Charlotte Chapel (Edinburgh)
Charlotte Chapel, often referred to in the past as the Charlotte Baptist Chapel, is a church in Rose Street in central Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. It is an independent Baptist church, and is not a part of the Baptist Union of Scotland.
History
The church was established in January 1808, when Christopher Anderson, a young Edinburgh businessman, began evangelical work in the Pleasance area of the city. By 1816 his Pleasance church was too small and he bought Charlotte Chapel, recently vacated by a Qualified congregation which had joined the Scottish Episcopal Church and then moved to St John's Church, on Princes Street. This original two-storeyed building seated 750. Anderson was pastor until 1851 and membership peaked at 232 in 1873, although many more attended services. Membership began to fall due mainly to emigration, and by 1901 the church had no minister and only a small congregation. Joseph Kemp, of Hawick, who was appointed pastor, began a revival, holding open-air meetings in Princes Street. Membership rose once more and in 1907 plans for a new building were prepared. The present church was built at a cost of £7,250 and opened in 1912 with seating for exactly 1000. The only alteration since has been the creation of a lounge in 1984.
Senior Pastors of Charlotte Chapel
- W. Graham Scroggie (1916 - 1933)
- J. Sidlow Baxter (1935 - 1953)
- Gerald Griffiths (1954 - 1962)
- Alan Redpath (1964 - 1968)
- Derek Prime (1969 - 1987)
- Peter Grainger (1992 - 2009)
- Paul Rees (2009 - date)
Worship
There are two services every Sunday: the first at 11:00am and the second at 6:30pm.
Building
The building has 5 floors. In the basement are toilets and an area usually used for babysitting during worship. There is a meeting room with a small kitchen on the first floor. The main worship hall and the balcony are on second and third floors. The fourth floor is used as another meeting room.
New building
In June 2012, the decision was made to acquire more suitable accommodation for the congregation's needs, and in March 2013 the former Church of Scotland at St. Andrew's and St. George's West in Shandwick Place was acquired. The move is expected to take place by the end of 2014.[1]
Belief
The doctrinal basis of Charlotte Baptist Chapel is the fundamental truths of Christianity, as revealed in Holy Scripture, including:
- There is one God in three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
- God is sovereign in creation, revelation, redemption and final judgement.
- The Bible, as originally given, is the inspired and infallible Word of God. It is the supreme authority in all matters of belief and behaviour.
- Since the fall, the whole of humankind is sinful and guilty, so that everyone is subject to God's wrath and condemnation.
- The Lord Jesus Christ, God's incarnate Son, is fully God; he was born of a virgin; his humanity is real and sinless; he died on the cross, was raised bodily from death and is now reigning over heaven and earth.
- Sinful human beings are redeemed from the guilt, penalty and power of sin only through the sacrificial death once and for all time of their representative and substitute, Jesus Christ, the only mediator between them and God.
- Those who believe in Christ are pardoned all their sins and accepted in God's sight only because of the righteousness of Christ credited to them; this justification is God's act of undeserved mercy, received solely by trust in him and not by their own efforts.
- The Holy Spirit alone makes the work of Christ effective to individual sinners, enabling them to turn to God from their sin and to trust in Jesus Christ.
- The Holy Spirit lives in all those he has regenerated. He makes them increasingly Christlike in character and behaviour and gives them power for their witness in the world.
- The one holy universal church is the Body of Christ, to which all true believers belong.
- The Lord Jesus Christ will return in person, to judge everyone, to execute God's just condemnation on those who have not repented and to receive the redeemed to eternal glory.
References
About
Charlotte Chapel has several 'daughter' churches:
- Niddrie Community Church in the Niddrie area of Edinburgh.
- Wester Hailes Baptist Church (founded 1971)
- Barnton Baptist Church (founded 1986)