1875-1910 Advance and Decline

1875-1877 Rev G Williams

In 1875, Rev G. Williams began a short but happy and vigorous ministry. In his first year, 20 new members were added to the church. He moved in 1877 to Astley Bridge, Bolton, Lancashire, where he served for many years.


1878-1892 Rev C A Slack

In 1878, Rev C. A. Slack commenced a long ministry of 14 and a half years. There was widespread trade depression in 1879. This was bound to affect the life of the young church. At the end of 1881, the annual financial statement revealed a balance in hand of one half penny! Discussion about attendance at the Lord's table took place and it was decided in 1882 to close the communion service to non-members of the church. Signs of new life began to appear. In August 1883 a day of thanksgiving for the clearance of the debt was held. This special day began with a prayer meeting at 7am. An afternoon service was held followed by a tea at which 200 people sat down. A public meeting followed in the evening. In the following year, the Baptist Missionary Society was asked to send fifty collecting boxes. Later, a missionary secretary was appointed. The church was only nineteen years old and the course seemed set fair when trouble came. Several families left and progress was halted for a number of years. It is well to draw a veil over what happened. A church meeting in 1896, 10 years later, decided to do just that. It was then resolved that decisions at twelve church meetings in 1886-7 should be rescinded and the records withdrawn. This was done by tearing out several pages from the minute book and inserting, in place of the destroyed pages, a short record of non-controversial decisions in that period. In spite of internal difficulties, the church was not unwilling to be involved in the life of the town. In 1885-6, the schoolroom was lent to the Sunday School Union for a united monthly prayer meeting. In 1887, the church agreed to take up an annual collection towards the expenses of the newly erected Faversham Cottage Hospital. A report of the annual church meeting in the early part of 1890 refers to the ‘smallness’ of the church.


1893-1895 Rev F T White

The next minister, Rev Thomas White, remained only two years, years during a period of financial stringency. The financial stress at this period is shown by the arrangement made in July 1893 that the minister should receive the weekly offerings. The balance of his salary, £75 per annum, was to be made up at the end of each month. Further light on the financial stress of the church is shown in the decision in 1894 to grant the minister the sum of five shillings for providing hospitality for a visiting preacher. In 1895 it was decided to take up pew-to-pew offerings at each service. In 1894 a Tract Society was formed to distribute copies of Charles Spurgeon's sermons. There were signs of progress in 1894 when 33 new members were added to the church. Erasures and transfers of membership meant a loss of 16 members with a net gain of 17.


1895-1899 Rev T T Minchin

Again and again, in the minutes of church meetings, there are references to the transfer of members. Baptists move to a new town and almost as soon as their transfers of membership are received from their previous church, they are off again. At times there were frequent changes in the offices of the church and in the diaconate. Occasionally the minister would act as church secretary and there were frequent changes of caretakers. Sometimes they were called ‘chapel keepers’. One was styled the ‘chapel woman’ and she was dismissed because she would not attend the services. Her successor was elected at a church meeting by ballot.

The church has also suffered from short pastorates. Omitting the two longest pastorates, the average length of the others was four years. There have been seven pastorates of three years or less. Here are some simple statistics: in 1896 there were 11 transfers of members away. In the following year there were 10, offset by 13 transfers in to membership of the church. Between 30 and 40 members were present at the annual church meeting in January 1897. At one evening service a few instruments were brought into use but we are not told what they were or how long the experiment lasted. The annual church meeting a year later was attended by 45 members. It was reported to the Annual Meeting in 1899 that there were 81 members and 266 scholars in the Sunday School. The members were ‘entertained’ by ‘an exhibition of the gramophone which had been hired for the evening’.


1899-1906 Rev G Stanley

At the beginning of 1901 there were 96 members. The Baptist Church joined the newly formed Faversham Free Church Council. One of its activities was the arranging of a United Free Church watchnight service.

Church discipline was a reality. Grave charges had been made against a deacon. His resignation was accepted and his name was erased from the church roll. It was at this time that the method of election of deacons was changed. Double the number of deacons required were to be nominated, one half by the minister and deacons, one half by the church members.

In 1903 it was stated: ‘We have suffered as we did last year through the exodus from the town of many of the members of the church and congregation. The Sunday School lost six good workers.’ In the minutes, the opinion is expressed that ‘empty seats repulse newcomers’. On the more cheerful side was the news that two Bible classes were held regularly, as well as a minister's class for young people. At the beginning of 1904, there were 85 members, 173 Sunday School scholars, 70 children in the Band of Hope and 25 Christian endeavourers.

The Church was now being run on a financial shoestring. In April 1905, the quarterly financial statement showed a balance of eight shillings, two and three quarter pence. The Church, however, decided to send a delegate to the inaugural Congress of the Baptist World Alliance held that year in London. In the same year the choir was promoted from the front pews to the platform which had been altered and improved to give a more finished appearance.


1906-1910 No Minister

The minute book tells us that 1906 was ‘a year of adversity’. Numbers were down, money was tight. In July, the minister resigned after a pastorate of seven years and the church was in debt to him. The Kent and Sussex Baptist Association offered to lend the church £25 so that Mr Stanley might receive what was due to him before he left the town at the end of August. He received £10 before he left, but in December a sum of £2 10 shillings was still owing to him. This was subsequently paid. During a period of great difficulty, Mr A. Hodgkinson of Herne Bay served for more than a year as lay pastor. His help was much appreciated.

In 1908 the membership was only 59. A number of members had left the town to seek work in other places. In 1909 trouble came again. At a church meeting in September there were criticisms that the deacons and the renovation committee had transacted business without consulting the church members. At a special church meeting in October, four deacons, the secretary and the treasurer resigned. At the same meeting, one member ‘kept on talking, totally disregarding the chairman's ruling, and the meeting ended in confusion’. 

‘Kemsdale’ is first mentioned in June 1909. A Sunday school treat was held there in July and an invitation was extended to the members of the church and congregation. This was the first of many happy occasions at the home of Mr and Mrs Edward Vinson in Herne Hill.