Celebrating 21 glorious years: The story of Newport's Church Warehouse

IN 2001 God spoke to Robbie when he was at bible school and gave him a vision to plant a life-giving church in the heart of Newport.

He never thought he would be the senior pastor, thinking someone else would come along and he would just help support this work.

It was during a conversation that he was having with a seasoned pastor from Scotland that the Holy Spirit spoke loud and clear.

Firstly, the pastor asked Robbie ‘what is your vision?’ As he was explaining that he wanted to build and plant churches, but he was waiting for someone else to come along to do it, the pastor then asked a second question, ‘do you think God is calling you to start the church?’

Robbie and Donna Howells at The Warehouse Church

Coming from a difficult experience in his last church, Robbie had disqualified himself from ever thinking he could be a senior pastor.

However, when the pastor asked Robbie that second question, his response was ‘well if that’s what God is calling me to do then I need to put the past behind me’. No sooner had those words left his mouth, the senior pastor from his previous church walked past without saying a word. The timing could not have been more poignant, and it was as if the Holy Spirit said ….’you are released to do what I have called you to do’.

On returning home from this significant meeting, the pastor, along with his wife, went on to become Robbie and Donna’s greatest supporters.

After much discussion, Donna was trying to convince herself that God had got them confused with another couple, however they both felt God was speaking loud and clear, yet they knew it would be a massive step for them.

With much counsel from trusted friends and ministers, the church became a reality six months later, on Sunday January 6, 2002, at the ABC Cinema in Newport town centre.

Robbie and Donna Howells at The Warehouse Church

One of the most confirming words Robbie and Donna received during those first six months of praying came in the form of the name for this new work. In the same way God had spoken to the heart of Robbie to birth the church, He spoke to the hearts of both Robbie and Donna on separate occasions, giving them a name for the church, which didn’t make any sense at the time.

The name God gave them was Newport City Church. This was three months prior to the late Queen announcing that Newport would no longer be a town but would become a city.

As Robbie and Donna stepped out in an act of faith and declared the opening of Newport City Church in January 2002, it became a living testimony by becoming the first public institution in the town of Newport to have the words Newport City in its name.

This would be the first of many times that stepping out in faith regardless of what it looked like in the natural, would become normal.

When Robbie sought the Holy Spirit to ask what he should preach the first week, He gave him the scripture in Isaiah 43:18,19

‘Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old.

Behold, I will do a new thing,

Now it shall spring forth;

Shall you not know it?

I will even make a road in the wilderness

And rivers in the desert.’

Robbie and Donna Howells at The Warehouse Church

That scripture became a continuing word which he preached for the first 18 weeks of the life of the church and even to this very day God is still saying the same thing. It is a testimony of God’s faithfulness as they have seen this word become a reality in the last three years.

The first week that they launched, many came to support, and some came out of curiosity, a worship leader turned pastor was an interesting sight back then.

However, by the second week, at 10.30am the congregation consisted of Robbie and Donna, a sound technician and their two boys aged four and two – it literally was five of them.

Robbie answered his own rhetorical question; ‘has God called us to start a church?’ What Robbie said next literally birthed Newport City Church on that second Sunday morning; he said ‘sit down boys, daddy’s got a word for you!

As they began the worship at 10.40am, a steady stream of people came through the doors and Newport City Church welcomed its first legitimate members.

Robbie Howells at The Warehouse Church

Those early years were full of challenges, yet it was all so exciting. What added to the fun was Donna’s third pregnancy six months into the launch of the church. It was unplanned by Robbie and Donna but not unplanned by God. The third pregnancy turned out to be a double blessing, and their twin girls were born in February 2003, just over a year from the launch of the church.

The biggest challenge for the church was having a home they could call their own. With a congregation of 50 people, they scanned the city of Newport for the perfect property. It didn’t come, and with the congregation members mirroring the ebb and flow of the sea in those early days, which meant seeing people coming and going, they still had a steady core group of members that remained faithful believing fully in the vision.

For the following 12 years, Newport City Church met in 13 different locations across the city. Some of those locations they were at for longer periods than others, but it was only in its 13th year that God gave them a permanent location at 23 Mill Parade, Pillgwenlly, Newport.

In May 2013, with much rejoicing and grateful hearts, they moved into a permanent home.

Along with the new building eventually came a change of name. It started in December 2016 when a visiting minister spoke the words ‘this church is a warehouse of praise, it’s a warehouse of the word, but it wasn’t until August 2018 that the Lord spoke clearly to Donna during her prayer time.

Worship at The Warehouse Church

He said: ‘Change the name of the church, change it now, don’t delay. This church is a distribution centre that will send what’s needed to the nations. It’s a storage building a resource centre for the nations, a place full of every gift you can imagine. Your name, Newport City Church is restricting it to one place, it’s not about location, it’s bigger than that, it will reach the world. Its new name is The Warehouse Church.’

Within three weeks of receiving that word, the name was changed, and Newport City Church became The Warehouse Church.

It breathed new life and fresh vision to the church, God also added to their mission statement; ‘Reaching the lost, equipping the found, loving unconditionally.’

Robbie and Donna are bursting with vision and even after 21years of ministry, it feels like they are just getting started.

The next big plan is to build a purpose-built church within the city in the next five years.

Worship at The Warehouse Church

It was around 2010, that the Lord showed them a piece of land in the city and instructed them along with church members to walk around it for nine months praying and declaring the land belonged to them.

After the nine months both Robbie and Donna were expecting something miraculous to happen, but it didn’t. However, God knows what He is doing, and instead He gave them the building they are in now at Mill Parade, which was still a miracle.

Recently God spoke to Robbie again about the land and gave him the green light to pursue it.

God’s timing is always perfect, so with great excitement, preparation and planning a new purpose-built church is the future for The Warehouse Church.

There is so much more to come in every aspect – more church plants, more worship, more ministries, more TV programs, more businesses.

Worship at The Warehouse Church

Above all these things, Robbie and Donna desire to see revival in the hearts of the people, for them to experience the Glory of the Lord in every service in every place and wherever the church reaches.

The future for The Warehouse Church is good and as the Day of the Lord is fast approaching, their eyes are firmly on Him, the Lord of Glory, our soon coming King.