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October 2019 October 2019

OTHER CHURCHES NEWS

BERE REGIS CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH

Sundays 10.30am Morning Service taken each week by visiting
preachers.
Mondays at 7pm STS (Search the Scriptures) Youth meeting

Tuesdays at 9.15am (during term time) Chapel Toddlers Group
Tuesdays at 7.30pm Bible Study and Prayer
I was wondering what to write in this month’s magazine when it occurred to me
that there are probably a number of readers who know little about the
Congregational Church, and maybe do not even know where it is, so here are a
few facts and a little history. Please carry on reading, you will be surprised at some
of this village history.
The church is at the top of Butt Lane, a turning off West Street. Butt Lane is a cul-de
-sac, and so the building would not be passed on the way to somewhere else, but
is tucked away out of sight. The church was founded in 1662 and so has had a
place in this village for 357 years.
Here’s the history bit! The end of the civil war in England saw the Puritan cause in
power, and culminated in the execution of Charles I in 1649. From 1649 to 1660
England was without a king, and during this period many Puritan clergy were
instituted as vicars to various parishes. As Puritans they had not been ordained by
a bishop under Charles II, and when the church again required Episcopal
ordination, the non-ordained clergy presented a problem. Matters came to a
head in 1662 upon the introduction of a new prayer book containing a clause
requiring such ordination, and to which all clergy were required to consent in
writing, with the alternative of resignation. As the ordination issue was a matter of
principle to the Puritans, most of them, estimated variously between 800 and 2000,
chose resignation. Many of them continued to hold services in private, a practice
which was then illegal, and these private meetings in 1662 mark the beginning of
Congregational Churches.

Philip Lamb, vicar of Bere Regis, was one of the Puritan clergy to resign, and he
can therefore be regarded as the founder of the Congregational Church in this
parish. He was a zealous minister and had a large place in the affections of the
people, and there was great grief when he was silenced. In his farewell sermon he
said, “I may not speak from God to you, yet I shall not cease to speak to God for
you.” For some time he continued to preach privately, and undoubtedly it was
under his guidance that the Congregational Church was formed. In 1672 he was
granted a licence to be a ‘Congregational Teacher’, and a convenient meeting

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