Bethany Chapel Lyme Regis Dorset

Bethany Chapel began in the 1860s with services in borrowed premises until the present building was erected in 1914. It has been improved and extended in recent years to enable us to be more helpful within our community.

Without being stiff and starchy, services are reverent but friendly. ​Our most popular service is an 'all age' one from 4-5pm on Sundays, followed by free refreshments.

Our Beliefs

God

We believe that God is eternal, co-existing as three distinct personalities, Father, Son & Holy Spirit. They are equal and enjoy loving relationships.

Jesus

He is truly God and at the same time truly Man. We believe in His virgin birth, spotless humanity, substitutionary death, bodily resurrection & ascension back to Heaven where He is our Advocate. We believe He will imminently return to collect all who have trusted him for salvation by simple faith. He is God's remedy for sin. He has "offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;" (Hebrews 10v12) by the "sacrifice of himself" (Hebrews 9v26). ​ Man

Man was created by God in his image, perfect, and enjoyed close communion with God in the garden of Eden, until "sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned" (Romans 5v12).

Sin

When Sin entered into the world, mankind died spiritually and this was demonstrated by physical death. War, disease, poverty, disability etc are the general consequences of sin, and were never God's intention. There is no exception - "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3v23) There is no exemption - "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6v23).

Salvation

It is FREE! As above "the gift of God is eternal life" (Romans 3v23). It cannot be earned or bought because it is "not by works, so that no-one can boast." (Ephesians 2:9) It is EVERLASTING! It cannot be revoked, rescinded or lost! "I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no-one can snatch them out of my hand." (John 10v28) It is NECESSARY! Not an 'optional extra' or a 'crutch' to lean on. "In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. (Jesus) He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead." (Acts 17v30&31).

 

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http://www.bethany-chapel.co.uk/  

 

 

Bethany Chapel is situated just off Lyme Regis sea front. To find the chapel make your way straight down Broad Street to Marine Parade and turn immediately left at the traffic lights outside 'Rainbow' into Coombe Street. Follow the road for about 140 yards, we are next to the Gallery and opposite the 'Ship Inn' public house.  

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The opening service, in what was then called the Gospel Hall, was on Whit Sunday 31st May 1914, with special services for Bible teaching on the bank holiday the next day.

The structure of the main building is basically the same now as then, but people's needs and lifestyles are vastly different, and the premises have been changed accordingly. Inside toilets and central heating were added in the 1990s. A forecourt replaced the front boundary wall and steps in 2006. A side annexe, fully fitted kitchen, large upstairs room with shower and toilet facilities, and a fully integrated audio visual system were added in 2014.

Before the beginning!

It began with a concern for the young men of Lyme by Mr Davey, a draper, and a stationer named Daniel Dunster, whose Broad St premises is still a shop opposite Tesco. They asked "Can nothing be done for these young men?" and agreed to "Pray for them." On 19th May 1858, 'out of the blue', a young man named Tom Brown was in such spiritual distress he asked Daniel to pray for him.

That was the first answer to prayer. Within 3 weeks many people, including 42 young men, of whom 5 or 6 worked for Daniel, 2 being his lodgers, were 'saved'. That is how the Bible describes putting simple faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins and God’s free gift of eternal life. One of them was 18 year old Fred Hallett who later moved to Cardiff.

They were baptised by total immersion in water as a public declaration of their faith in Christ, but they also wanted to remember the Lord Jesus in the Lord’s Supper on the first day of every week, which the Bible indicated to be the practice of the 1st century church. As they could not do this elsewhere, they decided to meet independently for that purpose.

Before the present building

The first meeting place was Monmouth House in Broad St, which was replaced by the Post Office in 1929. Daniel Dunster died or, as Christians say, was called Home to be with the Lord, while those meetings were in their infancy. Mr F Wheadon was prominent in the meetings at that time. An Irish lady called Miss Prosser then provided a room in her Monmouth St home for Sunday morning and evening services, while a Miss Board who had attended similar gatherings in Welbeck St, London, opened her Silver St house for Bible studies on Sunday afternoons and Monday evenings.

If those people were to attend Bethany today, much of the services would seem pretty familiar to them. That does NOT mean that Bethany’s services today are old fashioned - far from it - but as indicated, the basic ingredients cannot change. ​ Other names known from those days were Mr H Miller, Miss Hallett, John Randall and Mr C Miller. One thing in Lyme that is the same today as then, is that lots of young people were leaving Lyme to find work elsewhere, which left very few to sustain the services. That did not prevent a Sunday School being started, even with only 2 or 3 children. The next known meeting place rented was the Baths, later the Drill Hall, eventually to become the Marine Theatre. Seats and lamps were installed and a baptistry built. At the same time, the British School in Mill Green [where was that; opposite the Angel where newish houses are now?] ​was rented for tea meetings addressed by visiting speakers. Those services were so well attended free entrance tickets had to be obtained in advance. We have the names of Mr & Mrs Sansom joining the worshippers about this time.

Members of the Hallett family were heavily involved throughout till well into the 1940s, maybe 1960s.

The meetings moved to Victoria Hall, an 1866 extension to the Assembly Rooms. These were demolished in 1928, and the Cobb Gate car park and Millennium Clock now occupy the site. Numbers again increased. One Whitsun preacher from those days was Frederick Lambart, 8th Earl of Cavan, who died in 1887 aged 71. Another move was to Coombe House, which is the name of today's 41 Coombe St. Is it the same? A Mrs Hallett and a Mr Osborne were among those attending.

The Christians meeting in this way were often nicknamed 'Brethren'. Kelly's Directory of 1911 lists 'The Brethren, Coombe Street.' The 'Illustrated Guide to Lyme and Neighbourhood', published early in the 20th century by F Dunster of Broad St [Daniel’s son?], says 'The Brethren meet in a nice commodious room in Coombe Street'. A Directory at the back of the book lists 7 churches, of which only 4 are operating today, and shows 'Meeting Room of Brethren, Coombe Street.'

The present building as the Gospel Hall

Denning's Court, a terrace of 8 condemned cottages end on to Coombe St [formerly Horse St], was purchased for £200. The Gospel Hall, as it was then known, was built on the site for £233 by Lyme builders, Caddy & Sons. The final bit of wall from the cottages was only removed in 2008!

​The 1914 Trustees included William Caddy, a builder who retired in 1943. Was he the builder of the hall, or his son?

One of the 1943 Trustees was Eddie Lovering, a science teacher at the Grammar School, now Woodroffe Comprehensive. He later moved to Ilfracombe, and was a well respected Bible teacher, both preaching and writing.

Large numbers of US troops were billeted in Lyme for the build up to the D Day invasion of June 1944, and the Christians meeting at the Gospel Hall were very active in ministering to their spiritual needs.

​​Towards the end of 1971, only Mr Thomas Staples of Coram Tower and a few ladies were meeting at the Gospel Hall. His sickness and frailty made it impossible to continue and the premises were closed.

​The present building as Bethany Chapel

The renamed building was reopened on Sunday 15th October 1972, with exactly the same Biblical principles as before. There were just 3 people to start, including Mr & Mrs Walter & Sheila Parnham. They were shortly joined by Graham Wood, who married Sheila after Walter was called home to be with the Lord. They still meet with us now, having celebrated their Silver Wedding in 2016. Graham can remember, from his days in Chard, coming in the 1950s to the annual meetings for Christian fellowship and Bible teaching, when the Gospel Hall didn’t have to be concerned about lack of parking, and the congregation was so large some had to sit on the wide window sills!

Over the next 4 years there is a record of lots of children and young people coming to Sunday morning "Adventurers", with Bibles and other books being given at the annual prize giving. There were Christmas parties, and various outings for them and the "Women’s Hour".

A number of pupils at the Grammar School, including some boarders, were saved and baptised.

On a number of occasions there was a series of services every day for 1 or 2 weeks, conducted by visiting evangelists, including the late John Hadley from Bodmin, plus Stephen Gillham from Ferndown who still conducts several services here each year. One 1976 series of meetings was held in a marquee pitched on land offered by Mr Froom of Middle Mill Farm, along the River Lym footpath towards Uplyme.

For quite a while during this period there were monthly film nights, showing films with a wide variety of Christian themes, many from the ‘Fact and Faith’ series.

It was at this time the men of the United Beach Mission’s Beach Team started using the chapel for their accommodation during their 4 or 5 weeks summer visits to the town each year.

Up to date!

While we are grateful to the Lord for enabling us to improve our premises, we have always been keen to 'think outside the box' of the Chapel building. We regard it as merely a useful tool and a base from which to reach out into our community.

When the Lord Jesus was here on Earth, he constantly showed practical compassion to all sorts of people without fear or favour, alongside His prime objective of giving God's free forgiveness and salvation to anybody who would accept it by putting their faith in Him.

Small ways in which we have tried to do this are

coffee mornings where all payments are voluntary and go to Lifeboats, Air Ambulance and Macmillan Cancer Support; monthly Sunday afternoon services in Fairfield House Residential Home; fetching 3 or 4 residents from Shire House Care Home to our weekly Sunday afternoon services; contributing and helping with Lyme's Food Bank from its inception; helping towards the public defibrilator at the harbour; hosting free CPR training and defibrillator familiarisation; occasional doubling up our coffee morning with table top sales by and for local charities; hosting free cookery courses for people seeking basic skills; lending the Chapel to "The Altogether Group", a social club for people recovering from mental illness; lending the Chapel to a support group for dementia carers and sufferers; lending the Chapel to "LIVING TREE", a self-help support group for people who have experienced cancer and for their families/carers; providing a neutral meeting place for Social Services with local clients, to save travelling further afield; hosting free classes teaching basic art for beginners.

​More events are in the pipeline; please keep checking this site.

​ These activities are in addition to our own events at the Chapel, always accompanied by free refreshments to a greater or lesser degree, except Sunday mornings. We are thrilled that nobody ever seems in a rush to leave after any of our services. Perhaps we should have a sign outside saying "Friendship freely available here"!

​Within the town, we distribute a limited number of free monthly 'Good News' papers. If anybody locally would like one, please 'Contact' us. Each year, we give away lots of free pictorial Bible text calendars containing an appointment facility. We also hold free film nights occasionally, with a Christian content, followed by free hot dogs or similar.

Please keep checking this site for new events. Please come and see us soon; you'll be very welcome!