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The History of
St Philip's Church (not
from the History Booklet)
The Past
First a bit of history - not much
though, we've only been here for a hundred years.
In 1903 a lot of houses had been
built in the streets off
Evington Road
, and these people had to travel a long way to their nearest church, so the
Diocese thought about building a Church for them. The Church Army started by
having a ten day Mission in a marquee, and hundreds of people came to each of
the services. There was tremendous enthusiasm for a new Church and working
parties were soon set up to raise part of the £9,000 needed to build the
Church, together with Bible Classes in peoples' houses.
By 1904 a corrugated iron church had
been erected - known as the “tin church" - which had to be enlarged
several times because of the large numbers trying to get in. In 1909 the first
part of the Church was built - not much bigger than the part of the building
we use as a worship area today. So many people came to the services,
particularly the evening services, that the “tin Church” had to be used as
well.
In 1913 the remainder of the Church
was built, with pews for over 500 people. There was not enough money to build
the tower or Lady Chapel that were originally planned, and these were never
built.
The Church grew from strength to
strength, under a dynamic Vicar - Canon John Dearlove. Before long there was a
vicarage built and church halls large enough to provide social activities for
the Church and the whole community - drama society, choirs, dancing, whist
drives, Scouts and Guides and many others. In 1949 nearly 980 people were
recorded on the Electoral Roll (a list of people entitled to vote at Church
meetings) - one of the highest figures ever recorded in Leicestershire. In
1967 the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Michael Ramsey, celebrated Holy
Communion at St Philip's at the start of a visit to
Leicester
.
Since 1960 there has been a big
change in the area. Many families from the West Indies,
Kenya
,
Uganda
and
India
have settled in the area, resulting in a gradual decline in our congregation.
In 1996 we had a bad fire, totally
destroying the vestry area and the organ. We no longer needed such a large
church and halls, which were costing us a lot of money to maintain, so we made
a decision to sell the halls and use the money to re-order the church to
provide a smaller worship area, together with meeting rooms capable of serving
the present congregation and the community around us.
The
Present
Stained
Glass Windows
Above
the High Altar you cannot miss a magnificent window featuring "Christ in
Majesty". It was designed by Karl Parsons and it was our War Memorial to
the 72 men of this Parish who died in the First World War. It cost over £2,000
- which was a huge sum of money in 1921, equivalent to £1/4 million today.
At
the back are more stained glass windows, given by our Sunday School. The centre
panels depict the Baptism of Christ in the River Jordan.
The
Pulpit
This
was given to the Church in 1909 and the carved panels show Saint Philip, who was
a fisherman, and one of the twelve apostles of Jesus. He is mentioned several
times in the Gospels.
Chancel
Screen
At
the back of the Church you will see a screen with the words “I have loved the
habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth." This
screen was originally on the chancel steps, but was moved here to provide a more
open space when the Church was re-ordered.
The
Organ
Our
Lammermuir pipe organ was installed in 2003. It was built in
Scotland
in 1987 for a church in
London
. It is unusual in having a brown wooden keyboard, instead of the usual white
keys.
St
Philip's Today
We
have a thriving
Junior
Church
, and we enjoy having a number of children at most of our services.
St Philip's has close links with our neighbouring churches. In 2007 we renewed
our links with
Mayflower
Methodist
Church
and
Evington
Road
URC
Church
with a Covenant to form “
Evington
Valley
Church
", and we have regular joint services. We have also formed the Evington and
Highfields Mission Partnership with the St Denys, St Barnabas, St Stephen's and
St Peter's Churches as part of the "Shaped by God" initiative started
in 2005. The
German
Speaking
Lutheran
Church
also have regular services here.
The
Future
We
have developed strong links with people of other faiths, particularly since the
opening of St Philip's Centre for Study and Engagement in a Multi Faith Society
- which provides training courses for people coming to work in areas where there
are people of many different faiths. The Centre was opened by the present
Archbishop of Canterbury in 2006.
Our halls are in use nearly every day and evening. We have a lively playgroup in
the day time, and our halls are well used by local choirs and other
organisations.
The
former church Halls are now Catherine House, a day centre run by Age Concern.
Hundreds of people come each day for meals and social activities.
We believe that St Philip's has survived to provide a viable Christian presence
in this community.
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