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Our story

Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the Lord
Psalm 102:18

Yoker Evangelical Church, in some form, has been seeking to tell the people of Yoker about the Lord Jesus Christ for more than 100 years.

The story stretches back to 1913, to Mr James Crawford and his concern for the area of Yoker, as he sought and found no active gospel work within the community.

As you can imagine, with a history of over 100 years, there are plenty of chapters within this church's history and to tell the whole story here, would be a lengthy novel to read, so here are some highlights from along the way!

So, back to the beginning!

As I said, 1913 was the start of some key connections and conversations as God brought the right people together at the right times with a growing burden to share the gospel with those working in the shipyards and surrounding factories.

From a conversation on a tram, to meeting with new believers who had been praying that God would open up a way for an active gospel work in Yoker, gradually the vision and direction was confirmed and they set about founding Yoker Mission Hall!

The first steps in launching something new can often be the most daunting, however, with God given boldness, they set about organising an open-air meeting at Ferry Road. Soon after, God opened the doors to the first premises for the church, it was known as the Auld Hoose and with the rent agreed, they started to use the empty billiards rooms as a meeting space with the formal opening celebration of Yoker Mission Hall on Saturday 7th February 1914!

Our church's history is a testimony to how nothing can get in the way of God's plans and as the church's ministries continued to serve through the First World War, Second World War and the Clydebank Blitz, it also moved out of the Auld Hoose and instead of looking for property, it was God's leading to look for suitable land to build on!

During this time the ministries developed and with the opening of the new hall in 1930 came the addition of a regular special mission programme for children and young people, which continues to be a yearly activity of the church today!

During the Clydebank blitz the mission recognised God's blessing as an incendiary bomb came through the roof of the wooden structured hall it could have burned the building to the ground... but for God's protection and it mercifully burned itself out on the earth beneath the floor of the building!

1974 brought with it the home call of a few of 'the old guard' as James Crawford and Robert B. MacGregor heard the words 'well done good and faithful servant' from their Saviour and Lord... but the gospel work continued under the leadership of Mr Hugh B. Crawford as the work continued to grow and develop. As another generation sought to reach Yoker with the good news of Jesus.

Mr Fergus Wilson then took over as the new president of the mission hall. Fergus was a surveyor for the Co-operative Wholesale Society Ltd and put his secular employment expertise into use with the development of the church as we again reached the point of needing to expand the building to meet our ministry needs.

In 1984 the members came to realise that they considered The Mission Hall to be 'their church', so at the AGM on 25th January 1984, it was decided that "The Mission" would be an independent church known as Yoker Evangelical Church!

As mentioned, Mr Wilson's skills as a surveyor were key as the next building development was completed in 1985, which also marked the milestone of seventy years of gospel witness in Yoker.

Through the sacrificial giving of His people, God provided the £100,000 necessary for the expansion work to be completed debt free.

In 1992 the Church had sought an opportunity to open a faith based residential Elderly Care home. With immense effort this desire became a reality as Stirling House on Mill Road was adapted and eventually opened as Mill Haven. This work continued for many years, housing and ministering to around 60 elderly people. Sadly, due to new Government directives the work became unsustainable and with heavy hearts the home closed in April 2009.

As the Church grew and developed the church recognised that the work would be enhanced by calling a full time Pastor. After much prayer and consideration, on the 6th of June 1998, the first paid Pastor was appointed.

Pastor Alan Wells along with his wife, Carolyn and family took up the pastoral role at the church and with his appointment came the capacity for more gospel ministry. Some examples of new ventures over the time Alan and Carolyn were with us are, our Baby and Toddler group, Learn to Lead training, the launch of Online as a way to help our young people study the Bible, the developing of links with the local primary schools and secondary school via chaplaincy and a number of joint mission projects which were undertaken alongside other churches in the area. The church was also incredibly blessed by Alan's teaching as he unpacked scripture each week. In December 2009 Alan, Carolyn and family were called to a new position at Castlehill Baptist Church and a chapter of ministering together came to a close.

A new chapter began once again as we pressed forwards with extending the church building once more to meet the ministry needs of a growing church. With the financial goal of £250,000 to complete the building plans, we pressed on and saw God's provision time and time again. The new extension was opened with a service of thanksgiving to God and it was a joy to have Rev. Alan Wells join us to commission us in this new season for the church.

Our period of vacancy for the Pastoral role allowed for a focus on the building work and with that completed, God called a new Pastor to the church, Robbie Brown along with his wife Michelle and young son, Matthew, with the induction service taking place on 6th August 2011.

Robbie provided leadership for the church as we celebrated our Centenary of service to God, and a year full of various activities and outreaches took place throughout 2014. His preaching was of a particularly high and consistent quality, and folks were thoroughly blessed by his labours as he sought to minister to the people of Yoker. In this time we saw the launch of a new venture, Café Emmaus, which sought to welcome the most vulnerable and needy members of our community into the church for lunch.

In 2015, we once again found ourselves in vacancy as Robbie and family were called to minister at Fraserburgh Baptist Church.

God as always, was faithful to us as a church providing us with great teaching and support through visiting speakers. We began the search and calling of a new person to Pastor the church who would lead us into yet another chapter of telling the people of Yoker about Jesus.

On Saturday 6th August 2016, we inducted our present Pastor, Greig Ferguson, along with his wife, Jillian and young family, Alistair, Eilidh and Jonathan.

In these past two years God has blessed us with a real sense of our gospel unity, we have been delighted to see new people coming to church as well as being able to begin or restart some ministries. We are blessed each week as Greig opens God's word and helps us to understand and put into practice what we learn from the Bible.

Through the leadership of Greig and the other Elders, we aim to continue the work that has been faithfully done for more that 100 years as we seek to 'know God and make Him known' in Yoker and to the ends of the earth.

This takes us to our present day and an excited gathering of God's people expectantly seeking to follow God wherever He leads us next...

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