|
Today - Knaphill Baptist Church in the 21st
Century
A New Minister
We said farewell to Rev.Bob Younger in June
2000, and started the process to seek a new Minister.
The process of calling a new minister to the
Church started in the summer of 1999, when Bob Younger formally
announced his intention to retire on his 65th birthday in June
2000. Bob hoped that this would give the Church time to find a new
Minister to take over when he retired so that a long interregnum
could be avoided. The Church created its own profile to send to
prospective ministers and the Church's Moderator, Glyn Prosser,
led the Deacons through some seventy to eighty minister's profiles
(no small job!). Several invitations were issued by the Deacons to
meet with ministers who all declined. And then one minister did
respond and met with the Deacons and Church. The Church got to the
point of calling him to the Pastorate but he declined as he did
not have anywhere to live and the Church did not have a manse.
Whilst the Church had been sure that God was calling him to
Knaphill, the message from God was actually "you need to get
a manse". Some hectic months then followed working through
the process of purchasing a manse, which you will find below.
 The
Deacons met with a couple of other people as prospective
candidates but there was always a maybe/maybe not. And then, both
through the official channels and through word of mouth, the
Deacons learned of a minister in the Sussex area who had just
finished at his current church. Was this a co-incidence? A meeting
was set up with Gordon Steer and then there was a bombshell. The
Church Secretary, Brenda Rice, died suddenly around two days
before Gordon was due to visit. It was decided that the meeting
should go ahead and the Deacons met with Gordon. As a result,
Gordon was invited back to meet with the Church and to "preach
with a view to the Pastorate of the Church" and a unanimous
invitation was issued to Gordon Steer to come and be the next
Minister of our church. Gordon was formally inducted into the
Pastorate of the Church on the 18th September 2004.
The Manse
One of the clear messages God gave the church
at this time was to buy a manse. It was the first time the church
had owned one, and took a big step of faith financially. Although
those 4 years without a minister were difficult for us as humans.
However, the more we look back the more it is clear that the Lord
engineered the gap to release the finance to repay the loans. It
required a lot of work to refurbish, a job that we finished just
minutes before Gordon moved in, despite three years to get it
done!
Work continues
Gordon's four years with us were years of
rebuilding spiritually. We and he always knew that he would only
be with us four years, and right from the outset Gordon set about
preparing us for our next minister. The church moved on musically,
reestablishing its music group in worship, and learning new songs.
A weekly bible study encouraged God's word to be put at the centre
of life in the church, and Gordon's bible based preaching brought
the Word of God to life in the services.
But the time came for Gordon to confirm his
retirement in June 2008, and the search started for a new
minister. Alan Toombs, until recently an Elder at Goldalming
Baptist Church, and who had preached at KBC on several occasions
was approached and agreed to act as moderator. So it was with no
small amount of trepidation that we started the search. We decided
as a church to target the student exit of 2008. However, everybody
was still very focussed on "we can't take another 4 years to
find the next one". But God was again very gracious. As most
churches do, we prepared our profile, met with the regional
minister, and prayed. We hit the National Settlement meeting in
November 2007, and received an unprecedented 7 names. There were 5
students and 2 old hands. We met with three, and quickly
shortlisted two. Both were invited to visit and preach in January.
The Lord's was clearly in everything - one politely said no
thanks, and the other - Richard - quickly accepted an invitation
to spend a weekend meeting the church and preaching with a view.
As well as Richard preaching, we grilled him
hard over tea, and then enjoyed another weekend of fellowship
before issuing an invitation to the pastorate. God has been so
good. He knew we (as humans) couldn't take the stresses of an
extended period of uncertainty; He had Richard's name in the first
batch we received; He made it clear in more than one way that
Richard was the person we should be inviting; He ensured Richard
said "Yes" quickly.
Richard graduated with a first class honours
degree in July and was ordained at his sending church in Magor,
South Wales on 28th June 2008. The induction service on 20th
September 2008 was led by our Moderator, Alan Toombs. The ceremony
of induction was conducted by the Regional Minister, Rev. Norman
Tharby, and Rev. Roy Kearsley, Lecturer in Theology at South Wales
Baptist College, preached. Representatives from local
organisations and churches brought greetings to Richard. His
Worship the Mayor of Woking attended.
Updating the Chapel
One of the things Gordon identified as a
priority was that the chapel needed updating. The interior
decoration had not been altered since the 1950's and although new
flooring had been installed in the 1970's and the paint had been
refreshed occasionally, it needed some work. New panelling was
installed to the lower half of the walls, and the whole interior
painted sky blue and white. the whole floor was now carpetted,
rather than just along the aisle. New wooden padded chairs
replaced the long-serving plastic ones, a new sound system was
installed, and new flexible staging and new lectern will follow
soon.
Before the work started |
During the Refurbishment |
Nearly Done - just the chairs to go! |
|
However much we may work on the building to
suit the needs of the church today, it is not, as Robert Black
knew well in 1886, the church. The challenge to the present
membership is to respond further to the renewal which has come by
God's grace, and to offer, by its life and activities, a living
faith in the God who revealed himself in Jesus Christ and the
friendship of a loving fellowship to all those living in Knaphill
and in its surrounding area.
You're up to date! You'll find more of what is
happening this year on our News and Events
Pages TOP |
