The Early Church (1973-1974)
When I first attended a meeting at the Wayside I was not planning to change
my place of fellowship. But I was drawn to the place, I sensed a reality
there and so my love for the place began to grow. There were three things
that I was looking for in a church: food from the Master's table, friends
to enjoy it with you and an opportunity to serve. I may have said it a
little differently then, but these are the three things everyone looks
for.
The prophetic
I think the first thing that attracted me was that they believed in the
direct line to heaven. The preaching was on the basis of what they believed
God spoke to them or gave them to preach. The concern and interest that
the leaders and others took in you and your personal (spiritual) well
being followed this. The group was small and welcoming and there were
people there who loved to talk about the things of God. Taught and practised
was the belief that all have a relationship with God. Everyone was encouraged
to hear from God for themselves and to share that with one another. This
was most clearly illustrated by the freedom given to the youngest preacher
that I have ever listened to on a regular basis.
At first there were three preachers at Sunday meetings, Owen and Ken who were the elders and Ray Green a schoolboy of Welsh descent. In the tradition I came from the sermon was usually a very strict 15 minutes and perhaps 20 or 25 on a bad day. Here they preached and, or taught for an hour and this teenager was up there with them even if his experience matched his stature, -short. Ray had a wonderful sense of humour. I can remember him preaching on marriage and he claimed it was by faith and revelation, it certainly was certainly not from experience. However the real point was, he did hear from God and he was given the opportunity to exercise and develop his preaching gift.
Small groups
The opportunity was there for all to develop their gifting, to hear from
God and to share the Word. Small groups played a large part in this. These
home groups were meetings in the home. The idea was somewhat novel and
generally not a part of church life as a whole at this time. But the home
group played an important role in the Charismatic movement. For us looking
at the "new wine" the home group appeared like the new skin.
It was not unusual for these home groups to have a different leader (chairman),
worship leader and preacher/teacher each week. In the beginning this was
decided at the meeting or during the week on the basis of who would like
to or felt leading to do something.
A little later it was realised that the quieter ones were not contributing so they were quietly approached and encouraged to contribute. The girls were just as likely to take part as the guys and at the time, this was radical.When we first turned up at the wayside there was probably a regular attendance of around 30 people, mostly young people and students like ourselves. But the room was getting too small and the lease was running out. So we moved from the centre of town to the centre of the city, Epsom. People continued to come and our numbers increased. It was not all transfer growth. Many became Christians and were brought in through the work and friendships of people like Alan and Linda Stephenson. In these days we seldom if ever had altar calls. The home group was where most new converts were introduced to the fellowship.