By John and Angela Magee. Part of a series of articles on the History of Emmanuel Church in Salisbury.
The founding of a New Testament church in any place is always a cause of thanks and rejoicing, especially as it is through the Church that God has promised to advance His Kingdom and to restrain the influences of Satan and the world. When first hand records of such a time are preserved, there is a peculiar blessing often found in reading these accounts.
With this in mind it is good, at the start of this history of Emmanuel Church, Salisbury, to set down the accounts given by two men who were involved with this cause more or less from the beginning.
Our first account is taken from the records kept by Dudley and Abigail Luke (who with their children, moved to Salisbury in 1957, and began worshipping at Emmanuel Church). This fledging church of just four years was meeting in Emmanuel Hall on Devizes Road and was already experiencing some blessing upon its ministry. The Lukes' record of the founding of the church is as follows:
During the war and for several decades after it, evangelicals were held in very low esteem. They were felt to be academically weak and people with more faith than intellect. A newcomer to Salisbury seeking a "good evangelical church" was made to feel as though he were committing an oxymoron. Such a thing did not and could not exist, - by definition. Moreover, even amongst the "low" churches there was virtually nothing that was specifically geared to the needs of the younger generation.
Some people prayed about this. Mr. Lance Partridge, a local business man who worshipped with the Open Brethren, decided to do something about it. He formed an interdenominational group of young people which, with the encouragement of Mr. Frank Lawes, an evangelist with the Open Brethren, and the assistance of Mr. Arthur Gove, an evangelist with the National Young Life Campaign, formed a local branch of the NYLC. This group was made up of between ten and twenty young people including some students from the Sarum St. Michael Teacher Training College in the Cathedral Close. They met regularly on Monday evenings in the Maundrel Hall in Fisherton Street, close by the Mill stream, and, from time to time they arranged evangelistic outreach meetings on Wednesdays, either in Maundrel Hall or in the form of "squashes" in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Partridge.
At that time the Railway Mission had regular Sunday services in the Emmanuel Hall (now Moose Hall) in Devizes Road. Salisbury was very much a railway city with workshops and repair yards on the site of the present railway station. This work flourished in its day but declined as the local railway industry did. Eventually the work closed down and Emmanuel Hall was declared redundant. It was offered to all the local churches but nobody wanted it so eventually it was offered to the local branch of the NYLC. By 1952 the group was holding regular Sunday services there and in October 1953 the fledgling Emmanuel Church was formally constituted, meeting in Emmanuel Hall, with a membership of about a dozen. Mr. Lance Partridge was the Secretary and Mr. Philip King the Treasurer. These, with the help of visiting preachers conducted the services.
In 1952 and again in 1956 children's missions were held and also in 1956, a full scale adult mission which was heavily advertised in the city and surrounding villages. This resulted in a number of converts, some of whom joined the church. Soon after this Mr. Partridge was promoted by his firm and left the area, to be succeeded by Mr. A. W. Lodge as Secretary, and a full-time worker was appointed in 1959, Mr. Duncan Leighton, who stayed only a short time.
The church received much help and encouragement from Col. R. Biddulph.... [At that time it was] a Biblically based church with a strong emphasis on evangelism and outreach, especially to young people and children.1
Mr. Arthur Gove, who formed the Salisbury branch of the NYLC, gives some further insights into these events. Commenting on the acquisition of Emmanuel Hall from the Railway Mission, he adds:
Unfortunately the Mission [the Railway Mission] had recently let the back rooms of the Hall to a lady who was to act as caretaker. Sadly, she was mentally disturbed and frequently came in and interrupted the services. So it was that on a Monday morning the [Superintendent] came to Mr. Gove's house and said, "She's done it again". It appears that she interrupted the Sunday morning service, and had actually hit the [Superintendent], over the head with a saucepan! The [Superintendent] said, "I've had enough-I can't carry on - [W]ould you like to use the Hall for your [N.] Y.L.C. meetings". Mr. Gove then contacted Mr. Lance Partridge, who had been praying for some time that an Evangelical witness might be established on the Devizes Road [the] Wilton side of Salisbury, and it was agreed that we should use the Railway Mission premises for the [N.] Y.L.C. meetings and other evangelistic purposes.... A further definite answer to prayer was that within a fortnight the local council provided alternative accommodation for the lady who had occupied the rear rooms of the Railway Mission!2
Prior to the constituting of Emmanuel Church in October 1953 (as described above), a number of meetings were held by that group of believers to discuss many of the important issues relevant to the formation of a new church.
At the meeting held in Emmanuel Hall on 23 June 1953, those attending were as follows: Miss Mackenzie, Mrs. Partridge, Mrs. King, Miss M. Purchase, Miss Shirley Waters, Mr. A. Lodge, Mr. C. Lodge, Mr. K. Mullins, Dr. Trueman, Mrs. Trueman, and Mr. L. Partridge. Mr Alan Lodge proposed that the believers attending the Hall should constitute as a church. This was seconded by Mrs Partridge and all present (11 in total) agreed. Interestingly, at this meeting Dr. Raymond Trueman (who was to have a significant role in a later part of the life of the church) and his wife were in attendance. A special meeting was called for 23 July 1953. Those present at this meeting were Dr. Trueman, Mr. D. Lodge, Mr. P. King, Messrs. A. and C. Lodge, Mr. K. Mullins, Miss Mackenzie, Mrs. Trueman, the Misses Goldworthy and Mr. Partridge. At this meeting three key issues were highlighted for discussion:
It was only possible to get as far as the first point at that meeting, but there was a unanimous agreement to make an offer of £25 per annum for five years to the Railway Mission. (According to the meeting held 27 August, 1953, the Hall was eventually leased for £50 per annum.)
At a meeting on 7 August 1953, Mr. Ken Mullins suggested that the study following that of the Epistle to the Romans should be a study of the Doctrinal Basis of Faith.
Minute Books do not often record the spiritual state of the church members but, at the meeting held 7 August, 1953 it was mentioned that "after a season of prayer when a very fine spirit prevailed and nearly everyone engaged in prayer"3, the business matters of the meeting were attended to. The Lord appeared to be building His church both inwardly and outwardly. Already a degree of blessing had been experienced by these believers, with new members being added to the body between the June and August meetings. Among these new members was our dear sister Janet Buckley (nee Burton), who is the only member presently among us who was a founding member. Janet was converted under the ministry at Emmanuel Church when she was sixteen years old. She subsequently witnessed to her mother, who then started attending the services and was brought to saving faith in her latter years. We thank God for Janet, and rejoice to be reminded of all that God has done for her over those many years.
It was finally at the 27 August meeting that the Statement of Faith and Church Constitution were endorsed.
At a time when many evangelical churches were capitulating to ecumenism and humanism, and church attendance was falling nationally, this group of believers sought to be faithful to Biblical standards. Help was received from Lansdowne Baptist Church, Bournemouth, and Above Bar Church, Southampton, in preparing important church documents. The Doctrine of Faith approved at that meeting was based upon seven fundamental truths of the Protestant Reformation:
Such a Statement of Faith laid the foundations for further doctrinal changes which were to take place in the church in later years as the preaching and teaching reflected, in a more detailed and accurate way, Reformation and Puritan principles of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
A proposed Constitution was then brought before the members for approval. Its contents addressed the following:
With regard to the ordinances the paragraph regarding Baptism is clearly baptistic:
The ordinance of Believer's Baptism by total immersion shall be observed as and when required, in obedience to the command of the Lord Jesus. It will be administered only to those who have stated their wholehearted belief in the Lord Jesus Christ as their own personal Saviour, and are therefore regarded as true believers, not as conveying any regenerating grace.4
At the following meeting on 31 August an election of a Chairman and Committee Members was held. The following were elected:
At this meeting Dr. Trueman made a proposal regarding paragraph six of the Doctrinal Basis to have the phrase "the everlasting punishment of the lost" omitted.5 This proposal was put to a vote and rejected. Mr. P. King reported at this meeting that the average weekly collection was £2-7-6.
A Foundation Service for Emmanuel Church was held on the Sabbath 4thOctober 1953.
The morning service was led by Dr. Trueman and the founding members signed the membership book. Thirteen people subscribed that morning to the Statement of Faith and Church Constitution and their names were recorded in the membership book as testimony of their covenanting together to form a Church. Those covenanting together were, Raymond S. Trueman, Lancelot A. Partridge, Philip King, E. M. Partridge, R. E. King, A. Lodge, Mrs. Dowle, Janet Burton, M. Purchase, Josephine Burton, Doreen Long, Ann Long, and Ken R. Mullins. (The names of Mr. and Mrs. Partridge's children were also recorded.)
The first Annual General Meeting of the church was held on 13 January, 1954. Reports were given for the Girls' Club held on Tuesday evenings. This had seen encouragements over the previous year with some girls professing faith and attendance reaching to 40 on many evenings. A Good News Club had been started for boys and girls of all ages and had also seen blessings from the Lord. The numbers coming along had often been as high as 65 and some of these children had professed faith in the Lord.
Dr. Trueman had submitted a letter of resignation to the committee in November 1953 (probably relating to his doctrinal difference) and this letter was brought before the meeting and discussed among the members. His resignation was not opposed.
Monthly Saturday preaching rallies were agreed at this meeting also.
The annual voting for a new Secretary, Treasurer and Committee Members completed the meeting for that night. Total offerings for the year had been £173-4-0.
1 Dudley Luke, "Emmanuel Church, Salisbury", 1, 2.
2 Arthur Gove, "Emmanuel Church", paragraph 2.
3 Emmanuel Church, Salisbury, Minutes of Meeting held on 7 August 1953, 4.
4 Ibid., 27 August, 1953, 8.
5 Ibid., 31 August,1953, 14.