BAPTIST JUBILEE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17311, 28 October 1916, Page 7

BAPTIST JUBILEE.

THE CHURCH IN SPREYDON. The jubilee of the 6proydon Baptist Church, which will be celebrated' with special services and meetings from October 29 to November 5, brings to mind some very • interesting pages»of early history. The first Baptist Church in Ohristchurch was in Lichfield Street, and it was in September, 1865, that the late Mr Thomas Jefcoate conceived the idea of a nearer place of worship for the people of Addington and Spreydon. Mrs Charlotte Twigger at once responded with the offer of a sod whare in Wright's Road, near Lincoln Road, on the Twigger estate. ' It was in this little whare, 16ft hy 12ft, that the first service took place on the afternoon of Sunday, September 17, 1865, the preacher being Mr W. W. Davey. _ At the first anniversary, presided over by the late Rev W. J. Habens, Congregational minister, Mr Jefcoate announced that a section of land-at the corner of Martin's Lane had been given by Mr Twigger as a site for a Baptist church. On .December 12, 1868, the Spreydon Baptist Church was formed, the first six members being Thomas Jefcoate, Janet Jefcoate, W.;W. Davey, Mary Ann Davey, Richard Potts Pole and Charlotte Twigger. ; In March, 1867, a tender was accepted for a building 24ft by 20ft, and the church was i opehed, free of debt, on Aprils, 18b7. 1 Mr Jefcoate was appointed first deacon in October, 1868. Soon after thechurch was built, a Sunday school was formed, and a Sunday school library was opened.- Mr W. Pole, the first pastor ot the church, was appointed in 1869. and continued till 1876,.when Pastor J. S. Clarke was appointed. He remained m charge for two years. In 1878 it was found necessary ,_ owing to the growth of the congregation, ; to enlarge the. church, and by 1880 further expansion was necessary, WKltne, land on which the first church stood was sold, and the building removed to the site on which the present church stands. Pastor T. A. Cato was called to the church in January, 1880, and remained for six months. The foundation stone of the new church was laid on May 24, 1881, and the following month Mr James Marrinerwas appointed pastor, and continued: till March, 1882 He was followed by the Rev \V. i 0. Spencer and the Rev James Standring, who continued till Apnl, leab. The Rev A. Dewdney took up the pastorate in April, 1887, and two years later the church members decided to build a manse, which was completed earlv in 1889. In 1890 the Rev Thomas Spurgeon responded to an invitation to conduct an evangelistic campaign. In 1892, the Rev A. Ager of Victoria, succeeded Mr Dewdney, and the name ot the church wns altered from the Lincoln Road Baptist Church" to the " Spreydon Baptist Church. An offshoot from the church was established at Hornbv in 1895, and the following vear Mr A. H. Turnbull gave a quar-ter-acre section at Hornby for a church, and in 1897 the church was opened, tree of debt, by the Rev J. J. North, who, in 1895. was appointed pastor of the Sprevdon Church. He resigned m November, 1903, and the Rev J. C. Martin, of Napier, took Ins place. Mr MaTtin resigned in April, 1908, the Rev Robert Elder succeeding him. On October 25, 1908, he was succeeded by the Rev J. Farquharson Jones, who, >n turn, was to have been succeeded by the Rev J. Butler, but before he began his labours he passed away. On August 1, 1912, the present pastor, the Rev John Laird, took up his work.