After over a year without a minister the Church was visited by Dr. Ian R. White, Associate Minister at Purley Baptist Church, and his wife Rosalyn and their two children, and when members met in a Special Church Meeting on 4th December, 1991 a unanimous invitation was sent to Ian to become the Minister of the Church. Ian, with a Ph.D. in mathematics from Swansea University (having received Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees at Reading) had lectured at Swansea University and been a research mathematician with British Petroleum before being called to the ministry, and had had experience at Walton-on-Thames and Purley after leaving London Bible College with a Bachelor of Arts Degree. To the great delight of the Church he accepted the invitation.

In February 1992, the Church suffered a grievous loss in the sudden death on holiday of Joan Thatcher, one of only four surviving foundation members of the Church. She had been involved in all the arrangements for the coming of the new minister, but was not to see his Induction. Gifts of over £1000 to the Baptist Missionary Society in her memory and more than 350 tributes and condolences received were some indication of the esteem in which she was held.

In the early part of 1992, in anticipation of Ian’s coming, a search was made for suitable accommodation to replace the bungalow in Cedar Drive, and the purchase of a manse in Lincoln Green, half a mile from the church, was completed just in time for the family to occupy it before the Induction.

On 2nd May, 1992, with the congregation overflowing into the North Hall to share the service on closed-circuit television, Dr. Ian White was inducted to the pastorate. The Rev. Reg Dalton, formerly of West Wickham and Shirley Baptist Church, led the worship, the Induction being taken by the Rev. Colin Weller, Hon. C.F., West Sussex Coordinator of the Sussex Baptist Association, deputising for the General Superintendent, the Rev. Peter Tongeman, who was officiating at another Induction. Ian’s father, the Rev. William J. C. White, was the preacher and the whole service was recorded on video as an interesting archive for the future.

Subsequently the Church decided to recognise the specific duties undertaken by Mrs. Rosalyn White, by the payment of a small stipend.

The deacons had already been discussing the goals of the Church and this led naturally in July 1992 to a consideration with the new Minister of the principle, purpose and strategy which should be adopted, and the recognition of nine stages, through relationship, commitment and maturing, by which irreligious people could become mature Christians, and ways in which the various activities of the Church could assist each stage.

The need for a greater amount of prayer in Church Meetings was recognised and to help shorten agendas, from November 1992 a brief written report on matters dealt with by the deacons was included with the agenda.

Towards the end of the year the congregations at the morning service were almost filling the church and it was decided as an experiment to hold two similar (except for a part for children in the first) services, one at 9.15am and the other at 11.15am, from the last Sunday in January 1993.

Several other new developments took place in 1993. ‘Discovery Groups’ were commenced, a Church Weekend was held at Bournemouth from 5th to 7th March, a Home Group Leaders Training Day on 26th June, an open air service on Sherborne Road Green on 5th September, and a performance of ‘The Gift’ at Bishop Luffa School on 18th December. ‘Chatterbox’, a group for parents and toddlers, also started in 1993 and has grown steadily. The Over-Sixties Fellowship was re-named ‘The Friday Fellowship’.

A unique occasion was the filming of part of a video of ‘Ishmael’s Praise Party’ in October 1993. The church was turned into a television studio with all the lights and apparatus, and children from all along the West Sussex coast came to sing and dance. The video has been a great success.

Reference has been made to the re-felting of the flat roofs over the vestibule and canopy and in 1992 the North Hall had similarly to be re-roofed. By mid-1993 it was clear that the Church had to face the need for the pitched roof over the main worship area to be replaced and various alternative roof coverings were investigated, some of which were considered too heavy for the existing roof structure. It was decided to use a new high quality ‘elastometric’ felt and add a layer of insulation. At the same time, the fixed skylights over the baptistry were replaced by electrically-operated opening skylights and blinds. This again involved the Church in heavy expenditure and the work was eventually completed in the spring of 1994 at a cost of £14,775.

Ways of communicating the Christian gospel had always been high on the agenda of the Church, but new impetus was given to this by a Conference at Birmingham, which the Pastor attended, on the experience of the Willow Creek Church in the U.S.A.

Following ‘The Gift’ referred to above, it was decided to have a ‘Meal-With-a-Meaning’ in January 1994, at the Ship Hotel, and many came to hear Darrel Davison, a London orchestra conductor, tell of his life and work as a Christian musician. In March one morning service was transferred to Bishop Luffa School Hall, under the title ‘First Sunday’ and it was decided to follow this up with similar ‘seeker services’ in September, October and November. The Jack Mickerson Hall at the Medical Education Centre, St. Richard’s Hospital, was used for this purpose.

As long ago as December 1990, the Secretary had suggested that the Church ought to make different administrative arrangements and he had been asked to prepare a job description with a view to an understudy, or dividing of the work. On being re-elected as a deacon for a further three-year period in January, 1994, he indicated that he would like to be relieved of the secretaryship after a further year and in May it was reported to the Church Meeting that David Reynolds had agreed to work closely with him, with a view to undertaking the executive duties from January 1995, and that an office should be set up at the church where word-processing and photocopying could be done, staffed by part-time volunteers.

At this opportune time an offer of a second-hand ‘portakabin’ type prefabricated unit was received, for use as a classroom, which would release one of the rooms in the present building for an office. With Planning Consent given for five years, the additional classroom was installed in September, 1994 with planning consent for 5 years subsequently extended for a further two.

The small size of the diaconate had exercised the deacons since 1989 and when in July 1994 Andrew Poulsom felt obliged to withdraw from the diaconate owing to pressure of work, leaving only four deacons, it was decided that the time was right to seek to increase the number of deacons. At a Special Church Meeting in September three new deacons were elected, preparing the way for further advances as the Church looks forward to its half century in seven years time, that is September, 2001.At the end of 1994 there were 144 members and about 100 children and young people in contact with the Church, through ‘Covenanters’ and ‘Chatterbox’ and associated activities. The Sunday Services continued at 9.15 and 11.15am and 6.30pm; there were ten home groups; the Luncheon Club provided for 40-50 elderly people each week and the Friday Fellowship met fortnightly; the Badminton Club continued. The premises were lent to Age Concern for ‘exercises to music’ each week and to the Torch Fellowship (for blind and partially-sighted people) once a month.

Records of the formation of the Church in 1951 and the building of the premises at Sherborne Road, certain maps and plans and the Minute Books of Church Meetings from 1951 to 1980, were deposited in the West Sussex County Record Office on 1st February, 1995.