Saint Johns Methodist Church Luton

Saint John's Methodist church in 1963 [MB1710/3]

In 1962 a booklet called Impact! was published [MB1694]. It is a history of Luton Methodism up to that point and contains a chapter on Methodism in Warden Hill by Rev. E. K. Towers, which begins as follows: “On the ninth day of June in the year 1940 a small group of Methodist people met in the Bramingham School, Icknield Way, for worship. This was the beginning of the witness by Methodism in the Warden Hill area, a witness which has been continued through the years despite much disappointment and discouragement. The pioneers of the enterprise were Mr. and Mrs. Frank Coleman. The preacher on the first Sunday was Mr. Oliver and the collection was 5s. 2d.”

A Sunday school was quickly inaugurated and in 1941 discussions began about procuring a hut to serve as a meeting. Charles Jeyes transferred some of his land in Warden Hill with a frontage of 25 feet as the site for a meeting in 1942 but no hut could be obtained as timber was in short supply and needed for war production. Further land, with a frontage of 50 feet was purchased from Charles Jeyes for £100. Meanwhile the Methodists continued to meet at Bramingham Road Council School, evacuees boosting Sunday school numbers to fifty.

Even after the war no progress could be made in acquiring a hut for worship. Finally in October 1947 a hut was found at Houghton Regis belonging to the Ministry of Works and purchased for £30. Dismantling it, moving it and re-erecting it at Warden Hill cost £500 [MB766]. It opened for worship on 25th September 1948.

When the meeting began at Warden Hill it was expected that post-war development would continue, as it had been pre-war, along Barton Road. However the axis of development turned out to be towards Leagrave not north towards Bedford, making the site on the fringe of the development area rather than in the middle. On the plus side the Methodist Home Mission agreed to provide a pastor to preside over the church in Warden Hill.

In order to grow the church needed a new building in a new location. A piece of land on the corner of Birsdfoot Lane and Barton Road was acquired [MB767]. A new church and a youth block were planned which would cost £25,000. In order to raise funds the old site was sold for £7,000 [MB768]. In the interim the meeting returned to the school in Bramingham Road. The new church’s foundation stones were laid in June 1962 and the intended opening date was November that year [MB1694] with a youth block in the following year. As Luton had a link with Casa Materna, near Naples, the communion table was made there and gifted by the Casa Materna Methodists to those of Saint John’s as the new church came to be called. The organ installed came from Mount Tabor Methodist church [MB1707].

The church formed part of the Luton Circuit until 1965 when that circuit divided into north and south - Saint John's being in Luton North Circuit. In 1987 the two circuits re-amalgamated into one Luton Circuit and in 2010 this joined with the Chiltern Downs circuit to form South Bedfordshire Circuit. The church remains a Methodist place of worship at the time of writing [2012].

Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service has the following records relating to Saint John’s:

• MB1705: collection journal: 1940-1956;
• MB766: purchase of a site in Warden Hill Road: 1942-1943;
• MB1699: Trustees’ minute book: 1942-1959;
• MB766: agreement to erect a small hut on Bramingham Road Council School site [abortive]: 1943;
• MB766: erection of the church hall: 1946-1948;
• MB1704: Leaders’ Meeting minute book: 1951-1962;
• MB1706: Warden Hill Methodist Church Society Fund account book: 1951-1960;
• MB767: papers regarding change of site to Birdsfoot Lane at the junction with Barton Road: 1956-1960;
• MB769: plans for the new church in Birdsfoot Lane: 1960-1961;
• MB1700: Trustees’ and Warden Hill New Church Building Committee minute book: 1960-1967;
• MB772: photograph of people studying plans: c. 1960;
• MB768: sale of the Warden Hill site: 1961-1962;
• MB3067: 40th anniversary brochure: A History of Saint John’s Methodist Church: 1962-2002;
• MB770: order of service for foundation stone laying: 1962;
• MB771: order of service for the opening ceremony: 1962;
• MB773-774: photograph of the communion table made by boys in Casa Materna, Italy: 1962;
• MB1708: photographs of the ceremony of laying the foundation stone: 1962;
• MB1709: photographs of the opening and dedication: 17th November 1962;
• MB1707: re-erection of the former Mount Tabor organ and Saint John’s and a report on its condition: 1962, 1966;
• MB2476: Women’s Fellowship minute book: 1962-1995;
• MB1710: photographs of the new church: 1963;
• MB1416: Leaders’ Meeting minute book: 1963-1974;
• MB1417: Overseas Missions Committee minute book: 1966-1971;
• MB1701: Trustees’ minutes: 1967-1977;
• MB1711: list of church officials and members: 1968;
• MB1712: leaflet News and Views: 1972;
• MB2475: pulpit notice book: 1972-1976;
• MB1418: secretary’s papers: 1974-1979;
• MB1702: Saint John’s Finance Committee minutes: 1974-1981;
• MB1703: reports presented an Annual General Meetings: 1980-1985;
• MB1713: flower show leaflet: 1986.