Farnham United Reformed Church celebrates 350 years of witness in Farnham
On Sunday 24th January Farnham United Reformed Church marked the beginning of its 350th anniversary. This took the form of a special morning service attended by Councillor Pat Frost, Mayor of Waverley and Councillor Lucinda Fleming, Mayor of Farnham. The preacher was the Reverend John Marsh, Moderator of the General Assembly of the United Reformed Church.
During the service the Moderator presented gifts to the two mayors and also to the church which were accepted on behalf of the church by the youngest member, 4-week old Peter Tropman (born on Boxing Day 2009) and the longest-serving member, Nellie Hawkins.
The Mayor of Farnham and the Mayor of Waverley accepting a celtic cross from the Moderator of the General Assembly
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| A gift being accepted on behalf of the church by the youngest member, 4-week old Peter Tropman (born on Boxing Day 2009) |
A gift being accepted by the longest-serving member, Nellie Hawkins. |
Background historical note
1643 - Farnham’s Anglican Minister is ejected and Puritan Ministers installed in the parish church.
1660 - Samuel Stileman, Presbyterian Minister, is ejected from St. Andrew’s, and gathers a Presbyterian congregation separate from the Church of England. A Presbyterian Meeting House is later built in West Street.
1792 - William Gunn - an evangelical preacher - is ejected from the parish church, and gathers an Independent congregation, who quickly build the Ebenezer Independent Chapel in East Street.
1794 - the Presbyterian congregation have become extremely moribund, with only a handful of members, and they decide to merge with the new Independent congregation, taking with them a large endowment.
1873 - the church in which we worship today is built as this part of the town is developed.
1972 - Farnham Congregational Church joins the United Reformed Church | 