'...this I have resolved on, to wit, to run when I can, to go when I cannot run, and to creep when I cannot go.'

Saturday 10 November 2012

The Hope in Hope Street

This book is just out and can be obtained from Amazon. It tells the story of 200 years of gospel witness in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent through two buildings on the same site. In 1812 the Hope Congregational church building was erected on New Hall Street. When later a street came to join it by the church this was called Hope Street after the building. The book provides an interesting and spiritually valuable record of the growth and progress of the church up to 1931 when the building became Bethel Temple following the ministry of Edward Jeffreys in the Potteries. In 1958 the name of the church became Bethel Evangelical Free Church, which it still retains. As it happens I was the pastor of the church from 1966 to 1994. The present building was opened in 1977. As far as I am concerned it is the early history which is so enlightening.