Hillsborough Baptist Church History

HILLSBOROUGH:
Hillsborough Baptist Church History up to 1912.

The Hillsborough Church occupies an excellent position in a growing working-class suburb. Some members of Townhead and Portmahon, resident in the district, gathered for worship, in 1885, in a room in Taplin Road. They reaped their first fruits in 1887, in a baptism of seven converts. Formed into a Church in 1892, and having united with Walkley, they shared the ministry of its pastor, Rev. A. G. Haste. Finding that Walkley required the whole services of its minister, the Hillsborough Church called Rev. A. McKittrick, and, with a prospering cause, built a school-chapel in 1895.

For some years following, the Church was in troubled waters owing to the removal of its pastor, who, with a number of its members, commenced a mission in the immediate vicinity. In 1900, the committees of the District and the County became interested in the Church's condition, and, by their assistance, the Rev. C. J. Rendell undertook the pastorate. This union of interests was so happily successful that, in 1905, the Church became self-supporting; in 1906 it erected schools at a cost of 1450. In a rapidly-increasing neighbourhood excellent progress has been made, and the church is now anticipating the inauguration of a new chapel scheme.