Christian Faith Centre Moves To St Albans

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32073, 22 August 1969, Page 15

Christian Faith Centre Moves To St Albans

The Christian Faith Centre, an independent mission which has been run from a building in Gloucester Street for more than a year, is being moved this week to new premises at 23 Eversleigh Street, St Albans. The first meeting was held In the new centre last evening and by tomorrow it will be ready for use. The new centre, which is being leased by the director of the mission (the Rev. D. W. Edmonds), includes a large two-storey six-bed-roomed house on a section of about an acre. A swimming pool and two tennis courts, one lawn and one asphalt, are at the rear.

The centre will also, be a home for Mr Edmonds and his family. It will be known as Bethesda, a Hebrew word meaning house of mercy, grace, healing, olives and outpouring. Mr Edmonds said that for about two years he had been looking for a suitable house in which he and his family could live and run the centre. The Gloucester Street centre had been good, but it was hampered by difficulties such as lack of parking, especially during the week. The new centre would be developed as a meeting place

and library, but other activities such as week-end retreats would be possible, he said. It would be run as an open house, probably 24 hours a day.

A large room would be used for prayer and other meetings and opposite would be the centre’s library which now had more than 2000 books. Other rooms would be used for interviews and printing the centre’s newsletter. House-to-house visits would be made in the area of the new centre, but Mr Edmonds emphasised that the mission was not in competition with other churches; it was completely non-denominational.

Big Tent

A circus tent with a floor area of 6500 square feet was recently made in Whangarei for the Australian circus, Ridgways Circus. It is one of the biggest marquees made in New Zealand. Palmers Canvas and Synthetics, Ltd, said the order came to New Zealand because in Australia the tent would have cost about twice as much. Measuring 100 feet by 65 feet, and rising to 26 feet, the tent took 350 manhours to build.