EARLY
DAYS
Springburn, being a centre of employment, brought into the
district a number of believers who had been in
fellowship elsewhere. As there was no assembly in the area
they decided to commence a testimony. Their
first meeting place was a double-windowed shop which
was converted into a Gospel Hall in 1881. Following a
Gospel Tent campaign in 1884, conducted by W. J. McNeely
of Ireland, many were saved. The shop was now too
small to accommodate the growing assembly, so they
moved to a larger hall in Cowlairs Road, where they
remained for a number of years. By the time the assembly
had been in existence for 21 years, this hall also had
become too small. The brethren decided to build a new
hall to meet their requirements.
NEW
GOSPEL HALL
The new hall was completed in 1902. An extract from The
Witness magazine states, ‘Christians who have
formerly met in the Gospel Hall, Cowlairs Road, Springburn,
have removed to their beautiful new hall, Hillside
Place, adjoining the station’. (This became Hillkirk
Place in 1928). The cost of the building was
£908, the painters bill being £50! (In comparison
with this, when in 1970 the hall had been set on fire
by vandals, the partial rebuilding in 1973 cost almost
£23,000).
The
first annual conference was held on 3rd November, 1906. In
1907, The Witness reported that ‘Colonel
Beers of Toronto gave a series in Springburn Hall’,
and in November 1907, ‘Mr John Ferguson commenced in
Hillside Place; attendance good; quite an ear for the
gospel. Mr Ferguson continued for five weeks and
the meetings were the largest and most fruitful for
some time.‘ The annual conference in that year was
addressed by Dr Matthews, Alex Marshall, H. Pickering
and John Ferguson.
Gospel
campaigns were regularly held, and the Lord added to
the church. There is no record of the number in
fellowship before 1931, but by then it was 299, rising to
its highest ever level of 343 in 1935. Sadly, today,
the numbers have dropped to 36, of whom 32
are retired. This drop is partly due to the closure of
the St Rollox, Hyde Park and Cowlairs railway
engineering works (the working population having been
cut dramatically)‚ the movement of young married
couples from the assembly to housing developments
outwith the Springburn area. Also, there is
apathy shown by many of the remaining population to
the gospel message which is faithfully preached
every week.
MANY
PREACHERS – ONE MESSAGE
Over the years Springburn was blessed through the Lord’s
servants who ‘preached Christ and him crucified’.
Some may remember names such as Edward Rankin, William
Hagan, Joseph Glancy, Jack Atkinson, David Craig,
John Hutchinson, Sam Thompson and Hedley Murphy from
Ireland, and from the mainland, Forbes Macleod, John
McAlpin, the Bros Steedman, Tom Richardson, J. H. Large,
Reuben Scammel, Frank McConnel, Peter Brandon and
Robert Walker. Children’s meetings often
numbered around 300, some children having to sit on
the window ledges! Speakers such as ‘Uncle’ Dan
Cameron, John Robb and William McInnes held
their attention. The Senior and Junior Bible Classes
numbered around forty in each. Currently the Sunday School
is being held in a local Community Centre Hall since
that is in the area where the children live. A
fortnightly Youth Fellowship has an attendance of some
thirty or so.
MISSIONARIES
OVERSEAS
Interest in foreign mission work has always been
maintained, and the assembly has been privileged
to commend several missionaries to overseas service.
These include: Miss Helena Davidson (Mrs Ford)
to Venezuela 1923-27; Miss Jean Thompson to India
1926-66; Miss Beatrice Chisholm (Mrs Turner) to India
1947; Miss Mary Kilbride to Israel 1964, and Miss Elspeth Cochrane
(Mrs Anderson) to France 1979. The latest
commendation given is to Iain and Joy Gillespie. They
plan to go to Zambia in 2001 (D.V.).
CENTENARY
AND BEYOND
The Springburn assembly celebrated its centenary in 1981.
Many past members were present to acknowledge the
goodness of the Lord in maintaining a witness in
the district. The witness continues, albeit on a very
much reduced scale. The present assembly members are
happy to recognize the truth of the words of a past
servant who could say, ‘Hitherto hath the Lord helped us’. We
await His coming with anticipation.
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