Over two weeks since my last post! What's been going on? The answer is our church has been celebrating 75 years in existence - and I have had a fascinating time reading 75 years worth of minutes, booklets and a folder of receipts from 1935-1938 as well as some other things and lots of photos. It has been really interesting, and I think we miss out if we don't know our history.
I have only been at the church since 2003 but am now much more aware of the heritage I have stepped in to, and believe that our past encourages us and inspires us for the future.
The God who encouraged those founder members is the same faithful God who empowers us today. More of the story next week, but it all began when thousands of new homes started springing up across this part of what is now NW London in the early 1930s and yet no provision had been made for a non-conformist place of worship. A small band of faithful Christians met together for prayer and their prayers inspired them to action. What followed from August 1934 to February 1936 was a month long tent mission, then the purchase of land, the erection of a wooden hut and finally the building of the church building. They met for prayer in April 1934, and the church building which we still use today was opened in February 1936.
We had a great weekend of celebrations with about 70-80 people from the past coming back to join with us. These guests included a lady who was there right at the being - although only one at the time. Also the children and grandchildren of those founding members. It was also good to pay tribute to our longest serving current member who first came to the church as a boy with his parents in 1939.
Next week I hope to give you some more detail and some pictures.
