It was in 1959 that Oscar Penhearow was invited to Southampton to work as an evangelist with the support of
Above Bar Church. After serving the church for 3 years Oscar felt the Lord was leading him to a wider sphere of
ministry. On 30th October 1962, representatives of 36 evangelical and free churches across the city agreed to
appoint Oscar as Town Missioner. A Service of Recognition and Dedication was held at Above Bar Church on
27th January 1963, attended by over 500 people. In September that year a permanent committee was elected
to govern the Town Mission. The title of the organisation was changed on 11th February 1964 to Southampton
City Mission (SCM).
Following an incredible 22 year career of home visiting and door-to-door evangelism, Oscar retired in 1985. He
was persistent, always polite and urgently commended Jesus his Lord and Saviour to those he met. Many
today, in Southampton and further afield, have a true faith in Jesus because of his ministry.
Following Oscar’s retirement, SCM supported selected evangelistic initiatives in the city and on 2nd October
1985 two Associate Missioners were commissioned at Portswood Church; Dave Caplin who was developing
“Mission to Schools” and Dave Thorpe whose gifts included drama and open air work. Whilst giving to SCM
increased, it was not sufficient to maintain these ministries and the arrangements were unfortunately
terminated in 1987.
After several years in mothballs, SCM found new purpose. On 23rd November 1993 the committee adopted
Chris Davis as City Missioner. He, along with his wife Annette, was spearheading “Tower Ministries” in Shirley
Towers and had a vision for the work to spread city-wide.
Direct evangelism took place at the Southampton Balloon and Flower Festivals, in association with the Solent
Christian Trust (Damaris). The Dorcas furniture project was launched and in response to requests from the City
Council the first Basics Bank providing food and clothing to those experiencing poverty was opened on 26th
March 1996. In order to better serve and prosper the many social action projects that SCM had created,
SCRATCH a charitable company was founded in Oct 1999.
In January 2008 Chris Davis stepped down as Chief Executive of SCRATCH. He could now concentrate on his
SCM work, in particular, growing the schools work in the city. In August 2008 Duncan House was taken on parttime by SCM to manage the SCM Basics Bank and help develop the schools work alongside Chris.
In September 2009 SCM Schools launched a new day program for primary schools called 'Question of Faith'. A
team from SCM Schools takes a class or year group for a day. They will deliver the Christian part of the school's
R.E. curriculum for that term in an entertaining and creative way using games, quizzes, puppets, magic tricks,
stories, craft and treasure hunts. SCM now runs over 50 of these days each year. We hope to expand the work
to more schools and offer training in the “Question of Faith” model of schools work.
On October 5th 2010 SCM Basics Banks moved to a multi venue, dispersed model of provision at 4 different
venues around the city, in partnership with local churches. In June 2012 another food bank opened in Lordshill
and plans are afoot to open a fifth food bank in Sholing later this year. This will give 5 days coverage of SCM
Basics Bank spread geographically across the city, something our referral agents have requested for a long
time.
The SCM committee now comprises church leaders and lay people, all with a heart to see people in the city
touched by Jesus’ love and message. SCM exists to serve the church as it serves the city, identifying unmet
needs and working with churches to meet these needs in Jesus’ name.