New church open in old chapel
An article in Luton Today last year told the story of how two local churches were closing down, one after 120 years of worship. Stories like this are common, but there are also exciting new beginnings, even in old spaces…
For people in Luton who count themselves as Christians it is always a sad thing to see a church or chapel that has been repurposed as flats of offices. Christians believe that the church brings the word of life to a dying world, and they grieve any setback to that mission.
And it isn’t just Christians who mourn the closing of churches. Many who aren’t personally committed to a church still think it is a sad thing when one closes, perhaps recognizing the good they do, or perhaps even because they feel that churches have a place in meeting a spiritual hunger that they sense in themselves.
But there are good news stories too in Luton when it comes to churches. Ebenezer Chapel in Chapel Langley, behind the Icon hotel on Hastings Street, opened in the mid-nineteenth century. Before the Second World War it was standing room only in the Chapel building, but the congregation slowly dwindled and it closed a few years ago.
Happily, the story has taken a different turn from other churches that have changed use. The trustees of the Chapel were keen to sell it to another church so that it could continue as a place of worship. The new Ebenezer Chapel congregation began meeting at Easter last year, hiring space in a local school, and it moved into the ‘Schoolroom’, a hall at the back of the Chapel, last September. Renovation work has now begun on the main Chapel building (see photo).
A number of people have joined the initial congregation as they have seen the banners on the Chapel, received flyers inviting them, or found it online. There are now just over 40 members who might be there on a Sunday morning with a number of guests and visitors. The services focus on preaching the Bible, sharing bread and wine to remember the death of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins, and encouraging one another amid life’s struggles with the good news that he rose again to conquer death.
To find out more about the new Ebenezer Chapel, check out the website www.ebenezerluton.org. Visitors are always welcome to the Sunday service at 10:30, and there is an open Coffee Morning on Thursday 17th October from 10:30.