Townhead Christian Fellowship, Stevenston
It was in the year 2004 that there was a merger of two gospel halls in Stevenston, Ayrshire. I was one of the elders in the former Bethany Hall which had suffered a serious drop in numbers. It had never been a huge church but in my boyhood it had about 50 or 60 members. When Janie and I were married, we moved away from Stevenston and lived in Auchinleck and then Cumnock. In 1982, we returned to Stevenston when I took up a promoted post in Garnock Academy, Kilbirnie. I was immediately recruited into taking responsibility for running the small Sunday School. We tried to continue with the Sunday School for a few years even purchasing an old red minibus which the school was selling off because they had purchased a slightly better one. We used to tour the streets of Ardeer and the Hillside Street area to collect children for the Sunday school. At the same time, Alex Gentleman was travelling the same area to take children to the Loan Hall, which was in the centre of the town. This illustrated the point that the town was too small for three separate gospel halls - Hayocks in the 'top end' of the town, Loan Hall in the middle and Bethany Hall in Station Road which was nearer Ardeer. Loan Hall and Bethany Hall were near each other - only half a mile apart.
To finish off the story about the children's work in Bethany, I suggested to the elders that, instead of a Sunday School, we would have a new venture - a children's meeting called a Monday Club. This would not conflict with the work in Loan Hall and we could support each other. There was an informal agreement that our own children would attend the Sunday School at Loan Hall and their children would come to the Monday Club. No prizes for guessing what night of the week we held our 'children's meeting'! For several years, I also ran a weekly youth Bible Class on a Wednesday evening which was attended by young people from Loan Hall, Hayocks, Kilwinning, Kilbirnie, Irvine and elsewhere. This was well attended with around 30 young people gathering each week.
My father died in the year 2002 and by that stage Bethany Hall had declined to around 20 people. Loan Hall was bigger with around 40 or 50 people. Some folks began to consider seriously a merger of the two gospel halls. This is where this story becomes uncomfortable for me. Janie and I were reluctant to merge Bethany Hall with Loan Hall. We both felt that this was going backwards. I know that this might blog might be read by some people who grew up in Loan Hall, Stevenston and I do not want to cause offence. In our mind, Bethany Hall was a bit too conservative or traditional for us but we saw Loan Hall as even more traditional. We favoured a coming together with Hayocks which seemed more progressive to us. I wanted lively singing and I dreamed of having a band leading the worship. We had become a bit 'looser' in the old Bethany Hall - I had played a guitar at the Monday Club - I imagined that would not have been allowed at Loan Hall. By the way, I was the worst guitar player imaginable. By 2002 we were having a wee band at our evening service which was mainly for children.
Prayer meetings were held by representatives from both Loan Hall and Hayocks but I did not attend them. Deep down, I was afraid that God would answer these prayers because I was convinced that a merger would not be 'a good thing.' Janie and I were in total agreement. I had a sleepless night (not that unusual for me) but something happened that night which was special. I felt that God was speaking to me. He reminded me about the story of Jonah who was disobedient by allowing his prejudices to influence him in his refusal to obey God. God warned Jonah to go to Nineveh but Jonah was prejudiced against the Assyrians who were unbelievably cruel and he did not want God to spare Nineveh. God made it clear that I was the Jonah!
I remember getting up the next morning to get ready for work. I decided that I would have a conversation with Janie but we were both going to work and we had important jobs so the conversation could wait until the evening. Janie suddenly announced to me, "Robert, we need to join the Loan Hall."
And it happened. And it was according to God's plan. And it has turned out to be a blessing. I was being influenced by prejudice rather than listening to God's voice. Before you judge me for my sin, just ask yourself if you have prejudices which are contrary to God's Word. I have shared this story, because I believe that our prejudices are harmful and destructive. In essence, I was judging my fellow Christians in Loan Hall and labelling them. In the remaining years, I spent at the new Townhead Christian Fellowship, I came to admire and love these same people that I had written off as 'too traditional.'
By the way, within a short space of time we had our very own praise band at TCF and the Sunday evening praise nights became very popular.
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