It all began in 1865, when Grangetown was only a few streets, and people from Tredegarville Baptist Church started a Sunday school above ‘Morley’s stable’ on the corner of Earl Street. Tredegarville Baptist was itself just two years old.
Ten years later, in 1875, the church got its own building, as the ‘Iron Church’ was built. By 1879 the church had a membership of sixty-three people, but it wasn’t until 1881 that the church became independent of Tredegarville Baptist.
From there the work really began to grow. In 1887 a new stone building was erected with seating for five hundred people. By 1912 extensive new buildings had been added providing a large number of rooms and halls. Grangetown itself had grown by then, and the church had become ‘a great centre, among a teeming population . . . for philanthropic and religious work.’ The church was described as ‘united and energetic’. The membership was 250 and the Sunday School had 1300 children!
How did it grow? In part the increase reflects the growth of Grangetown itself, but that does not fully explain things. The full answer is that God himself made it grow. An old document from the archives speaks of the prayer meeting being the ‘powerhouse’ of the church with ‘many prayer warriors, men and women, educated and not so well educated . . . who lifted us into the heavenly places by the boldness of petition and the fulness of praise.’ Key to it all was that ‘the Gospel was being preached consistently.’ The Gospel is the message of Jesus Christ and his atoning death on the cross which the Apostle Paul describes as being ‘the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes’ (Romans 1.16). The members were active too. The same document speaks of them being ‘encouraged in witnessing and built up in their most holy faith.’ Nothing has a bigger impact for good on a community than ordinary, everyday believers living out their faith on fire for God and his glory.
In 1965, on the centenary of the church, the prayer was that ‘under the blessing of the Lord, our church may be so spiritually endued with the power of the Holy Spirit as to inspire a revival of interest in the things of God in our district.’ Today, well over 150 years in, that is still our prayer. Grangetown has changed, but God has not. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever, and our faith is where it has aways been – in the promises of the Bible, in the power of the gospel to change lives, and in the transforming presence of the God the Holy Spirit.
Our great desire is to love the people around us to the glory of God – whatever they believe, however they choose to live and whatever they might think of us.
