Beulah Apostolic Church gets ready to celebrate 70 years

LONDON:

THE BEULAH Apostolic Church UK will celebrate its 70th anniversary with a four-day conference-style event at the Marriott Hotel in Leicester to reflect on its journey from humble beginnings. The event will also be used to craft plans for the future as the church continues to expand its membership.

The conference is set to run from Friday, May 23 to Monday, May 26 and is expected to attract hundreds of members from the seven branches located in Willesden, Edmonton, London Bridge, Tottenham and Shepherd Bush’s in London, Luton in Bedfordshire and Manchester.

Overseer Bishop Keith Linton sees the upcoming gathering in Leicester as a monumental opportunity for the church to expand its reach beyond its traditional support.

He said: “The basic tenet of the church is that Christian citizens make better citizens and the conference will give our members an opportunity to bond, socialise and showcase the best of what they have been doing. We will have a ladies day, a men’s day and a youth day and each of those departments will get an opportunity show how they have been honouring our legacy.

“On moving forward, we will be casting the vision of our church and members will leave the conference confident that we have got something tangible and proud to forge ahead with our mission of evangelism.

“We will be mentoring young people and advance career structures as well. Unlike the early begins, we now have professionals like barristers, engineers, teachers and nurses among our membership. So we are not just preaching at people 24-seven, we are actually mentoring and guiding career structures. The church can actually produce model citizens,” Bishop Linton said.

HUMBLE BEGINNINGS

The Beulah Apostolic Church was formed in 1955 when Brother Azariah Gayle held church services in the front room of his terrace home in Harlesden, north west London so early worshippers from the Windrush era could band together in Christian solidarity.

Apostolic churchgoers who had migrated to England from the Caribbean after 1948 soon found that the traditional churches were not welcoming and often closed their doors to the newcomers’ charismatic style of worship.

As the membership grew in numbers, the fledging group raised funds to rent St Peter’s Hall in Stonebridge for regular church services. Beulah Apostolic Church later became affiliated with Bethel United Church of Jesus Christ Apostolic in Handsworth Birmingham which also had humble beginnings having started their church in the front room of a residential home.

But after 16 years of work together both churches split and Beulah Apostolic Church re-established itself under the leadership of Bishop Rufus Anderson and became a national organisation with churches in London, Bedfordshire and the Midlands. It later became affiliated with the Church of God in Christ (Apostolic) and hosted its first international congress in 1972 with overseas delegates attending.

In 1978, Beulah Apostolic Church purchased the Evangelical Church building on Church Road in Willesden which became its headquarters. Other branches were opened over the years to expand its membership.

SUCCESSION PLANNING

Keith Linton, who was born in Jamaica, joined the Manchester church in 1972 first as a youth leader, served as an appointed minister and assistant pastor before he was appointed Overseer for the branch in 1998. He was eventually consecrated into the Office of presiding Bishop of Beulah Apostolic Church and as its Overseer in 2022. He regards the church membership as generational in its history.

He said: “My life in the church has been 52 years and my children and grandchildren are now members and this is the same for many of our members.

“The beauty of our church is the age range, from people in their 90s right through to under-10s who are attending Sunday school. Unlike other churches which have dwindling numbers, our churches are growing. It is not a case of indoctrinating children against their will but it’s really a matter of just introducing them to a lifestyle that has served us well.

“The mission and the vision of the church have continued because we believe that we can empower young people, equip them spiritually and well as for the society. This mission has served us well over the last 70 years and we are quite proud of the heritage and legacy.”

Bishop Linton is also using the celebration of the 70 years anniversary to plan for the transitional leadership of the church.

He said: “One of the things I will be focusing on is succession planning for the next generation of our membership. We have a really healthy group of young people in their 30s who are very much involved in the ministry, very much involved in what were are doing and they can now take it to the next level.”

The Beulah Apostolic Church conference which starts on May 23 will be open to all Apostolic Churches and so far the members of the United Pentecostal Church are expected to attend as well. The Bethel United Church of Jesus Christ Apostolic choir will be performing. The auditorium at the Marriott Hotel where the conference will be held seats up to 400 people.

Persons wishing to book accommodation and celebrate the 70th anniversary can do so by visiting the church’s web site at: www.beulahapostolicchurch.org.uk.