Our History

We have recently received a letter which has thrown new light on the beginings of Grace Fellowship, then known as Temple Baptist Church, in light of this information, and knowing it to be more accurate than what we already had, I am rewriting the early part of our history. Our appologise to those who had a hand in our beginings.

Temple Southern Baptist Church, located in Little Stukeley, England, was started when Pastor Howard Baldwin was pastor of Sharpenhoe Baptist Church, Sharpenhoe, Bedford. (Sharpenhoe Baptist itself was organised in 1965 by some  U.S. airmen from the Chicksands RAF base.)

One Sunday morning Sharpenhoe Baptist had a visitor from Alconbury RAF base. He was Chaplain Vasten (Bud) Zumwalt, and that visit was the begining of a 40 year friendship! He told the folks at Sharpenhoe about a Baptist Union Chapel that was no longer in use at Little Stukeley. Members of the Sharpenhoe Baptist hurch paid a visit to the village and felt led to start a mission. They rented the building and fixed it up with teams from their church.They went in to Huntingdon to visit any Americans they could find. “How,” asks Pastor Baldwin. Well, they looked for houses without gardens and without flowers and in this way they found several American families and invited them along. The first service was held on September 3 1967 at 3.00pm. They brought the folks from Sharpenhoe and packed the church. When they gave the invitation there was one young airman who responded. You should have seen the expression on his face when Pastor Baldwin told him that he was the first and only member of the new mission! His name was John Weatherly. The Donald Williams family from the Sharpenhoe Church later transferred to Alconbury and were a great help in getting the work going.

Pastor Baldwin, who was, of course, still pastoring at Sharpenhoe, asked Reverend Malcolm Baker to go to Stukeley and preach and says that he did a good job. The mission was organised into a churchon June 22, 1969 with 43 charter members. The name Temple came about because it was the name of the church that Baldwin had pastored in South Chicargo Heights, Illinois before he came to England.

During this period  Reverend Malcolm Baker was called as pastor, and he served until September 1969.

In October 1969 Malcom Brown was called as pastor. He served until February 1970.

The year 1970 proved to be an exciting one for Temple as the average attendance in Sunday School grew to fifty one with seventy seven enrolled.

It is possible that in November 1970 Dr. Danny Fisher became pastor. This is not absolutely clear as Dr. Fisher served the church as pastor later in it’s history and we are unable to say for sure that he served here twice. Later in the month of November Dr. Fisher was the organizing pastor for another church in Middleton-Stoney. Temple became the mother-church.

We are grateful again to Pastor Baldwin for filling in some of the following details as ther were some periods in Temple’s history about which we knew little until he contacted us. 

In 1972 Jerrry Hopkins became pastor. This information is from an extensive article in the November 1974 edition of  ‘Probe’, the publication from the Brotherhood Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.  It appears from a listing on the internet that Dr. Jerry Hopkins, whose biographical information seems to fit, now teaches at East Texas Baptist University.

1975 – 1976  Dr. Ken Hemphill, who was a student at Cambridge where he completed his PHD, pastored or preached at the church. It seems he also made a pen and ink drawing of the old church building.   

In 1980 Temple achieved new heights when property adjacent to the main gate at R.A.F. Alconbury was purchased. Building plans were developed and funds were allocated for the new home of the church. With money from a special offering taken by the E.B.C. and a grant made by the S.B.C’s Foreign Missions Board Lottie Moon Fund, work began on the building.

In 1981 Dr. Danny Fisher was the pastor. Pastor Balwin visited England in 1981 and while he was here he came to the church. At that time, because work was in progress on the new building  the church wqas using another church building some distance away, probably in the village of  Spaldwick.

 1982 saw Dr. Fisher called to serve in Oklahoma, U.S.A. and Weldon Causseaux was called to be pastor.

In 1983 crews from Missouri, Florida and Georgia in the U.S.A. began construction on the structure.

Although much work was accomplished by these crews Spring of 1984 provided a harsh blow to the construction effort. High winds  caused much damage and left the framework in a shambles.

It is thought that probably at this point men and women serving in the US forces at the adjoining Alconbury RAF base helped with the construction of the new church.

1985 was a much better year for Temple as the F.M.B. awarded another grant to the church for repairs and volunteers from North Carolina, U.S.A. traveled to the site and began work once again.

The only bit of information found between 1986 and 1987 was that Reverend Causseaux was called to pastor a church in Georgia, U.S.A.

In 1988 Alf Revell was called to pastor Temple. In May of the same year the recently completed church building was dedicated.

Sometime before Alf Revell resigned in October of 1992 the name of the church was changed from Temple Baptist Church to Stukeley Baptist Church.

Dr. Thomas Lea from the Southwestern Seminary was the interim pastor from October 1992 until June 1993.

Ray Magruder served as interim until August 1993.

Dr Hugh Chambliss came for two interim terms until August 1994.

In August of 1994 Ray Magruder, an I.S.C. volunteer from the F.M.B. of the Southern Baptist Convention, came as pastor.

Doug Gathright served as pastor from August 1997 to July 2000.

Steven Butler served as pastor from July 2000 to 2002.

Alf Revell served as pastor from October 2002 to February 2005.

Paul Hendrix serves as pastor from February 2005.

 In 2008 under the guidance of Pastor Paul Hendrix the church name was changed to Grace Fellowship and the Lord sought for a new beginning. The building has been the subject of a good deal of repair and refurbishment, and the grounds have seen much work. The outside of the church has been repaired and repainted, and much of the inside has been repaired and redecorated although it is still a work in progress.