Farnham United Reformed Church morning service to be broadcast by the BBC
On Sunday 2nd May 2010 the morning service at Farnham United Reformed Church is to be broadcast by BBC Radio 4 as part of its regular Sunday Worship series.
  The broadcast will go out live at 8.10 a.m. and finish at 8.50 a.m. The service will be led by the minister, the Reverend Michael Hopkins. The sermon will be preached by the Reverend Roberta Rominger, General Secretary of the United Reformed Church. Invitations have gone to local church choirs and choral societies to take part in the broadcast.
In the broadcast service we shall be mentioning the fact that Farnham United Reformed Church can trace its origins as a separate fellowship back to 1660. The minister of Farnham United Reformed Church, the Reverend Michael Hopkins, says “350 years of worship and witness is a fantastic achievement for our church. I’m delighted that the BBC think so too, and we are able to share our celebrations with so many others through this broadcast service. I warmly encourage as many folk as possible to come and join in on the day, and everyone to listen to the broadcast”.
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 | 