A Brief History of Cabin Lane Church - So Far!

In 1980 as Carreg Llwyd Evangelical Church [CLEC] received the Town Plan for Eastern Oswestry, with a request for an indication of perceived priorities.  The list included the provision of a school, a medical centre, a church building/community centre, a public house and a shop.  Following times of prayer, and in the light of our experience of God’s guidance on the Carreg Llwyd Estate, we asked Trevor Smith, our Pastor at that time, to write to the Borough Council expressing an interest in the need for a church building/community centre in this key church plant area.

During 1989 CLEC elders were prayerfully challenged by the fact that it was increasingly difficult to find enough seats for folk on a Sunday morning.  Over a number of months members were encouraged to go ‘prayer walking’ around different areas of the town.  Following feedback, discussions and more prayer the challenge was given to the church to plant a fellowship in Eastern Oswestry.

The core group of 9 people that felt God’s call to be part of this vision were commissioned in November 1991 and began holding services in a home on Cabin Lane.  One of our first decisions was what to call ourselves.  In the end we decided upon Cabin Lane Christian Fellowship.  An example of God’s hand on this process: the home we were meeting in was on Cabin Lane, but the land originally designated for the building was NOT on Cabin Lane.  However, the land we have eventually purchased IS on Cabin Lane – and far more accessible from key parts of Eastern Oswestry!

The Lord quickly added to our number and it was exciting to see how the ‘available chairs’ were soon filled Sunday by Sunday.

Originally there was one row of chairs around the lounge, then a second row, then through the connecting doors into the dining area, then several rows and eventually, joy of joys, some of us had to sit on the stairs!

Always implicit within the group was a conviction that God wanted us to build a church building as part of the process of establishing the work permanently in Eastern Oswestry, and we had many prayer meetings and 24-hour prayer clocks to discern and affirm God’s will for this to be done.  We even discussed whether to buy a pre-fab or a large caravan and put it somewhere.

Eventually we were put in touch with a Christian architect and a brick built church/community centre was planned and drawings were produced by July 1992.  However, the original site for the building would necessitate the construction of a very expensive road.  We ‘pondered this in our hearts’ and, as a result of prayer times, felt God wanted us to ‘concentrate on the living stones’ of the church at that time, although the time for constructing a building would come.

As we began to outgrow the home, the Meadows School was being constructed and we frequently prayed about whether this should be the next ‘home’ for the church, until we could construct our own building.  At one of our 24-hour prayer clock ‘feedback meetings’, a member of the congregation related how he had been walking near the construction site praying and had ‘heard’ voices singing hymns.  He became very excited when he realised the construction site was going to be the school!  

This encouraged John Field, the Carreg Llwyd elder designated to be leader of the fellowship, to approach the chairman of governors and the headmistress of the Meadows School.  This was a huge step to take as the amount of money we would have to pay out each month seemed enormous!  After negotiations our first service was held on Sunday 24th April 1994.  The group that had seemed so big in the house barely filled two rows in the school hall, but we felt excited that we had made the next key step in establishing the church.

When the elders of CLEC had asked John Field to take responsibility for the church plant he felt it would be right for three years, but after that they should look for a younger man.  During the time in the school ‘God added to their number’ and as the time drew towards the three years it seemed right to appoint a pastor.  Interestingly, Elfed Godding, who was by then pastor of CLEC, was aware of a young man who had previously been part of his ‘old’ church and who was just finishing at Moorland’s Bible College.  Elfed felt that this man and his wife Lisa might have the qualities we required.  Thus Brendan Bassett was invited to ‘preach with a view’.  

Subsequently Brendan and Lisa joined the church.  However, this was after a great deal of prayer because Lisa was expecting their first child, we had no home to offer them and, as they were just leaving Bible College, they had little money of their own.  Could the Church afford a pastor?  It was a huge leap of faith, but we felt that we should do so, perhaps with Brendan working for Cabin Lane for 50% of the time and in secular employment for the other 50%.  In the event, Carreg Llwyd was ‘between’ youth workers, and so Brendan worked for CLEC as well as Cabin Lane for a while.  Once their youth worker was appointed the decision was taken that we would step out in faith and appoint Brendan to full-time pastorship, thus allowing him time to establish the church more firmly and move towards realisation of the building project.  It was during his pastorship that the decision was made to change the name to Cabin Lane Church.

Brendan was the church representative at the Unicorn Centre. This was funded by the Borough Council as a community project and, in discussion with members of its management committee, it became clear it would be better to work towards a community centre that was separate from a church building.  That eventually became the Eastern Oswestry Community Centre, where the church currently meets.

After six years Brendan and Lisa felt God was calling them to move on, which meant more prayer!  Did God want us to have a pastor or not?  Should we save the salary and put that towards the construction of the church?  In the end the decision was made to appoint another pastor.  God led us to Chris Rees, his wife Ho Soon and their 2 young sons.  Chris & Ho Soon had worshipped with us in the early years of their marriage when they had been with OM [Operation Mobilisation] at the Quinta, just outside Oswestry.  Daniel and Jonathan had been known to many of the congregation as babies – now they were primary school age.  More heart searching ensued!  Was this right?  By now Chris & Ho Soon were settled in London – should the family be moved back to Oswestry?  It seemed right and eventually Chris was preaching in the school, which was special as he had been the person who had been praying before the school was built and who had ‘heard’ those people singing! 

During the pastorships of both Brendan and Chris negotiations continued with the Borough Council for the church to buy a plot of designated land to erect a church building.  There were many frustrations and false starts, but the original conviction remained that there should be a church building as well as a church in Eastern Oswestry. 

Derek Kemp of Church Projects Ltd had been approached and he created a new plan for a church building.  He also conducted a very detailed survey of Eastern Oswestry in order to inform the planning process.  When we talked to him about how long it would take to build the church we were rather taken aback by his reply.  The gist of it was that the actual physical building of the church would not be long, but it would not happen until the company of people called ‘the church’ were ready!

That process of the church ‘being ready’ has taken shape over the years since then.  Over time, the place where the church should be built moved around the area slightly, but definitely away from the site where we would have had to spend a great deal of money building a roadway!  The fellowship continued to grow in number and was reaching the capacity of the school hall, and we were moving into more and more classrooms for Sunday school.  The school itself was also expanding, and asked us if we could move out during the summer holidays whilst building work was undertaken.  As the Eastern Oswestry Community Centre had been completed we moved in there, originally just for the summer holidays.  But the decision was then taken to stay in the community centre as it gave us more scope for expansion. 

As the three years of Chris’s ministry were drawing to a close, the decision needed to be made whether to renew his contract.  As it was not clear what decision should be made, Brian Johnson, an elder from Carreg Llwyd, was asked to chair the meeting.  By this time Cabin Lane Church had become an independent church in its own right, but felt the need of support from its parent at this time.  The painful decision was made that it was not right to reappoint Chris for a further term.  Happily God undertook, and Chris, Ho Soon and their boys now live near Chepstow where he pastors a church.

As individuals and a fellowship we underwent a refining process.  This was not easy, and some members of the fellowship left, but the conviction that the church should survive and should build a church building remained.

Suddenly, as another sign of God’s timing (and the fellowship being nearer to being ready), after years of blockages, we were able to buy the land – and it is very near Cabin Lane road, the community centre and the school!  The money was available because years before a ‘building fund account’ had been started.  Small amounts were paid in from time to time – sometimes donations, sometimes a surplus from the church’s finances.  In addition we had two ‘gift days’ when the church were specifically asked to think and pray about what the Lord would have them donate.  It was quite exciting, and very faith building, to see how much money came in on those occasions!

Interestingly the community centre also undertook a building programme and that in turn has released more rooms which have been invaluable for the Sunday school, as it was beginning to struggle in the rooms which had been available.

Eventually the decision was taken to advertise for a new pastor.  To begin with the results were not encouraging!  The original group of candidates were all dear men of God who obviously loved the Lord, but did not seem to have a burden for running an expanding church which had a belief and a vision that God wanted them to build a church building!  Subsequently David Morris applied and he was invited for an exploratory chat, and then to ‘preach with a view’ followed by a fairly vigorous question and answer session after a buffet lunch. 

During this process David asked if the new pastor would have any input into the plans for the new church or had everything been decided?  The elders assured him that they would welcome his observations and gave him a copy of the plans.  He then e-mailed them with about 8 pages of observations! This was obviously someone who did have a burden for the project! Interestingly we were able to combine the commissioning service for David with a service of dedication for the land.

Thus David, Rachel and their four children Ben, Daniel, Jacob and Emma joined our church in Spring 2006 – yet another leap of faith.  How could we provide a home for a family of six and put up a church building?  Yet again our faithful Lord provided, and just as well because communications came thick and fast from David to the architects and back again, as we had a limited amount of time in which to complete the church building or the land would revert to the council!  However, in order to build we had to be ready and available as a fellowship of God’s people, and thus a great deal of work was required in many areas.  The implementation of the strategy, to realise the vision for the building project, meant some changes and adjustment, but also brought a great sense of moving forward.

But although we seemed to be on the home straight, there were still some twists and turns to come.  When the design was completed and put out to tender, the prices were substantially more than had been expected.  That led to a lot more prayerful heart-searching about whether we should be spending a lot of money on a building at all, or whether we should try to re-design it so it would be cheaper, or step out in faith.  The decision was taken to dispense with the services of the architects, and enter into negotiations with a local contractor to take the existing design and modify it, so that it would still provide the required facilities but at a much better price.

By then the vision for the building was even clearer – it was to be the Whole Life Centre: a resource for the community, for reaching out to the community with the gospel, a place where people could find life – and life to the full.  It was to be so much more than just a church.  However, even with the reduced price from the local contractor, we had pledges for only about half of the required funds.  While we also had the offer of a church mortgage and a bridging loan from Kingdom Bank, we would be considerably short of the funds required to complete the project.  We had applied to various bodies for grants towards the cost, but none of the applications had been successful – some were cutting back on grants due to the economic situation, others wanted us to have proved that we could get funding elsewhere before committing themselves.

It seemed to be Catch-22 – they wouldn’t give until we had more funding, we couldn’t get the funding unless they gave!  It was clear that if we were to go ahead then we would be relying totally on God to provide the resources that would be needed.  After more prayer and heart-searching, and further negotiations with the contractor, in the summer of 2008 the decision was taken in faith that we would start the building project.  The contract was signed and the work started at the end of August, with a planned completion in June 2009.  At last, after nearly 17 years, the building was under way!  But there was more to come …

David Morris had been the driving force behind the project, turning it from a design on paper into the start of a real building – bricks and mortar, steel and glass – and the pledges were coming in.  But just as the project was moving ahead well, so we were faced with what might be the biggest challenge yet.  In the middle of November 2008, David resigned as pastor without notice.  The circumstances giving rise to his resignation were extremely painful for his family, and for the whole church, and the repercussions are still being felt.  It had huge implications for the arrangements with Kingdom Bank, which were still being finalised.

Thankfully, the bank was extremely understanding and we were eventually able to complete the legalities to enable us to draw on their funding.  The contractor too was understanding, even though we were not able to make some of the stage payments on time.  As a result, there was a temporary halt to the work for a few weeks early in 2009.  But the situation has been an opportunity for witness to the local community, and has also resulted in a tremendous coming together within the church as the fellowship has recognised the need for unity and prayer at such a time.  We are now pressing ahead with the building, and with raising funds to complete the project.