It was about 1886 when a group of
Christians began to meet together in the flag-stoned kitchen of Mr
Voller's farm at Ramsnest, on the Petworth Road, about a mile and a
half south of Chiddingfold. The kitchen soon became too small and a
larger building needed to be found. The answer was a wooden bam on the
way to Killingshurst Park, still at Ramsnest. The work was supported by
Mr Rankin, the Minister of the Baptist Church in Commercial Road,
Guildford. A small stream nearby would be dammed to give enough water
for baptisms. The Baptist preacher James A Spurgeon held baptisms in
this stream.
Soon after 1900 plans were made to
build a Chapel for the growing congregation in Chiddingfold itself. On
the 15th November 1904 the site at Woodside Road was purchased. The
bricks for the building were supplied by Mr Samuel Barrow, J.P. of
Dunsfold. He was a prominent Christian layman who had a great deal to
do with financing new Chapels in rural Surrey. The new Chapel was built
by Mr Frank Bullimore.
The flooring from the barn at Ramsnest
was used for the floor of the new Chapel. Mr Rankin continued to
support the work until he retired in 1909 when he was presented with an
illustrated address, in the comer of which was an etching of the
Woodside Road Chapel. Mr Stanger, another faithful man held a series of
special meetings and the famous Baptist preacher Rev Charles H Spurgeon
conducted a weekend in Chiddingfold.
From then until 1930 we have no
records. Since these early days there have been a number of Pastors. Mr
Perry until 1946. Mr Simmonds then led the church as Superintendent
until Mr Fred Sanders was called to the Pastorate in 1963. During his
time of leadership extra land at the rear of the church was purchased
to enable the present extension and car park. Mr George Murray followed
as Pastor from 1973-1975. When he left Mr Charles Godden was asked to
act as moderator. After a year Mr Godden and his wife had so endeared
themselves to the fellowship and had worked so hard on their behalf
that he was asked to become Pastor. He continued in this position until
March 1982.
Later in 1982 Mr Peter Knapton became
Pastor. During his time the church celebrated its centenary year.
Members of the church finally replaced the floor of the main church,
carpeted the building throughout and bought chairs to replace the
original pews. During Peter's time the friendship between the different
village churches became closer. It was a great sadness and shock when
Peter died unexpectedly in 1988 and the church felt his loss very
deeply. Mr Robin Watson, from Godalming, came to be Pastor for a short
time. Into this hard time came a vision from the churches new moderator
Mr John Withers (Pastor at the new Milford Baptist Church). Jointly the
two churches began to look for someone to fulfil the two half-time
roles of Minister at Chiddingfold and Youth Worker for Milford.
Rev Tim Langdon came to the joint roles
on April 1st 1995. Both churches combined to buy a manse. The
Chiddingfold Church began to grow but it was a strain for Tim to
support both ministries. When Milford decided to call a full time
Minister Chiddingfold called the Rev Langdon to be full time Minister.
God has honored this step of faith and the manse has been purchased by
Chiddingfold Baptist Church. Under Tim's leadership we have steadily
grown numerically and have in fact outgrown our premises. In April 2002
we began to hold our morning services in St Mary's Primary School,
later moving onto Chiddingfold village hall.
Also during this time we have
restructured our leadership team now having a senior elder (Tim
Langdon) and two other elders. There are five deacons each responsible
for a specific area of the churches ministry. We also renewed the basis
of membership during this time focusing on covenanting together as a
family of God's people.
We still use the church building for
our Sunday evening services and daily prayer times. We have midweek
Care groups in homes, active Crusader classes during the week and youth
groups on Sunday mornings. Many people have come to faith through the
Alpha Courses which we have run in the church and private homes.
It is so good to see how the Lord is blessing and honoring the faithfulness and prayers of previous generations.
Looking to the future we are at present in the process of planning a new church center in the village.
For more information about this initiative, see "project Generations"
Thanks to Tim and Mary for providing the history of the church. |
