Our History

East Barnet Baptist Church (EBBC) was founded in May 1910, and met together in a small hut, familiarly known as the 'tin tabernacle' in East Barnet Road.

In 1930 the foundation stone was laid at the present site on the corner of East Barnet and Crescent Roads, on which was built a traditional baptist church building. It was completed in 1931. The adjoining halls and additional rooms were added in 1938.

In the early hours of 14th April 1980 the main church building burnt down, leaving the hall standing. The church continued to meet in the hall during the rebuilding work. They took the opportunity to drastically redesign the building so that the church was more flexible and could be used for many functions. The disaster of the fire brought with it the excitement of designing a new building, not only to blend with the remains of the old, but to meet the needs of the local community - still known as East Barnet Village. Crucial to that design was a combination of simplicity and flexibility.

In 1996 EBBC bought the house next door, 231 Crescent Road, with the intention of extending the church premises.

The Revd. V. Frederick George came to be the minister in 1969, straight from Spurgeon's college. He remained the minister of the church until 2010. The Revd. Rupert Lazar following the Spurgeon tradition became Pastor and serves currently.

The church has never been very large in numbers but through its outreach work at Friend-in-Need has had a tremendous impact on the local community.

 

 

 

 

 

How it looks today

The new building was not as tall as the old (far less expensive to heat!), nevertheless inside there is brightness and light from the clerestory windows which form a band of light encircling the worship area. This, together with the splendid pine laminated portal frames, meeting centrally above, symbolises the light and knowledge of God's love surrounding his people as they reach out to him in praise and worship.

Around the walls are five collages by Margaret Bacon, portraying the central aspects of the life and worship of the church. They depict the people of God at worship, work and leisure, serving the community, the world church and the church triumphant. They are a source of inspiration to all who meditate upon them.

Inside look

The open baptistry includes a mosaic design based on one of Annie Vallotton's line drawings, reproduced by kind permission of the Bible Society, reminding us of the power of God's Holy Spirit by which we as a believing community seek to love and serve God.

Pews were replaced by chairs, resulting in far greater flexibility of worship, and also flexibility of use during the week. There are several rooms of different sizes, a comfortable lounge, excellent facilities for disabled peopled, and a well-equipped kitchen - all of which add to the practical use of the premises in service to the community.

The new entrance lobby took up the idea of the light and the arched portal frames of the main worship area, to convey a sense of invitation to people to come and share in worship.

Serving in the Community

Friend in Need Community Centre was founded in 1982 for the purpose of serving the needs of the local community - it came out of the realisation that the church was essentially inactive in providing/showing wider care in the community.

After being established for a while, the local authority asked the founding Chairman to take on the provision of day centre places for some of their own clients. Friend in Need therefore entered into a contract with the local authority to provide day care for vulnerable adults.

Changes in adult social care legislation and spending strategy of government and local authorities have seen increasing demand on preventive provisions from voluntary organisations which led FIN to make a major transformation from being a day centre to a well established activity centre today catering to not only the older adults but also younger age groups.

Today, FIN offers a series of different activities from the Activity Centre (for older adults) and Active Adults Health and Social Club (for active adults). Through the Good Neighbour Scheme and Helping Hands, FIN also provide services such as Information & Advice, Community Support, Befriending Scheme, Shopping Bus and Gardening scheme for older adults aiming to enable them to live independently.