Eynsford Christian Fellowship (Baptist)
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The History of the Eynsford Christian Fellowship

The history of Eynsford Baptist Church, 1960-1969.
At their meeting 27th May 1960, in making arrangements for the interregnum, it was agreed to pay visiting Ministers 4 guineas (a guinea being £1.1/- One pound, and one shilling [5p] - there was a coin to that value until 1816, and the name continued thereafter), plus the fare for those who had come a long distance. The Church was not slow, in seeking out a replacement. They had already heard a Mr Hallworth, Pastor of Plumstead preach, and he was seeking a change, and at the Deacons' meeting 16th August, they agreed to invite him to "preach with a view". This was accepted and Arthur J. Hallworth came and preached on Sunday 30th October. The Diaconate was unanimous in its recommendation to the Church to extend an invitation to Mr Hallworth. The moderator, Mr Fereday of Sevenoaks, drafted the terms of a settlement for the incoming Pastor; (1) That we, members of Christ's church at Eynsford, assembled in Church meeting, after prayers, believing we are led by the Spirit, invite the Rev. A.J.Hallworth of Plumstead Baptist Church, to the Pastoral care of this church and the ministry of the Word and the Sacraments. In so doing we pledge our loyal and prayerful support to Him in the shared service of Christ and His Church. (2) We agree that should the Rev. A.J.Hallworth accept this invitation as the Call of God to minister among us, the terms of settlement shall be as follows. (a) The stipend shall be £550 per annum paid monthly. (b) He shall be required to live in the Manse provided by the Church & it shall be to him free of rates & taxes. (c) We agree to meet the usual charges, namely the cost of his removal to Eynsford, half the charges of the National health Insurance and baptist Superannuation Fund. All telephone & postal charges incurred in pastoral service & his expenses when attending as a delegate at the Baptist Union & Associated meetings shall be met by the Church. (d) The initial period of the pastorate shall be for five years and be governed by the terms of the Baptist Union rules governing the settlement of ministers in a pastorate. The Call to Eynsford was accepted by Arthur Hallworth, and he commenced his ministry with the Induction Service of the 4th March 1961. Pastor Hallworth brought some new ideas in to the life of the Church. On the 28th July he got the Deacons to agree with showing a series of Christian Films after the Evening Service - beginning with the Life of Wesley, as a title which would be appropriate to which to invite the local Anglicans. Church membership more important than Baptism? At the Deacons' meeting 30th October, it was recorded that a ; "Malcome Angus had asked for baptism & church membership & expressed the wish that the service be held Sunday 11th November. Mr Hallworth said that he would be happy to comply with his wishes regarding baptism but it would be necessary for him to be interviewed before he could be received into church membership". At the same meeting, the Pastor sought to widen the representation within the Diaconate, "as there was within the membership people from other denominations". He suggested widening the diaconate to 8, by admitting one new Baptised member (that is by immersion) and one non-baptised. Consideration was also given to extending the Hall, in order to accommodate the Sunday School, which must have grown since the decline reported in 1958. The cost of enlargement was estimated at £2000. No firm decisions were made. The Building Committee had met in May 1962, and a report was considered by the Deacons. In the meanwhile, repair work was done at the Church and Manse, as the winter of 1962/3, had proved a hard winter, and several pipes had burst, as well as a crack appearing in the Manse toilet pan! It took until November 1963, to get to the stage when tenders for the proposed alterations to the Church had been given out. The total cost of the project was to be £4000. The Church had in hand £1500, and the rest of the money was to come from various interest free loans, and the remaining £1500 by way of a bank overdraft. The letter to the Bank, is in itself illuminating and gives some idea of the health of the Church at that time; "Our Church is still flourishing and it is expected that any Bank borrowing will be easily reduced within the period of two or three years, and here it is expected that the Bank borrowing will be the first to be repaid". The Bank readily agreed, and the period offered was three to four years' repayment. The Official opening of the revampt and enlarged premises was held on Sunday July 5th. It was originally proposed for Sunday July 11th, but that conflicted with a meeting at Brands Hatch, when the traffic would be congested and no parking allowed in the high Street in Eynsford.   Even with the revampt premises, the old school hall roof and the Church roof leaked under storm conditions, and in September of 1964, repairs were put in hand at the modest cost of £44! The wages of sin may be death - but the wages of death at the end of 1964, was as follows; Funeral fees: Church 2 gns , Minister 1½ gns, Organist 1gn Caretaker ½gn. West Kingsdown. At the Deacons' meeting 28th July 1961, a letter had been received from Kingsdown stated that Mr Devin the Lay Pastor was resigning, and by September he had stepped down. Whilst this was a blow to the Church, it galvanised an effort to secure the right person to step forward to lead the Church forward. A number of good men were approach, but who all declined; The Rev W Baker, and a Mr Etridge. Feeling more optimistic Pastor Hallworth reported at the Deacons' meeting at Eynsford 24th April 1962 that; "he had been able to make a little headway". In June a Mr Oakley was considering the work, but declined, and on the 30th October a Mr E Bragshaw was approached, and in November he had been invited to take charge, which he accepted. At the Eynsford Deacons' meeting 22nd April 1963, it was reported; "that the work there showed signs of improvement under the leadership of Mr Bragshaw. The Church was full to capacity at Mr Bragshaw's Induction Service". By the 25th November 1963, it was reported at the Eynsford meeting that Mr Bragshaw had been able to do a marvelous work and new members were being baptised. Paster Hallworth was no longer needed for the quarterly Communion Service. So well had the work gone on that by the 2nd February 1964, a letter had been received from Mr Bragshaw to ask Eynsford to relinquish their oversight. The Rev's V Evan, Area Superintendent had advised Mr Bragshaw "to proceed with caution", never-the-less, Eynsford received a letter read to the meeting 22nd June 1964. It was noted that the following resolution was passed at the West Kingsdown church meeting held monday 1st June 1964; "The Baptist Church of West Kingsdown meeting in Church Meeting resolved that the Baptist Church at Eynsford be thanked for their help over the past years and that we now feel ourselves able to carry on independently and therefore request that oversight by the Baptist Church at Eynsford be now dispensed with." This of course was gladly accepted by Eynsford Baptist Church, the Pastor and members of which had worked hard to see the work at Kingsdown flourish. Domestic issues. In September 1965, it was agreed to sing the Lord's Prayer, as for many this added dignity and majesty to the Prayer. A finanical setback came in October, when at the Deacons' meeting on the 4th, It was reported that the boiler had developed several cracks, and was a "write-off". Various options were discussed - Oil boiler at £700, a Gas Boiler at £222, and a solid fuel boiler at £275.  The Church meeting allowed a budget of £700. On the 1st November, the two quotes they discussed was a 250k Gas Boiler from a private firm at £382, plus £212 for a stainless steel flu-liner (£594) - with the need to lay on a 2" gas main, and to rent a meter, of a 250k Gas Boiler from British Gas with an abestos flu-liner at £440-16-0 (£440-80p) - £75 for the Gas Pipe and the meter rent at 18/- (90p). The latter option was agreed upon. At the same meeting the final costs of the building work was given - £4552-2-0. 14% over original budget. Church members lent a variety of heaters to the Church, to allow the Church to get over the Winter period while they awaited the work to be carried out. The Church also discussed adding a pump (given in the minutes as a "water circulator") to the system. It was suggested that this might increase the "efficiency of the sytem". This would assist in the start up of the system, against a gravity fed system, but once up and running, the heat output is governed by the surface area of the pipes and radiators, coupled with the heat output of the boiler. By the coldest part of the winter, the new system was up and running, as noted by the Deacons' meeting on the 3rd January 1966. Further good news at the start of 1966, was the provision of the nw Baptist Hymn Book, paid for, by a bequest. The Annual Assembly of the Baptist at Hastings had made an impact on the Eynsford Church. The following resolution had been adopted and was noted in the Minute Book 3rd October 1966; "Convinced that Jesus Christ is our saviour for our time & concerned that we are not proving sufficiently effective in communicating this Gospel, every encouragement shouild be given to our churches to prepare for the Call to prayer & mission being issued by our Baptist Union for January 1st next year." The Eynsford Church then embarked on a series of special meetings, which even before the New Year had arrived led to a number of initiatives, such as Home Groups, and a young wives meeting begun in December 1966. In January 1967, a Young Peoples meeting was begun by the Pastor. A scheme was launched to redecorate the Church. The Baptist Union had issued guidelines that it intended to raise stipends to a minimum of £700. At their meeting on the 1st May 1967, the Deacons agreed that they would pay their Pastor £555 as stipend, £120 heat and cleaning, and £25 for expenses (not technically a part of the Stipend!!). To assist in funding this a statement was read out to the Church, which asked for a regular increase in the giving. The Deacons had acted in faith, and then shared their committment with the Church. At their meeting of the 8th September, the news was given that John William Young Meikle Pastor, for six months had died in a Glasgow Hospital (see Chapter 3). Sadly after a successful pastorate, on the 27th November 1967, Arthur announced that he would be leaving at the end of February 1968, which marked a "full seven years". Eynsford had marked the last Chapter in full time Ministry, as Arthur had retired from Eynsford. The Deacons meet on the 11th December 1968, to consider the appointment of a new Pastor, and a salary of £850 pa to include expenses was agreed. As the Deacons were considering a successor to Arthur, it had become clear that the expenditure on maintaining the Manse at Priory Hill was a problem, and it was agreed that the Church would sell that at Priory Hill and buy a new House to serve as the Manse. Not only did the Church loose a good Pastor at the beginning of 1968, but on the 31st March, David Salmon, a Deacon and Treasurer after years of long service died. It was prayed; "that the memory of his Christian character and faithful living may inspire us all to a deeper devotion to our saviour and his and a greater loyalty to the Church he loved and served so well". On the 30th October 1968, the Deacons noted that the wall behind the pulpit had; "movement cracks in plasterwork. There appears to be a bulge at the apex of the wall, where one of the cracks forks; is this a lump of plaster ready to bring God's judgement on an errant preacher?" At the meeting of the 10th June 1968, grave exception was taken to the Running of a "Donkey Derby" by the Local Scout Group Committee. A motion was passed at the meeting to forward to the Secretary of the Scout Group; 10.6.68 This meeting of members of the Baptist Church in Eynsford whilst recognising the value of the Scout Movement as an influence for good in the formation of the character of its members views with very serious concern the continuation of the lst Eynsford Committee's Donkey Derby having regard to the fact that methods employed for the raising of funds in connection with this event, seem to us to be completely at variance with the principles and purposes of the founder of the Movement as laid down in his book 'Scouting for Boys'. We regard drinking and gambling as being amongst the major social evils of our time and for boys to see these things associated so closely with the activities of their own organisation cannot but affect most seriously the value of the Movement's aims in the building of the character of its members. We would like to urge that consideration is given in future years to reverting to the simpler events of the 'Scout Fete' in which all Scouts could participate freely without detriment, and without contravening the principles of their great Movement. Furthermore the Church objected to the Occasional License for alcohol at the Magistrate's Court, but were unsucessful in preventing it being issued. The Scout Leaders agreed to discuss the issue with the Church. Despite having retired, Pastor Arthur Hallworth took the Church Anniversary Service 7th July 1968, and the Christmas Morning Service that year. Many of the meetings in that year were taken up with the issue of the Manse at Priory Lane which was sold for £9137, and in January 1969, 27 Eynsford Rise was purchased at a cost of £8400. Another area of sorting things out, was the Church membership roll, which the Deacons revised in April 1969 One of the Preachers during the interegnum was the Rev'd Cyril Austin, and he was asked to Preach again "with a view to the Pastorate". To be continued............. D.V.
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History of the Church Chapter 1  
History of the Church Chapter 2  
History of the Church Chapter 3  
History of the Church Chapter 4  
History of the Church Chapter 6  
History of the Church Chapter 8  
History of the Church Chapter 9  

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Eynsford Christian Fellowship (Baptist)