History
of the Mission
Brighton
Road Mission or better still " the Mission " is
actually West Humberstone Gospel Mission Hall, which is
quite a mouth full hence we say the Mission. In October
1896 the foundation stones of the Mission building were
laid and in January 1897 the Mission was open for worship.
The stone on the Mission was laid on behalf of the members
of the church, and the Mayor of Leicester Alderman E. Wood
J. P laid the other. No one lives to tell the story of the
early years, but there are records going back to 1903, and
of course we have the benefit of memory for later and recent
years, Each department and activity of the church has a
story to tell and these have been located in this history
by minutes in church and Sunday school records.
The
original plans of the Mission hall.
Some
facts and figures are included in an appendix where acknowledgements
are also to be found.
The
original deeds record that "The said Chapel or Mission
shall be called the West Humberstone Gospel Mission and
shall at all times hereafter be used as a mission Hall or
place of meeting for the public worship of God in an unsectarian
form by the Church and congregation of Evangelical Christians
which has for some time past worshipped in the Overton Road
Board Schools." This is clear evidence, but there is
also the evidence which has been handed down over the years
that at some time before the erection of The Mission building
the members met in the Railway station waiting rooms at
the corner of Martival and the Uppingham Road.
Speculation
has produced a number of reasons for the seperation of the
original group from their established church. The clear
clear and precise way in which the deeds of the Mission,
produced before building commenced, lay down the principals
of operation suggest a fundamental disagreement with the
status quo.
Whatever
the reason, we should be grateful for the establishment
of a Church on foundations secure enough to last for a hundred
years.
From the book "The West Humberstone
Gospel Mission Centenary" 1897 to 1997 minute by minute
by A.E.Shenton August 1996.
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