History of Stechford Baptist Church 1906-1998
Mr Hurst was called to the ministry in 1939, ascending to the pulpit on the very day and at the very hour that war was declared. The church has already subscribed to a pastor to work among German refugees in Birmingham, as it later did to a pastor for the newly arrived West Indian immigrants in the early 1960’s. During the ‘70s the church took steps to introduce services of a more West Indian character, and today a third of the members are African-Caribbean background, with two members from Asian background. The church is currently looking for ways in which it can make its services more welcoming to people from Asian backgrounds.
Mr Hurst eventually left to become a forces chaplain in 1944. A special note of thanks to God was set in the minutes for the preservation of the (still-temporary) building throughout the Battle of Britain. From 1942-43, Sergeant Hadley of the Royal Canadian Army who was stationed at Marston Green ran a Bible Class, through which Mr Peter Wright became a Christian believer. Sergeant Hadley kept the names of all those who had made a profession of faith in his Bible until the day he died, many years later.
In 1948 the church purchased it first Manse, number 8 Manor Road. It was not until some years later that it was able to purchase the freehold, and then with the intention of selling the property. Dawkins and Grey were the solicitors, a connection which has continued to be significant. Some years after that, the church was able to purchase 33 Rosemary Road, later selling it for sufficient to purchase the much larger 143 Flaxley Road. 143 Flaxley Road is, along with Station Road, the oldest thing in Stechford. Flaxley’s farm, of which it was the farm-house, is mentioned in records from 1218. Although rebuilt many times over the course of the years, some of the 17th century woodwork is still visible on the inside.
In 1949, Mr Prentice became pastor, and enjoyed what was, judging by the minutes, one of the three most fruitful periods of ministry in the church’s history (the others were Norman Rowell, and David Turner. It is perhaps no coincidence that these were not only the most active pastorates, but also the longest). He remained pastor until 1956.
It was in 1950 that the church acquired its first (and current) water heater for the baptistry. As the name suggests, Baptists baptise only adults, and that by full immersion. At Stechford the pool is underneath the stage. Until 1950, only cold water was used. The Ladies Cloakroom was constructed in 1951. Strange as it may seem, this church building which was only from the 1950’s equipped with indoor toilets also possessed a grass tennis court.
At this time, Mr Brighton, Mr Buzby and Mr Pratt were still active members, having been with the church throughout or almost throughout its history. The church was at that time making plans to plant a daughter fellowship in Castle Bromwich, just as it had earlier evangelised the Glebe Farm estate. The Sunday School and many other activities were thriving, and members of the youth group from that era still meet each other periodically for fellowship, although none but Mr and Mrs Wright (who became organist for the first time in 1953) still live in the area.
In 1955 the church in Castle Bromwich opened, and in 1956 Mr Quinton was appointed a pastor. Mr Quinton’s pastorate did not last long, since he expressed the desire to join the presbyterian denomination within a few months of the commencement of his ministry. Mr Harding was appointed pastor in 1959, until ill-health forced him to resign in 1964.
Mr Churchill was called as joint-pastor with Glebe Farm in 1966, at which point the manse in Rosemary Road was purchased. In 1970 the church, still in its ‘temporary building’, was contributing to the establishment of a church in Chelmsley Wood.
Mr Churchill resigned the pastorate in 1971. In 1971, the church was considering for the first time what it could do for Mental Health Week, and in this same year a cross was fixed on the outside of the building
1971-1972 was a year of enormous importance. It began with the calling of Rev David Turner, who was to be the longest serving pastor of the church. In early 1972, the rest of the land owned by the church was sold for £7,500. The church had been attempting to sell this land to a series of buyers (each time to be thwarted by planning permission) throughout the 1960s. In autumn 1972, Operation Mobilisation held their September Conference in Birmingham, and, by the end of the year, Liz Cleak had determined to serve the Lord overseas as a missionary (she is to this day working in Chad with WEC), and John Taylor elected to join the London City Mission, where he went on to serve for 25 years. These were, if the records are correct, the first missionaries sent out by the church. It must have seemed a great sacrifice for a church with just 16 members at the time to lose two of its most outstanding young people, but in 1974 the Church Secretary was able to report “a turn in the tide of our church affairs… it has been a better year”. The 1970’s saw significant attempts by the church in the political field to combat racism, including overt political action during one election campaign against the National Front, which had decided to make the area a testing ground. By 1976, a West Indian-led Pentecostal fellowship was regularly using the building for services on the invitation of the Baptist church, and the number of West Indian members in the Baptist church was slowly but surely rising.
In 1977 Jeff and Esther Greaves joined the church, and went on to lead a large and successful youth group which has had a powerful impact on the subsequent history of the church. In 1978, two workers from the Birmingham City Mission were seconded to the church, and it was through their work that Mr Raymond Jellicoe came to Christ.
In 1979 Jeff Greaves was called to attend Moorlands Bible College, and Barry Robinson, a worker with the Birmingham City Mission, joined the church and led the youth work.
In 1981 the joint pastorate with Glebe Farm came to an end, since that fellowship was troubled by a number of issues. Mr Turner resolved to remain at Stechford on a half-stipend, and later also becoming the (unpaid) assistant-director of the Birmingham City Mission, in addition to other wider ministries. In 1982 the local churches organised a Stechford Carnival, and in 1983 Mr John Corfield was endorsed as a local preacher.
In its early years, the church had been a recipient of ministry and help from around about. During its middle years, it was able to contribute financially to the growth of other churches regularly, but still relied on the outside world for both pastors and lay preachers. The sending out of Liz Cleak and John Taylor, the sending of Jeff Greaves to Bible College and subsequent ministry, the wider ministry of Mr Turner and the endorsement of John Corfield as a preacher were signs of the church’s maturity: it was sending out far more than it was receiving, even though it remained numerically and financially one of the smaller and poorer Baptist fellowships in the city.
In 1984-85, and from 1988 -96, Martin Turner, Mr Turner’s son, was sent with Operation Mobilisation for evangelistic ministry in Belgium, which remains one of the world’s least evangelised nations.
Mr Turner resigned the pastorate in 1987 to move to Southampton, although his eldest children, Ruth and Martin Turner remained in the church, Ruth marrying Mr Ray Jellicoe in that same year.
Mr Peter Bryant became pastor in 1987, but the ministry was not a success, and he remained only until 1988.
From this period, the church was led by its deacons, the authority of the church meeting continuing to be maintained, and, until 1995, most particularly by Mr Barry Turner, who was full time lay pastor from 1993.
At the close of 1998, Kelvin Bottle was commissioned to go to work in Belgium with Operation Mobilisation, the same year that both Jeff Greaves and John Taylor took up pastorates in the Banbury area. Liz Cleak was still in Chad, playing a crucial role in leading the WEC work in that country.
As of today, the average attendance at Sunday morning worship is the same as it was in 1906 — 35 people. The fellowship remains therefore small, but powerfully active. It remains, after other bodies of all kinds have grown up, declined and disappeared in the city and in the area, the Baptist Church in Stechford, committed to world evangelism and social compassion, to spiritual maturity, to the value and equality of each believer without regard to sex, race, social background, disability or past life, to the worship of God and to prayer, and to the upholding of the Scripture.
Martin Turner
1998
The minutes of Stechford Baptist Church, which run in an unbroken line from 1906 until the present day, begin as follows:
“ On January 31st 1906 the Committee of the Preachers Union of the West Midland Baptist Association after preliminary enquiries decided to undertake the responsibility of commencing Baptist Services at Stechford, and appointed a sub-committee to make and carry out arrangements. As a result, the first service was held in the Council Schools and conducted by the Rev DE Evans. There were about 35 persons present. … Next came the decision to commence a Sunday School which began on Sunday May 6th 1906 with 13 scholars and 2 teachers.”
Stechford Baptist Church is situated on Victoria Road, between the Railway Station, which at that time was Stechford’s most prominent feature, and Albert Road, which was intended to be (although never became) the main arterial road through the village. Although beginning with neither financial resources nor a full time pastor, the newly established church was able to purchase the freehold of the land on which its building today stands in 1907. At this time, Baptists were unwilling to saddle their fellowships with large debts, and so it was determined to continue the building fund until a permanent structure could be erected paid for outright.
The Church was officially established in 1910, with a constitution which has gone through remarkably few amendments to this day. In 1920, a clause was inserted explicitly acknowledging that the diaconate — the group of leaders who, under the authority of the membership of the church, conduct many of its affairs — was open to women. The original constitution, allowed for this, but it was felt that the church’s position should be stated categorically.
Plans for the building were set back by the war, and then by the depression, so that, in 1926, the membership of the church voted to construct a temporary building, with a life expectancy of perhaps ten years. One person withdrew their £13 — a substantial sum — in protest at this move, but the £749 10s was eventually forthcoming, with the help of an advance of £100 and a gift of £100, both from the Forward Trust. The temporary building is still standing, and in regular use for two services each Sunday, a Sunday School of forty children, three mid-week meetings, and an increasing number of special celebrations and outreach services. The builders of that temporary building built better than they knew: when the East Birmingham cluster of Baptist Churches recently chose to hold a joint series of outreach meetings, they chose Stechford on the grounds that it was the most suitable of all their buildings for a modern, contemporary programme.
The government of a Baptist Church may seem strange to those used to a hierarchical structure. The ultimate authority, under God, is the Church Meeting; the body of all believers who have committed themselves to the life of the church and have been accepted on profession of their Christian faith by a vote of the members. The Baptist tradition of church democracy stretches back into the 16th century, and was one of the foundational influences on the forms of parliamentary democracy and the government of businesses which have grown up since. The Deacons work under the authority of the Church Meeting, and each deacon must be reelected on a three-yearly basis. The Church Meeting calls the pastor — although the church can continue to function, and has done so frequently, through even extended periods without a paid full-time minister.
Rev Leslie Curwood was the first full time pastor, from 1917-1920. He was followed by an interregnum, until Rev James Briggs became joint pastor of Hall Green and Stechford Baptist Churches. There have been a number of joint pastorates since that time — with Newbridge, with Hall Green again, and with Glebe Farm. Mr Briggs was pastor for just a year, and it was not until 1928 that Mr Blackie became lay Pastor. A schoolroom was added to the church in 1931, capable of seating (although not under current fire-regulations) 150 children. Mr Blackie was called elsewhere in 1930, and in 1932 Norman Rowell became pastor. Norman Rowell’s ministry began outreach work in Glebe Farm, saw the purchase of a stencil duplicator for £2 (since which time, the church has produced a constant stream of home-grown literature and materials, some of which have later been taken on by large and prestigious national and international organisations), and, in 1937, the purchase of the organ for the princely sum of £185, although an electric blower was not added until 1948. Music — always accomplished, frequently extraordinary for a church of its size — still plays an important role in the church life, and the organ, occasionally augmented by trombone, clarinets, recorders, drums, electric and acoustic guitars, remains the linchpin of this corporate worship.
At the beginning of 1938, Norman Rowell wrote: “We are trusting that 1938 will realise some of the great hopes that 1937 has raised and pray God that He will abundantly bless our cause and help us all to commit ourselves fully to His service here in Stechford, so that God may work through us to extend His kingdom.” It was not to be: his life came to a tragic end in that year, and a commemorative plaque, the only one of its kind, remains on the wall opposite the organ to remind us of what he meant to the growth and life of the fellowship.
At the beginning of 1939, the church secretary wrote: “Any record of the activities of our church for the past year is necessarily overshadowed by the unfortunate loss we sustained through the sad passing of our Pastor. The sudden manner of his withdrawal from our midst at time when his work showed all the signs of bearing forth the fruits of his labours was a profound shock to us.”
1938 saw an interregnum with a student pastor, and the purchase of the communion chairs which are still in use on the first and third Sundays of each month.
Stechford Baptist Church • Victoria Road • Stechford • Birmingham B33 8AH. Map. Stechford is in the Stechford and Yardley North Ward, and is close to Hodge Hill.