|
|||||||
Navigation |
Home |
The work in Eynsford |
Assistance to
Christians |
Christian Literature |
Indian Evangelical
Team |
Becoming a Christian |
Links |
|
|||||||
Eynsford Christian Fellowship
(Baptist)
The history of Eynsford Baptist Church, 1905-1938. |
|
In May of 1905, Pastor Stone started a Men's meeting on a Sunday afternoon to promote thrift, with the last meeting held on the 22nd December of 1907. In the Edwardian years, thrift was a value much prompted, especially among the working class, a world away from the wasteful world in the west, from the latter half of the twentieth century onward! The debt caused by the new Chapel (in the form of loans from the Baptist Building Fund) which had been completed by 1906, was still being paid off in 1907. By June 1908, Pastor Stone no longer appears in the minute book of the Deacons' meetings. No clue to where he moved is given, but by August 1908, Pastor Frank Dobson was in post. It was noted in 1909, that the accumulation of ash from the boiler, dumped at the back of Church was becoming a problem and so an approach was made to the local Council for its weekly collection. In 1910, the Church had obtained a new piano, and the remedy for guarding against the adjacent damp wall, according to the minutes was by "nailing on a piece of carpet to the wall and lining it with straw"! On the 2nd May 1910, it was agreed at the Deacons' meeting to pay an annual subscription of 2 guineas a year ( a guinea being £1 and 1shilling or today £1 and 5 pence) to the Kent Baptist Union to secure a modest pension to the Minister in old age, and a pension to his widow in the event of his death. Perhaps the Pastor was aware of a declining health or the move was prophetic, as by the end of 1910, the Minister had taken ill. At the Deacons' meeting of the 30th August 1911, it was reported that the Pastor had died two days earlier, at his Father's home in Hitchin. The Church arranged for his body to be transferred by Rail to Eynsford for his funeral. Any person suggesting that children of a 100 years ago were better behaved, perhaps especially those of Sunday school will be illuminated by the minutes of 30th October 1911, when it was noted that a local resident had written "complaining about the Sunday Scholars trespassing and throwing stones"! In the same meeting, the Deacons discussed happier tidings with arrangements to appoint a successor to Pastor Dobson (deceased). The Reverend John Felmingham of Tooting had been recommended to the Church, and was appointed and in service before the close of 1911. The Reverend John Felmingham had been Pastor of the Northcote Road Baptist Church late 1800s to 1900. This was reported from an interview with Charles Booth of the Salvation Army. In 1913, the Baptist Union had created a "Sustentation Fund", this was a fund from which to provide for the sustaining of poor Ministers. The Union aimed at finding some £250,000. This was the beginnings of the Home Mission. The matter was considered very important by Eynsford Baptist Church and placed before the Church, and collection boxes were given to members of the congregation to assist in raising £50 toward this cause. Pastor John Felmingham had shepherded the Church through the years of the Great War with the sad loss of Church members and Sunday School members. On 16th December 1918, discussions began on raising a memorial tablet to those who had lost their lives in the Great War. The tablet was eventually made and erected on the 3rd January 1921. In March of 1924, Pastor John Felmingham announced that he had accepted a unanimous call to the Baptist Church at Ludham. Pastor John William Young Meikle began his ministry at Eynsford in the March of 1925, which sadly did not last six months, and he resigned owing to ill health. He had been Pastor of the Woodside Baptist Church for only a few months at the end of 1924, and the beginning of 1925, and had resigned due to ill health, and thought that the demands of Eynsford being a smaller Church than Woodside, would allow him to continue, but this proved not to be the case. He had held pastorates in Forfar and Dartford, and had served as an Army Chaplain in the Great War, before being involved in mission work in Canada, and then back to England. Following Eynsford, he had a prolonged stay in South Africa and made a good recovery and returned and was able to lead a Mission at Woodside. Eynsford Church did not harbour any misgivings, as in 1938, during an interregnum, they considered an approach to him to conduct services. Ill health continued and he retired to take up chicken farming. He died on 8th September 1967 in a Glasgow Hospital.
John Munro succeeded Pastor Meikle in September,
with his Recognition Service on 12th January 1926. His ministry was fruitful,
to the extent that in November 1929, that an extension to the Church was
considered. The land was purchased and the extension costing £521-7-0
went ahead. A further project was planned - that of providing a better Manse.
Land in Priory Lane was purchased in September of 1930 for just over £491,
and a house built. The minutes provide an estimate of £1193 for building
the House, but additional costs were incurred for putting in Electric Light
by Kent Electricity Company in April of 1931. The old Manse "Pendleton" was
sold. The Estate Agent had valued the property at £900, but the Church
were happy to accept £850. The minutes provided no detail of the eventual
sale price. Although the Manse could boast of electric light from 1931, it
was only in March of 1935, that the Church gained the same. By April 1933,
the Deacons' minutes reveal that repairs had to be undertaken to the new
Manse to the cost of £12. A parcel of land attached to the grounds of
the new Manse was not needed, and sold for £90, which assisted in balancing
the books. A Village Council was created in 1931, and unlike the period just before and after the beginnings of the 20th Century, the Baptist Church was accepted as a full part of the Village, and was asked to provide a representative. The Deacons' meeting for the 20th September 1937, reveals a malaise. A question was raised about nominating a new deacon, as one member felt that "he and others were not able to serve as they once did, owing to increasing years"! In October 1937, after 12 years of faithful service, John Munro had accepted a call to Guilford, leaving the Church in the hands of the elderly Deacons. A farewell service was held on the 5th January 1938.
|
|
|
Next Chapter
|
History of the Church Chapter 1-1: 1775-1905
History of the Church Chapter 1-2: 1775-1905
History of the Church Chapter 2: 1905-1906
History of the Church Chapter 4: 1938-1940
History of the Church Chapter 5: 1940-1950
History of the Church Chapter 6: 1950-1960
History of the Church Chapter 7: 1960-1969
History of the Church Chapter 8: 1969-1980
History of the Church Chapter 9: 1981-1989
History of the Church Chapter 10: 1990-1999
History of the Church Chapter 11: 2000-2009
Click to return to the Home Page