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The chapel
continued under the guidance of Zion church until in January
1889 when the members of Acre Mill sent a letter to the
mother church requesting they be formed into an independent
and separate church. Zion chapel agreed to this
request and the first meeting of the independent church was
held on 30th March 1889 and the first pastor, the Reverend
C. Roberts to up his duties in May 1889.
The
Reverend Roberts stayed as pastor three years. Then over the
next two and half years the church was without a minister
and the pulpit was occupied by laymen and students from
Manchester and Rawdon. The Reverend G. Charlesworth of
Masham, Yorkshire was appointed in September 1894 and took
up his duties on 6th January 1895. With the arrival of
Reverend Charlesworth the spiritual well being of the church
and it's finances were greatly improved to such an extent
that by April 1896 it was decided to provide a separate
building for the Sunday School and to renovate the chapel
and to furnish it with pews. The "Iron School" which was
constructed of corrugated iron sheeting on an iron framework
cost of £573, leaving a grand surplus on the £674 which had
been raised through various functions. The school was opened
on Saturday 18th December 1897. The surplus money from the
school was put towards the renovation costs of the chapel,
which appear to have been about twice the original estimate
of £567. The re-opening service took place on 24th January
1899.
In 1904 the
Reverend Charlesworth left Acre Mill and between 1905 and
1913 the church was once again without a pastor. In April
1913 the Reverend S. J. Wilson took up his duties as pastor
but only stayed until 1915. Once again the church was
without a pastor for a long period until the Reverend R. V.
Tate was appointed and stayed until March 1926. Three more
years passed without a pastor and the Reverend Tate was
invited to rejoin the church in 1929 but it appears he was
unable to accept the offer, for in November of that year the
Reverend D. G. Owen of Millom in Cumberland became the
minister and he stayed until 1935. Again the church was
without a permanent pastor, this time until 1944 and like
previous vacancies the church relied on layer preachers and
students from local Colleges and for for a period of ten
months in 1937-38 a temporary minister, Sister Nellie Lewis.
In 1943 it
was decided to approach Ebenezer Baptist Church with the
object of arranging a joint pastorate. As a result the
Reverend J. A. Jones of Cardiff was appointed pastor of both
church and he remained from September 1944 until December
1947. After the departure of Reverend Jones the church was
without a pastor until 1958 when the Reverend O. T. Morgan
became joint pastor with Sion Baptist Church, Higher
Cloughfold and he remained until 1961. In May 1962 the
Reverend T. W. Stobart was inducted as jointed
minister of Acre Mill and Sion Baptist churches. The Sunday
School went through a major rebuild in 1964 with the
corrugate iron panels being replace with rustless materials
on the outside and extensively modernised on the inside at a
cost of almost £5,000. The building was re-opened in May
1964.
The
Reverend Stobart left Acre Mill in 1969 to take up a post in
Essex.
The above
information was obtained from the 1871 - 1971 Centenary
handbook.
Main
photograph courtesy of Acre Mill Baptist Church.
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