Pastor for Cradley Heath
Saturday 4 September dawned bright and dry at the southern tip of the Black Country, the promise of a beautiful day to follow.
It was a day for which the church at Spring Meadow Baptist Chapel, Cradley Heath, had long prayed and waited. It had been pastor-less for three years, and finally was about to welcome Angus Cameron of Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland, a recent graduate of Irish Baptist College, as God’s answer to those prayers.
Around 170 people met in the 1841 chapel building, much of it recently redecorated in time for the induction. They came from far and wide – England itself, a large contingent from Northern Ireland and even some from as far afield as Michigan and Montana, US.
One of the church elders, Derek Lewis, led the service. David Marlow, another elder, presented a report of the Lord’s leading the church to make the call, and Angus responded reaffirming his commitment to the tenets of the Reformed biblical faith and his certainty that coming to the pastorate was of the Lord.
Pastor Neville Swain of Walsall led the induction prayer before Pastor Harry Rea of Newtownards, County Down, gave the charge to Mr Cameron from the words, ‘There was a man sent from God’ (John 1:6).
Hymns included ‘Now thank we all our God’ and ‘So send I you’, a 1960s Margaret Clarkson composition. Finally, Pastor Ron Low of Wetherden gave the charge to the church from 1 Thessalonians 1:6-10, based on the single-word pictures of the church as imitators, models, witnesses, repenters and anticipators.
The offering taken was for a love gift to Pastor Cameron and his wife, Laura. A Ministers’ NIV Bible was also presented to Mr Cameron and a beautiful bouquet of summer flowers to his wife.
The service ended by singing ‘Lord for the years’, with its apt last verse:
Lord for ourselves, in loving
power remake us
Self on the cross and Christ
upon the throne,
Past put behind us, for the
future take us
Lord of our lives, to live for
Christ alone.
Everyone enjoyed tea and fellowship, before the weary but thankful church members returned home, remembering above all else that, ‘This is the Lord’s doing and is marvellous in our eyes!’
David Marlow
