Our main purpose is to give glory, honour and praise to Almighty God -who has shown great kindness to a small church which has a heart for preaching the Gospel of Christ Jesus. 'Bethel' -as it is known -has always sought to be a light in the area. Along with other Bible-based churches in the area, the church at Pond Lane stands as a testimony to the goodness of God and His saving grace.

BACKGROUND

Initially, the 'church' met in various rented buildings in the area. As time passed, numbers grew and a plot of land was purchased. The early 1970's saw the completion of the present building on this site at Pond Lane, Redruth under the leadership of Pastor Charles Rogers with his wife Ruby. The actual building work was carried out by a team of members and, amazingly, God enabled it to be completed with no debts outstanding!

By the late 1980's, several of the 'founder members' -including Pastor Rogers -had died and the church had been led by two or three other ministers. Each of these had only stayed for a relatively short space of time.1987 saw the arrival of yet another minister -Pastor Williams – who led the church for three years and then returned five years later for a second term of office! Pastor Williams has continued to lead the church for almost fifteen years to date -thus, making him the longest serving minister since Pastor Rogers went to be with the Lord.

HISTORY OF THE AREA

Redruth is a former tin mining town which got its name because of the red streams of tin that flowed through the town. An area known to be rich in minerals, it was even the site of a gold-rush at one time! Although tin mining is no longer in existence in Cornwall, the area has a spiritual past in Methodism and in the preaching of John Wesley. On one occasion, over 1000 people stood in heavy rain in the main street of Redruth to listen to Wesley preach the Gospel. Half a century ago, many enormous Methodist church-buildings could be seen within a stone's throw of each other throughout Redruth but all but one of these have since been demolished or used for other purposes.

The historical site known as 'Gwennap Pit' is not far from Redruth. Every year, thousands of holiday-makers flock to see this amphitheatre and open-air services and concerts are still held at this venue. In 1999, 'Bethel' invited other local churches to join with it in organising the hosting of a special team from Savannah, U.S.A which wanted to come to the area to share the gospel. A man named Gary Trent had contacted Pastor Williams saying that, as their area in Savannah had been blessed by God through the ministry of the Wesleys, he felt God had told him to 'bring back part of the flame' to re-ignite the vision for the gospel in Cornwall. During their stay, the members of the team were accommodated in the homes of various church leaders and took a series of meetings at Gwennap Pit and in various local church buildings.They brought their own musicians and speakers and paid all their own travelling-expenses. A lot of interest was generated through their visit and communication between members of the group and those in Cornwall continued after their return to the States.

'BETHEL' CHURCH

As mentioned earlier, Pastor Williams has been our second- longest serving pastor and has pastored our church on two different occasions: firstly, 1987 – 1990 and then he and his wife and family returned at the end of 1995 and is still with us nearly sixteen years later.

Throughout the years, there have been a lot of changes as people have moved in or out of the area and quite a large number of the older members have died. Placed as it is in the middle of a housing-estate, we regularly are faced with many demands and challenges. In the early years of Pastor Williams' ministry here, he led a thriving children's work in which attendance regularly topped the eighties and over a hundred children were 'on the register'. Like many church groups, we have suffered from lack of team-members and changes in legislation and culture and, sadly, this group no longer meets. However, we have 'pooled' our vision with one of the local churches which has man-power and we now provide the facilities for a weekly youth- meeting.

DOCTRINE

Some call us 'fundamentalists' -because we believe the Bible to be the inspired word of God. Bible ministry is highly valued in our meetings and we try to evaluate any 'popular ideas' in the light of Scripture. This means that we do not necessarily 'align' ourselves to other church groups -even of the same 'denomination'. We try to honour God in every aspect of our lives and our teaching avoids excesses or 'band-wagons' -even if these would draw more crowds.

This stance has also enabled us to encourage and share in the vision of other local church groups who, like us, are working for the promotion of the gospel. We believe that it is necessary to be 'born again' and that, 'without repentance there is no remission of sins'. We believe we are saved 'by faith not works' -that no-one can 'earn' salvation: however, as the Bible says, 'faith without works is dead' so 'real' faith in God through Christ will obviously change a person to grow more like Christ.

Realising we are debtors to mercy alone, we try to nurture those who come to us in order to help them to become the individuals God means them to be. We are not 'over-possessive' so do not practice 'heavy shepherding'. We believe the Bible teaches that God has a plan for each of our lives and our wish is that everyone who comes to us should feel encouraged to explore that plan and to be strengthened to fulfil it! This means that, sometimes, folk might be sent to us for a period of 'equipping' and then use their strengthened 'wings' to 'fly' where God leads them while others may remain 'rooted' in the church-fellowship for the rest of their lives.

We trust that in viewing our site you will be informed, inspired, and spiritually enlightened concerning the loving God who cares for each one of us. Please do not hesitate to contact us should you think we can help you towards faith in the Son of God who died to save us from our sins. We are all accountable to Him for our response to the gospel!