Frome
On Saturday 5 March, Clink Evangelical Church, at Frome in Somerset, held special services to celebrate the opening of their new church building.
The work began in 1976 out of a concern to reach children in the area with the good news of Jesus. Jim Short, now a church elder, started a Sunday school with 12 children gathering in his home.
Then, in 1977, a corrugated garage was converted into a Sunday school hall, dubbed the ‘Tin Tabernacle’, in the grounds of Frome Valley Cleaners, the business owned by Mr Short.
Evening services commenced in 1983; moving on to constitute fully as an independent evangelical church in 1999, with two elders and one deacon.
In recent years the Lord has blessed the church, with believers joining the fellowship and through conversions. Four people have been baptised on profession of faith in the past 12 months.
Due to this growth, the old ‘Tin Tabernacle’ was getting a little overcrowded. It became evident that the fellowship needed to move into larger premises. Trusting in the Lord to provide the means, a new church building was erected on the site of the swimming pool that once adorned Mr Short’s back garden.
It took 12 months for the building project to be completed. By the Lord’s gracious provision, the building has been paid for in full. A service for people in the community to mark the opening of the church building was held on 5 March.
Roughly 100 people attended, when Peter Atwill of Canal Ministries gave a clear gospel message. In the evening, friends from local churches who had supported the work gathered to praise God for his faithfulness to his people at Clink.
John Alsop of Bradford on Avon, who acted as ‘unofficial building inspector’ when the chapel was being built, preached on Psalm 126. It was a joyful occasion and a fitting acknowledgement that the provision of this building is the Lord’s doing and marvellous in our eyes.
Guy Davies
