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A few believers in the Baptist
denomination met in a tiny cottage owned by a Mrs Masters in
Bexleyheath. As the fellowship grew a small Strict Baptist
chapel was erected in 1823. It was located on the south side of
the Broadway, opposite the clock tower where Primark now
stands. A plaque on the Primark store now commemorates that
first tiny chapel.
During the Pastorate of Revd Joseph Wallis
that small chapel became "too strait for us" and the
plot that Trinity now occupies, was purchased for £60 and
was a corner of a strawberry field.
The Revd Joseph Wallis resigned and the
Revd William Firth succeeded him. The cost of the land and the
building was about £2000 and a "memorable
Bazaar" held at Hall Place among other means raised the
funds. It is thought that Trinity received its name from the
regular preaching of Revd W. Firth on the subject.
Underneath the memorial stone is a
bottle-shaped time capsule which contains a history of the old
chapel together with the newspapers "The Freeman" a
Baptist publication, The Bexleyheath Messenger, The Bexleyheath
Observer, and a copy of C.H. Spurgeons publication "The
Sword and the Trowel".
1868 - A
debt remained on the opening of £350 (the equivalent to
about £250,000 today) due to extras the contractors put
onto the account (nothing changes!!) and so "a mortgage
was affected".
1870 - it
is recorded that in the year ended the amount received by the
Pastor, including "Pew rents" to be
£87.11s.61/2penny
1873 July -
Revd Firth handed in his resignation and died a month later. On
the recommendation of C.H. Spurgeon Revd Edward Fisk was
appointed on a stipend of £120pa, but only held the
Pastorate for two years from 1873-1875. Unfortun-
ately his successor William G Jeffrey only
held the post for two years as well due to becoming gravely ill
and died aged fifty-four in 1877.
1874 -
the debt of £350 was called in.
1877 - Mr
George Smith, fresh from the Pastors College took up the
Pastorate of Trinity on a stipend of £150, which rose to
£180 in 1879.
1878 - The
first Sunday school rooms were built for £1100
1884 - £660
was spent to refurbish the chapel "owing to the constant
fall of plaster plus new windows, as fear of the heavy glass
breaking in high winds" as the church was standing on its
site, on its own.
It would be 20 years before the church
took on any major task. A new century had started. In 1886 the
church fell into arrears and a special collection was taken to
pay the Pastor the £25 deficit to his stipend. Things
went from bad to worse. The church owed the Pastor £75 at
the end of the September quarter, half of his salary, because
the Pastor agreed to a £30 cut in his £180p.a.
Taking him back to his original £150p.a. Therefore Mr
Smith resigned in 1888, but at a special church meeting he was
asked to stay, which he did. The period of financial struggle
passed and Mr G.K. Smith stayed for a further twenty five
years. In the opening years of the twentieth century records
show that the membership at Trinity stood at 170.
With the death of his wife and a
continuing throat infection Revd Smith suggested to the deacons
for a co-pastor. Mr F.W.Porter was appointed to the post in
1912. In 1913 Revd Smith resigned, Mr Porter married Miss Eva
Register and with a unanimous vote became the pastor of
Trinity. 1914 and war had begun but in May of 1918 Mr Porter
made reference "to the merciful deliverance from
destructive bombs" Trinity Baptist Church has lived and
been a part of Bexleyheath during considerable hardship,
especially during a shift in skills away from farming, At the
turn of the last century Bexleyheath had 12% unemployment.
Cottages to the rear of the church were
offered to Trinity in 1913 and were eventually purchased so that the
land would be available at a later date. The purchase price was
£1000, raised by gifts and loans. The letting of the
cottages brought in 36/- (36 shillings) a week (£1.80p).
The surplus funds raised for the cottages
formed the basis for the Jubilee fund. A schools block at the
rear of the church would cost an estimated £4,150. By 1933 the funds
were in place. With the funds the church had raised, plus a
bank overdraft of £2000 at 4% with a loan from the
Baptist Property Board £1000 at 0% for 5 years, put
Trinity in a position to plan to build.
Efforts were made to finish off paying for
the loan but war broke out and the loan was eventually paid off
on April 14th 1945. £4150 in 1945 would be equivalent of
£200-£220,000. Note of interest the builder was
Harold Friday who was also the Treasurer.
Instead of building on the cottages site,
a new school block was built onto the rear of Trinity and was
completed by 1935. The cottages had a demolition order placed
upon them by the council, as they wanted to put a road through
to service the rear
of the shopping centre. The cottages were
sold for £2750, after solicitors fees were deducted the
remainder, £2600, was placed in trust with the Baptist
Property Board, to be used only for projects on church
premises.
During the Second World War Trinity
Baptist Church and the Trinity cottages sustained damage on
several occasions. On one of these three incendiary bombs
exploded and "piercing the church roof and setting fire to
the false timbered roof", and it was the prompt action of
the Pastor and the Fire brigade which saved Trinity.
In 1951 a Manse Fund was set up and in 1956 a very
substantial legacy made provision for a manse. Mr Samuel Cook
of Elmdene, Standard Road left his property and a bungalow to
the church. Revd Porter was unwell during 1953 during the
following years failing health dogged Revd Porter and he
preached for the last time in July 1959, bringing to a close
forty seven years of faithful ministry in Bexleyheath. In which
time the town had developed largely, the church had grown,
yearly contributions had increased and many new organisations
had been founded. Altogether, a remarkable record.
The Revd Christopher Witty Steer was
appointed to the Pastorate in 1961
1968 was
approaching which was the centenary year and so plans were
being made to put the church into good order. It is interesting
to note the names of two of the deacons from the centenary year
a Mr Alan Abernethy and a Mr Bryn Roach, (wonder what ever
happened to them???)
The school block was refaced, the lounge
and the kitchen upstairs adjacent to the upper hall were built
and the lighting was modernised all was opened by 13th October
1963.
In 1982 Revd David Barter became the new Minister;
Revd Dr Terry Griffith, the present incumbent, followed him in
1995.
We have now just completed another
building project for Trinity, to again be ready to meet a new
generation of believers and community needs. It seems that
Trinity has a history of "face lifting" its buildings
to make them suitable for changing times and needs. This has
always been achieved with a combination of loans, pledges and
fund raising.
It is encouraging to know we are following
in the footsteps of other believers, to keep Trinity as an
acceptable Witness for the Glory of God through his Son in this
place.
A Presence of Baptist Believers have met
in Bexleyheath ever since those early days nearly two hundred
years ago, living alongside and serving the community through
wars, depressions, highs and lows since those early days of the
eighteen hundreds.
Trinity Baptist church is a church with a
history, a church with a future here among the people of
Bexleyheath.
Trinity has a history compatible and
acceptable in meeting the needs of changing times, the
believers in Jesus Christ the Saviour working within the power
of His Holy Spirit and remaining in Gods will have always
achieved it.
Martin Seymour studied at Spurgeons Bible
College and was ordained into Christian ministry at the same
time as his induction as Associate Pastor at Trinity Baptist
Church on the 9th September 2006. Martin started to come along
to Trinity as an atheist who just wanted to attack the
fellowship of Trinity and disprove the myth that he saw as The
Christian Faith. Martin came to faith at 4-0-clock on the 15th
February in 1997 after completing his second Alpha Course.
Revd. George Smith
Revd. F W Porter
Revd. Edward Fisk
Revd. William G Jeffrey