'For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son'
Pitch that tent
Tuesday July 12th, 1955, it was proposed that a tent mission should be held, the suggested location was on the green at the bottom of Benbow Rise (now occupied by the Braunstone Oak Centre and play park). The plan was to hold the mission the following year in the summer (1956).
Mr Ken Terhoven was invited to speak and had accepted the invitation. Ken Terhoven is mentioned in Marion Punters statement (South African Missionary)
This was probably the first of many tent missions held by the church as there is mention in other meeting minutes of tent missions.
The tent missions had definitely ceased by the 1970s but there were Evangelical missions held in the church hall in the early 70s. One such mission was held in the days when bell bottom trousers (known as flares) and flower patterned shirts with matching ties were all the fashion, I can’t remember who the evangelist was but he wore bell bottoms. Glad to say my purple bell bottoms are now in the bin.
Tinkling the ivories
September 4th, 1955 saw the appointment of Mr Brian Hartland as the official pianist for the Sunday school. Brian of course was at Braunstone for many years and played the Church organ both at Cort Cresent community centre and at our present-day Church building, leaving Braunstone in the 70s to live on the Isle of Wight with his wife and children (Brian, now with The Lord)
Into the sixties and the church was holding services at Cort Crescent community centre. The church organ was stored in what is now known as stage one building of our present day church. Today this building is used by Emmanuel Christian School. So the organ had to be carried from the stage one building to the community centre on a Sunday morning and carried back to the church after the evening service.
The distance from the church to the community centre wasn't that far but the problem was - there was no footpath. So the organ had to be carried over rough land at the rear of where the church is. Well this was all hills and hollows and the organ at that time was quite heavy so it was a rather treacherous journey especially in the winter.
Prior to services being held at the Cort Crescent community centre we do know that services were taking place at Benbow Rise school, An evening service or evening fellowship as it was referred to in the meeting minutes was already in operation, but a suggestion for a morning service (morning fellowship meeting) had been made. The start date of the morning service was 11th September 1955. The fellowship secretary was Mr David Wesley. I presume his roll was to book speakers but it may have entailed more.
The year 1955 saw Anthony Eden become Prime Minister and Bill Haley went rocking around the clock but Braunstone Evangelical Free Church just carried on with The Lord's work.
FIEC
Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches
Will we or wont we, that is the question? It’s 1956 and the question is posed as to whether the church joins an Evangelical organisation such as the FIEC (Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches).
We do know that an application to join FIEC was not made until 1961. The church reasoning for membership being that it would have a stronger case for land purchase to build a church, also access to legal partners in the event of land purchase and a possible top up loan to cover purchase of land as the church would soon set up a building fund. More information on this becomes a little bit clearer as we move forward in time.
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Read all about it.
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1956 saw the introduction of a newsletter, the idea being to inform parents of children that came to Sunday school or other groups about forthcoming events and missions. The work of the newsletter was undertaken by Mr Brian Hartland.
How successful this newsletter was we do not know. We have no information about it or what its real contents were. It would be good if we had a copy of this newsletter or could glean information from someone who read or saw it. At the moment this is one that has to go down as lost in time like so much more information. Find me a time machine.
Later in time the church produced a magazine, copies of which we do have and will discuss later (namely the Messenger).
Front cover
Back cover
Ladies only
Still in 1956, Mrs Betty Ball asked if the group should start a women’s meeting to be held on a Thursday afternoon. This was agreed by all and inquiries began to find a suitable room for hire in the Braunstone area. The Cort Crescent community centre was proposed as a possible venue. The meetings were eventually started and the Cort Crescent community centre was booked. These meetings were still in existence when stage one of the present Church was built (Ladies Bright Hour, held on a Thursday afternoon, discontinued in the 70s).
Image shows the entrance to the stage one building. At the top of the image can be seen the words Ladies Bright Hour, this was the name given to the ladies meeting and it was held on a Thursday afternoon.
We do know that these meetings were discontinued for a short while. The reason being that there was a drop in the number of ladies attending, numbers went down to fourteen. It was restarted and two names that are heavily connected with these meetings are the founder Mrs Betty Ball and Jesse Mathews. Betty was also involved in the girl covenanters as leader, her husband Frank being the boy covenanters leader.
Image of girl covenanters netball team, Mrs Betty Ball is on the right of the image. The girls won the trophy, but year unknown at this time.
The big decision
April 10th 1956, A decision was taken to start a building fund so that the work could have its own premises. This would be a Church building where regular services could be held. We know that plans showed a Church and youth building although no plans were drawn up at this stage. It was also decided to form a Church membership roll as this would have to be shown to purchase land for building a Church. Whether this was a legal requirement or not I do not know.
It does not appear that a membership roll was started at this time, as later on in 1958 it was suggested again. This was due to a suggestion by Pastor Sutton (Bethel Church). That there needed to be church membership and church rules was shown by various Scriptures quoted by Pastor Sutton as follows:
Acts 6 1-7
1 Timothy 3 1-13
Philippians 1 v 1
Acts 20 v 17
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Pastor Sutton, although Pastor at Bethel church in Wigston, was heavily involved in the work of setting up a Church in Braunstone and bringing about church government within this group of people. We are thankful to God that he used Pastor Sutton in this way as his guidance and direction were instrumental in the setting up of Braunstone Evangelical Free church.
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The building fund
September 18th 1956 The building fund had started and was growing, and on this date stood at £15:11s:1d (£15.55p in todays money) only one thousand, six hundred and fourteen pounds to go then! Thank God that He was on our side and the money came in.
Philippians 4:19, But my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Jesus Christ.
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1957, as of January 1st the building fund stood at £17:10s:0d (£17.50 in new money). By January 29th the fund had grown and now contained £27:14s:8d (£27.83p in new money). March 5th the building fund has reached £30:8s:5d (£30.42p in new money). Only £1,584 03 to go to reach the original price of the present-day land that the Church stands on (£1,630.00). This may seem a small cost in terms of today's money, but I can assure you that this would have been like climbing the worlds highest mountain in those days to reach that total. The average weekly wage in 1957 was £7.50 (£7:10s in old money). July 2nd Building fund £38.55p.
Building Fund September 17th £43.45p
The big decision 2
17th September 1957 Pastor Sutton (Harry Sutton Bethel Church) was invited to a meeting at Benbow Rise school to meet with the Braunstone Church management committee as it was known in those days, and to give them ideas about taking the work forward. Pastor Sutton suggested that there was a need for the work to have its own building as many of the Sunday school teachers were attending different churches in the morning and evening. Pastor Sutton said if the work had its own building then all could come together and work as a single fellowship. Were these suggestions the final push in the building of the Church we have today, (Braunstone Evangelical Free Church)? Pastor Sutton also suggested that the work should have a magazine which would keep the local people up to date with what was happening within the work and any future events that may be taking place. The committee then invited Pastor Sutton to become the President of the work and he duly accepted this position.
Shall we have a service?
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November 1957 the morning and evening fellowship were still meeting at Bendbow Rise school, but it’s not clear what the meeting minutes meant by Sunday fellowship. However inquiries had been made about hiring a building to hold Sunday services. Cort Crescent community centre was available, and it was decided to go ahead and use this building. One of the advantages of using the community centre was that the rent was cheaper than the school.
(Sunday school and Boy/Girl covenanters remained at the Bendbow Rise School until the late 70s).
1958, by this time, the name, The Braunstone United Christian Fellowship for Youth seems to have disappeared from what records we have and the title Staff Committee appears in the meeting minutes. The name The Braunstone United Christian Fellowship for Youth may have been dropped by this time or it could have been still in existence we simply do not know. One thing is sure morning and evening services were being held at the community centre. (We do know that the name Braunstone Evangelical Free Church did not come into existence until the 1960s)
April 1958 Building fund stood at £62:15s:3d (£62.75p in today’s money) only £1,521 28 to reach target.
We have a plot?
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June 14th 1958 a possible building site had been located, this was on the corner of Hockley Farm Road/Hinckley Road opposite Hand Avenue. This would have been the site of the old prefabs (prefabricated houses built as temporary housing after ww2, present day health centre and fly over, Braunstone Way). Mr David Wesley was charged with the task of inquiring about land purchase from Leicester City Council.
Prefabs on Hockley Farm Road. This was the first site mentioned for the building of our church but it never materialised.
Prefabs were demolished in the 1970s to make way for the new flyover and health centre