“BRANCH HEAVEN”

Waipawa Mail, Volume LXVII, Issue 68, 22 February 1939, Page 3

“BRANCH HEAVEN”

PLANS FOR ENGLAND FATHER DIVINE’S CONVERTS. LONDON, January 28. Europe’s first “Extension Heaven” is to be opened very shortly at Hastings, England. Mr and Mrs E. C. E. Symonds of that Sussex town are busy preparing their home for a gathering of the English disciples of Father Divine, the New York negro evangelist acclaimed “God” by his followers. With the first English disciples of Father Divine will be many, attracted by the strange doctrine of the negro, who want to learn more of the new religion, which claims to have turned Harlem into the Promised Land. Nearly every city in the States already has its “Extension Heaven.” Now there is to be one in England. Although Mr and Mrs Symonds are to be the hosts of the party, the centre of attraction will be Mrs Joyce Newton, of Fulham, London, who spent over a fortnight in the “Promised Land” with Father Divine and his “angels.” She came back to England with a plan to preach Father Divine’s gospel and to organise English “heavens” on the lines of the “heaven” where the negro ‘ ‘ God ’ ’ reigns in Harlem. Mr Symonds, who has agreed to make his premises the starting point of a national campaign for the pagation of the “faith,” said. I have no financial interest in the venture, which is being undertaken by Mrs Newton, but believe that these well-meaning people should be given a chance to make their faith known in England. About 40 people are arriving here and for an exclusive fee of 15s they will have a taste of ‘Heaven on earth’ for 48 hours.