“The Church on the Crossroads”
It was in on Sunday 7th August 1881,under the leadership of the Revd Alfred Bird, that a small group of Baptist believers met for worship in an upper room over a mineral water factory in Bridge Street (now St.John’s Road).
Within a few weeks the number had grown so quickly that they were forced to look for larger premises.
Asked for his advice, Revd Charles Haddon Spurgeon, founder of Pastor’s (now Spurgeons) College suggested that, in an act of Faith, a Building Fund should be set up, as encouragement he sent a cheque together with donations from a number of his supporters.
On Thursday 9th February 1882 the properly constituted covenant was read and entered into by twenty founder members during an Inauguration Service conducted by Revd J.A.Spurgeon and Sandown Baptist Church came into being.
A month later, the Revd. Charles Spurgeon, of Greenwich, came to cut the first sod on the site of the present church. On the 10th May 1882 the foundation stones of the new building were laid, and on Thursday 20th July that same year, the new House of Prayer was opened for public worship to the Glory and Service of God.
The original structure remained unchanged for over a hundred years, until it became necessary, for safety reasons, to replace the front entrance in 1987-89.
A seating capacity of 190 was achieved by traditional wooden pews, which were removed during the early part of 2005 when the sanctuary underwent a refurbishment programme, in order to make the building better equipped to evangelise the local community
As the “Church on the Crossroads” we are blessed by being at the very busy junction of Station Avenue and St. John’s Road through which very many local people and seasonal visitors pass to the town and beach.
During the years since the church's inauguration, membership and congregations have often fluctuated and the current active membership is 68, with regular morning and evening congregations of about 90 and 35 respectively. Throughout this period 20 Pastors, including our current incumbent the Revd. Ian George Lovell, have faithfully led us with strong Scripture based teaching.
We are members of the Southern Baptist Association, and work very closely with our fellow Baptist churches across the Island, at Colwell, Cowes, Newport, Niton, Ryde, Ventnor and Wellow supporting and encouraging each other in the faithful proclamation of the Gospel.
We also have strong ecumenical links with churches of other denominations in the Sandown area under the auspice of Sandown Bay Christian Network.
We acknowledge with thanks the information contained in a book, written
by the Revd. Walter Fancutt, entitled “His Excellent Greatness”
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