Patrick Comerford
Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church, at the New Oxford Street end of Shaftesbury Avenue, is in the heart of London’s West End, facing onto Prince’s Circle, and close to some of the best known West End theatres and venues. It is the central church of Baptists and It dates from 1848, when it was built by Sir Samuel Moreton Peto MP, one of the great railway developers in the Victorian age.
When the church almost 180 years ago opened on 5 December 1848, it was the first Baptist chapel to stand prominently on a London street, looking like a ‘church’ and reflecting the improved status of Victorian dissenters. It became Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church in 1905. In the 20th century, it became known for its work in areas of social justice, including homelessness and poverty, and it was the first place in Britain where the Revd Martin Luther King preached.
Today, the church describes itself as ‘progressive in our theology, reverent in our style of worship, and active when it comes to social justice’, and says it aspires to be inclusive and accessible, welcoming people of all genders, and it is registered for the solemnisation of marriage for couples of all genders.
The church was built or Sir Samuel Morton Peto (1809-1889) on speculation and without a congregation because he considered the area needed a church was needed in the area. Morton Peto was an entrepreneur, civil engineer and railway developer, and for more than 20 years he was a Liberal MP, sitting for Norwich (1847-1854), Finsbury (1859- 1865) and Bristol (1865-1868). He was a partner in Grissell and Peto, which built many of London’s major buildings and monuments, including the Reform Club, the Lyceum Theatre, Nelson’s Column and the Houses of Parliament, and he was once the world’s largest employer.
Peto wanted to create a visible Baptist witness in central London and chose his site with care, where Oxford Street was being extended east, between the squares of Bloomsbury and the slums of Saint Giles. It is said the Crown Commissioner was reluctant to lease the land to nonconformists with their dull architecture and no spires, to which Peto exclaimed, ‘A spire, my Lord? We shall have two!’
The church was designed in 1845-1848 by the architect John Gibson (1817-1892), who had been articled to Joseph Aloysius Hansom (1803-1882) in Birmingham before becoming an assistant to Sir Charles Barry in 1835 and assisting Barry in his drawings of the Houses of Parliament.
Gibson designed the church in the Early Italian Gothic style on a rectangular plan, and it was built in grey brick with stone dressings and vertical bands. The west front is flanked by rectangular towers, and has three central moulded arch entrances below a Lombardic frieze and a large rose window flanked by two round-arched windows. The two four-stage towers have vertical bands, small windows and belfries.
The towers were once stopped by Minto’s promised spires, but the twin spires were removed in 1951, when they were no longer safe due to damage during World War II.
Inside, the church has a horseshoe-shaped auditorium with a curved gallery supported on polygonal cast-iron columns. The gallery has an arcaded-patterned front. Inside the church also has curved pews and stained glass windows with Biblical texts. The balcony is reached by wrought-iron stairs on either side of the central entrance foyer, which was refitted in the 1960s.
‘Bloomsbury’, as it is known affectionately to those who love it, has been in the heart of London for almost 180 years. The emphasis and style have changed over the generations, but it continues to proclaim Christian love and hope.
Bloomsbury Chapel opened on 5 December 1848, the first Baptist chapel to stand proudly on a London street, visibly an ‘ecclesiastical edifice’. Because of earlier restrictions, dissident previous meeting-houses were often hidden down back alleys and in upper rooms. But as civil rights and social standing improved, Victorian Baptists, along with other free churches, wanted to be seen.
When it was being built, the new chapel was still without a congregation. Peto invited the Revd William Brock from Norwich to initiate the cause. His preaching quickly drew a congregation and 62 founder members formally constituted the church on 25 July 1849. The church only practised believer’s baptism, but both communion and membership were open to professing Christians from other traditions.
At the time, it was unusual for preachers to refer to current events from the pulpit, but Brock insisted that ‘the Bible and The Times newspaper are the best materials for the preacher’, for the God of the Bible is also the God of everyday life.
When the church realised London would have many visitors for the Great Exhibition in 1851, the church announced that those Americans who practised or condoned slavery would not be welcome at the table.
The church grew rapidly, with nearly 900 members in the mid-1860s, members gave both money and long hours of personal effort to the various ‘labours of love’, including the Domestic Mission in the slums nearby. The chapel basement housed a day school during the week, providing cheap elementary education for children of the ‘respectable poor’.
Brock remined at Bloomsbury until 1872, and he was succeeded by the Revd Joseph Chown (1875-1885), the Revd James Baillie (1886-1896), and the Revd Benjamin Gibbon (1897-1903). Gradually the slums were redeveloped, the area improved, and the mission moved to multi-cultural Soho. As leisure hours increased, sports clubs flourished beside Bible classes, providing a full programme for young people. Several of them later entered the ministry or went overseas as missionaries.
More and more people were migrating to the new suburbs by the turn of the century, the end of the site lease was looming and the church was struggling financially. The Baptist Union and the London Baptist Association were keen to have a ‘Central Church’, similar to those of the Methodists and Congregationalists. They bought the Bloomsbury freehold, cleared the debts, and in 1905 formed Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church.
The Revd Thomas Phillips was installed as Superintendent of the reconstituted ‘institutional church’ in 1905. The separate mission was closed, and teams of deaconesses, some still in training, acted as local missionaries and social workers.
After World War I, depression, financial and spiritual, hit the work but the church pressed on, and continued to send missionaries abroad. The Revd Dr F Townley Lord became minister in 1930, again aided by deaconesses. The outbreak of World War II in 1939 emptied central London, and the London County Council requisitioned the basement as a refuge for people bombed out of their homes, and took over the top floor as a canteen.
Few resident families returned to the area in 1945 and the congregation had to be built anew. Dr Lord’s travels as President of the Baptist World Alliance (1950-1955) attracted more overseas visitors, and in 1958 he handed over a vigorous church whose members travelled in from far and wide.
Under the Revd Dr Howard Williams, a reconstruction scheme was carried out in 1962-1964. He moved organ and choir gallery, which once rose up behind the pulpit, and made the focus a soaring cross, with a large platform and pulpit below. An enlarged rostrum over the baptistry brought the communion table closer to the congregation. Removing the small upper gallery revealed the rose window for the first time from the inside, and the black-varnished pews were stripped to reveal lighter wood.
Barbara Stanford who came to Bloomsbury in 1961 as Sister Barbara, was the last in a long line of deaconesses. The order was discontinued in 1975, when serving deaconesses were recognised as Baptist ministers.
The Revd Barrie Hibbert (1987-1999) came to Bloomsbury from New Zealand and Australia, and strongly promoted ecumenical contacts. Under major refurbishments in 1998-1999, marking the 150th anniversary of the church, the foyer was enlarged, with a glass screen making the sanctuary visible from the street, and a prayer chapel was created.
The Revd Dr Brian Haymes, who had spent 20 years in academic life in Baptist theological colleges, returned to pastoral ministry and served Bloomsbury in 2000-2005. He was often heard on BBC radio’s Morning Service, and he introduced new teaching programmes.
The church supported the Jubilee Campaign to end world debt, became a ‘Fair Trade Church’, supported the Peace March against British involvement in war in Iraq, and the joint Churches’ Make Poverty History campaign was launched there.
The Revd Dr Ruth Gouldbourne and the Revd Dr Simon Perry became co-ministers in 2006. Ruth Gouldbourne had previously taught doctrine and church history at Bristol Baptist College; Simon Perry returned to college chaplaincy at Cambridge in 2011. The Revd Dr Simon Woodman, who was tutor in Biblical Studies at South Wales Baptist College, became co-minister in Bloomsbury in 2012.
For many decades, a significant part of Bloomsbury’s ministry has been offering an affirming welcome to the LGBT+ community. In 2015, it became the first Baptist Church in the UK to hold a same-sex marriage. The church is involved with other local organisations, including the 2:23 Network and Soho Gathering, the Simon Community and C4WS Night Shelter, Dragon Hall, a local community centre), Ekklesia, the public issues thinktank and Churches Together in Westminster.
Today, the church describes itself as ‘progressive in our theology, reverent in our style of worship, and active when it comes to social justice. Those who find their home at Bloomsbury believe there is no one 'right' way, but rather we search together for a deeper understanding of Jesus and what it means for us to follow him.’
The church says it is ‘provoking faith in the heart of London. Our mission is to discern God’s loving and inclusive will: we nurture faith and build community, we confront injustice, create sanctuary and deepen relationships.’
The church aspires to be inclusive and accessible. It is a member of the Inclusive Church Network, believes that Black Lives Matter and is committed to becoming an anti-racist community. Recognising that gender is not binary, the church welcomes people of all genders, and is registered for the solemnisation of marriage for couples of all genders.
• Sunday services at Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church are at 11 am.
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