate 20 years of being a church. With major structural and leadership changes early in the year, we were pleased to welcome Paul Edginton into Eldership. In April we moved our Sunday meetings to Trinity Baptist Church from QUAD, a venue we had been meeting in since 2009. In the summer we celebrated the appointment of elders at Burton Family Church and joined with the relaunch of Devoted - a ChristCentral festival all the family. In September we became the proud owners of 'Trinity Baptist Church' on Green Lane in Derby City Centre.
In early 2026 we celebrated with Burton Family Church as they established a charitable trust to oversee the work they are doing in Burton and continued refurbishment work at Trinity.
Our story is a testament to what God has done, but the ink is not yet dry; our future is still being written
Jeremiah 29:11
"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'"
Psalm 145:4
"One generation commends your works to another; they tell of your mighty acts."