Revival

An interesting note occurs in the minute book for church meeting September 26, 1878.

 

Considerable conversation took place relative to the best means under God of promoting a revival of religion in the church and neighbourhood.

Baptistery

The church was built without a baptistery but one was installed in March 1878. Presumably before then baptisms took place in Hampstead or perhaps in some sort of open air pool or pond.

Early Church Groups

We know from the minute books that early on in Child's Hill besides the regular services there was

Sunday School
Mothers Meeting
Bible Classes
Tract Society
Temperance Society

Childs Hill's first Deacons

The Church Minute book lists the first deacons as

G Rudd
T Elphick
R Keevil (Treasurer)
D James
W J Sims
Jos Smith

Jos Turvie was also appointed as Financial Secretary (a sort of deputy treasurer)

Pie Chart Ministers

Baptists in London in the 19th century

I found this here

The nineteenth century saw a gradual coming together of Connexion and Particular Baptists. In 1812- 13 a Baptist Union was formed, and while largely influence by Particular Baptists, over time it began to draw in churches from the Connexion. By the end of the century this was the main body representing Baptist churches. Yet there was also division – some felt that Calvinistic doctrinal standards were slipping. In the early nineteenth century, a group of churches, influenced in part by London Baptist minister John Stevens, emerged as the Strict Baptists. The first Strict Baptist periodical, the Gospel Standard, was published in 1835. A Metropolitan Association of Strict Baptist Churches was formed in 1871.

As London experienced rapid expansion there was a flourishing of Baptist church building. This was fuelled in part by the formation in 1865 of the London Baptist Association, which ten years later had 131 members. One of the main aims of the organisation was the provision of funds for church extension (now commonly known as ‘planting’). In the first years of the Association, funds were found to build Baptist churches in Upper Holloway, Victoria Park, The Downs (Clapton), Battersea Park, Surbiton, Balham, Leyton and Highgate Rd. These years of church building reflected the growing confidence of the Baptist community: many of these churches were spacious, seating numbers from 350 to 1000, and they were built on prominent sites, often on main roads.

The Daily News census of religious worship in 1902-3 indicated that Baptists, with 163,052 worshippers, were the largest of the Free Church denominations. Attendance at the best-attended Baptist churches showed that certain preachers could still draw crowds. The largest attendance at one Baptist service was 2,210, at the huge Metropolitan Tabernacle, founded at the Elephant and Castle by the Victorian ‘prince of preachers’, C.H. Spurgeon. The next largest Baptist causes - with more than 1,000 people at one service - were the East London Tabernacle, founded and built up by Archibald Brown, a friend of Spurgeon’s, followed by Tabernacles or Chapels at Woolwich, Westbourne Park, Poplar, Shoreditch, Upper Holloway, Ferme Park, West Norwood, West Croydon and Peckham. Many had been planted by students from Spurgeon’s College, an institution for training Baptists ministers in London.*

An important gauge of Baptist social involvement is the activity of Baptist churches in deprived areas. Here the work of Baptist deaconesses was crucial. In 1890 a Baptist Deaconesses’ Home and Mission had been founded under the direction of F.B. Meyer and the London Baptist Association, and medical, social and evangelistic work was undertaken. With the support of the Deaconesses, many Baptist churches were active in social engagement.

* The second minister at Childs Hill was from Spurgeon's College. Seating at the chapel was said to be 400.