Two major matters were first considered by the Church in 1986 – the appointment of a student assistant and the encouraging problem of inadequate space on Sunday mornings.

In the previous year the Church had agreed to seek a suitable pre-collegiate student to assist, particularly with the youth work, and approaches were made to the General Superintendent and the Baptist Colleges. As a result, Mr. Colin Norris, B.Sc., who had applied to Spurgeon’s College, West Norwod, came as ‘student-assistant,’ from 14th September, 1986 until the end of August, 1987. He entered Spurgeon’s College in the autumn of 1987 and the Church contributed towards his training (in conjunction with with his home Church at New Haw) and were delighted when, in 1990 he became Pastor of Godstone Baptist Church, Surrey.

The full congregations on Sunday mornings prompted a debate as to whether the time had come to ‘plant’ another congregation or to extend the premises. In May, 1986 it was agreed to engage an architect to do a feasibility study on the buildings and site and a day of prayer about this was held on 31st May. Subsequently Raymond Hall, of Belmont Hill, London, was asked to do this and his imaginative draft ideas were debated at length by the deacons and the Church Meetings in 1987. At the Church Meeting on 15th July, 1987, one member is reported as saying, “We should beware of getting divided over buildings,” but that was just what was happening.

When, at a Church Meeting in October, 1987, a proposal was made to proceed to a full feasibility study on the lines suggested by the architect, this did not quite receive the two-thirds majority required and the matter was deferred. In the following June, a proposition to “reconsider the feasibility study and other options,” was agreed, though still not unanimously. The deacons met the architect on 31st August, 1988 and he agreed to send further sketches for a first phase of extensions to the south, but by then other developments had taken place and once again the matter had to be shelved. At the same June 1988 meeting it was agreed without dissent actively to pursue some form of church planting.

To return to 1987, the Church adopted a ‘Vision for Growth’ recommended by the Pastor and deacons. It was “a minimum goal for growth of 150 people won, baptised and discipled into the membership of the Church in a five-year period commencing on 4th October, 1987.” It was not a prophecy, or a promise, but a reminder of the evangelistic mission of the Church. One of the outcomes was a student mission entitled ‘Here’s Life’ held from 8th to 18th September, 1988.

The year 1987 was a time of many changes. Ron Horsey stood down as deacon and treasurer, as did two other deacons, reducing the diaconate to five. No new deacons were elected in their place, but David Rippon was appointed as Treasurer. Ida Pickard resigned as Choir Leader, an office she had held since 1972; Joy Daws gave notice of her wish to relinquish the Sunday School Secretaryship and Alan Mee his duties as Transport Officer – and the Church lost by death three stalwart members.The deacons and their wives had a retreat at Ashburnham Place (and again in 1988) and another Teaching Week was held with Mrs. Mary Clarke, the Rev. Fred Elgar of Guildford and the Pastor, the Rev. Peter Nash. The year 1987 ended with 149 members.

In 1988, in addition to the discussions about the buildings referred to above, the whole matter of the leadership structure was again under review. A discussion paper in November revived the debate, going on in many Baptist Churches at that time – partly as a result of developments in the ‘Charismatic Movement’ – as to whether the New Testament references to prophets, evangelists, elders, deacons and others involved in leadership indicated clear structures and functions, and if so whether that should be the pattern for 1988. In particular, some advocated the appointment of elders (in addition to the Pastor as senior elder), with ‘spiritual’ duties, leaving the deacons to deal with administrative and financial matters. It became clear that there was not unanimity among the existing deacons and at the Annual Church Meeting in January 1989 four of them (including the Treasurer) stood down and no new deacons were appointed until November that year.

It had already been agreed that Peter Nash would have a ‘sabbatical’ from April to June 1989, and it was agreed to ask the Rev. Bruce Henry, B.D., a retired missionary living at Worthing, to act as Moderator. Ron Horsey agreed to act as ‘accountant’, though not returning to the diaconate.During this difficult period, pastoral matters were dealt with as far as possible by the House Group Leaders, special problems being referred to the Secretary, who consulted the Moderator as necessary. Existing leaders of organisations, together with the Secretary and the Accountant ex-officio, were regarded as a ‘Council of Reference’ for any urgent administrative matters.

In August 1989, a long document was issued containing proposed revisions of the Church Rules to accommodate some of the matters which had been the subject of discussion in the previous year, and this was considered by a Special Church Meeting on 27th September, 1989. This resulted in agreement about revised Rules concerning leadership and responsibility, but failure to agree on the Rule about the appointment of officers, so the old Rule – relating to the election of deacons – had to stand, leaving the Rules in an unsatisfactory and somewhat contradictory state.

This unhappy situation resulted in a number withdrawing their membership, including some who had been deacons, and membership of the Church fell to 135 at 31st December, 1989.

In November it was agreed to elect a small team of deacons under the old Rules until leadership changes could be implemented, and to keep revision of the Rules under review. As a result, David Reynolds (who had stood down in 1987) returned to the diaconate and was joined by Miss Grace Ruoff (the church’s first lady deacon), Mr. Roger Hubert and Mr. Robert Norton, and these, with the Secretary, brought the diaconate back to five. With the Pastor, these immediately set about considering priorities for the Church, seeking to learn the lessons of the past months, and at the Church Meeting on 17th January, 1990, they expressed the purpose of the Church as being “to bring glory to God that people may come to believe in Jesus, enter into a relationship with Him and discover what He wants to be to them in their lives, their family and the community.” Two of the deacons were to consider in more detail the whole area of bringing people to belief, two to do the same in regard to nurture, and two in regard to discovery of gifts, opportunity and involvement. They also proposed a Church Conference and were preparing a Prayer Calendar for 1990.

The Pastor – and indeed the whole Church – had come through a painful time and the heartache was felt by all, but although difficulties remained, now was a time for new things, a time for proving God’s faithfulness and provision afresh.

At the Annual Church Meeting on 14th February, 1990 the Pastor told the Church he believed it was right for him to stand down later in the year and that he would conclude his pastorate on 1st July, 1990.This brought with it not only the loss of pastoral oversight, but also a heavy financial burden upon the Church, with the legal requirement either to sell the manse to enable the Pastor’s proportion to be repaid on his removal, or to raise additional capital to meet this, at the current valuation. The manse had been bought at a time of rising prices and the value had risen from about £58,000 in November 1984 to £125,000 in July 1990. The Church decided to retain the property until the likely needs of a new Pastor were known, and to raise by gifts and loans the amount needed ro repay the Pastor’s proportion. The response, from a reduced membership, was remarkable, and the money was available by the time Peter and Audrey Nash left.

With hindsight, the Church might have been better advised to sell the property then, as house prices began to fall and when, in 1992, the bungalow was eventually sold, the value had decreased to £105,000 and further capital had to be raised to purchase a new manse.

These heavy financial needs were not allowed to reduce the contributions of the Church to the Baptist Missionary Society and Home Mission and the all-too-frequent world disasters prompted the setting up of a ‘Disasters Fund’ from which substantial gifts – usually £500 at a time – could be made at short notice.

During 1990 a ‘Supplementary List’ was established of members who were no longer living in the area, but had not yet transferred to other churches. The Church was reluctant to remove names from the Members’ Roll, but at the same time felt it unrealistic to retain the names of those no longer actively in touch with the Church. This resulted in a further reduction in the membership and with other changes during that year it reached a low point of 111.

This highlights the problem of the comparison of membership statistics between Church and Church within the Denomination (because of differing practices) and between Baptist and other Denominations, as the former count only those who are committed (usually after baptism as believers) to Church membership. In the Chichester Baptist Church at any one time there have been almost as many regular adherents as actual members, and of course if children were counted too the numbers would amount to many more – perhaps three times as many, as the recorded membership.

The Church lost another of its early members on 13th April, 1990, with the death of R.E. (Bob) Davies at the grand old age of 93. He was instrumental in the formation and conducting of the Southgate Augmented Choir (later becoming the Davies Oratario Choir, Chichester) for over 25 years. He was also the prime mover in the establishment of the Chichester Music Festival in 1955 and the choir leader of this Church for many years. He was a recipient of the Queen’s Maundy Money in Chichester Cathedral in 1986.