The seeds from which Woodside Church grew were sown in 1962/3 amid a time of fast growth in Bedford .

As the local authority granted permission to new and expansive housing developments in the north of the town, many people arrived in Bedford and settled down to live here.

During this time, God brought many new believers to Russell Park Baptist Church , among whom were two lady Sunday School teachers who had a particular heart for the children moving with their families into the new estates.

In response to this, the leaders at Russell Park decided to launch a Sunday school in north Bedford , which began meeting in early 1965. The Lord blessed the fledgling ‘Putnoe Sunday School’ and it was soon drawing upwards of 100 children each week, subsequently moving to the new Woodside School .

Around the same time, local churches were contacted to ask if any of them would be prepared to sponsor a new church to be built among the new estates. Russell Park was allocated the only site to be taken up – today the home of the Woodside Church Centre.

 
Early in the 1970s, the Sunday school teachers and their spouses began to meet weekly to pray for the proposed new church. The Sunday School, still thriving, was by this time holding three big meetings a year which large numbers of parents and friends would frequently visit, at Christmas, Easter and Harvest Festival.

In the summer of 1976, the Lord challenged those committed to the new church to really step out in faith and begin a regular morning service for the families of the children who belonged to the Sunday School. Sixteen members formally transferred from Russell Park, and the Harvest Festival service at the beginning of October 1976 became the first official meeting of Woodside Church . Their faith was rewarded, and in December the Trustees met to sign for the purchase of the church site.

The church’s growth was slow at first, but in the spring of 1978 the Lord moved in power and with manifestations of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. During Pentecost that year, members were being added daily to the church. From this time onwards, the congregation began to meet in small groups, known as discipleship groups.

The plans for the building progressed over the next two years and the site started to be used for summer holiday clubs and for an open-air baptism service. By the spring of 1980, sufficient finances were available to allow building work to commence and the outer shell was finished by mid-1981. Thereafter progress was slower, limited as it was by a lack of funds to complete the job.

Nevertheless, in October 1983, seven years after the founding of the church and thanks to the sacrificial giving of church members, the Woodside Christian Centre was finally opened. About the same time, David Devenish left his banking job to become full-time lead elder. This was a great step of faith for him and his family because at that time the church was not in a position to support him with a salary.

Around 1985, Woodside Church became associated with what is now the Newfrontiers family of churches. Numbers attending grew rapidly and social work among the needy was started. The costs of the building were gradually paid off as the Lord led the members to give generously at special gift days.

 
In the early 1990s, David Devenish was invited to become involved in the wider work of Newfrontiers, and Richard Thomas was appointed as lead elder. The Lord continued to bless the church with numerical growth and as numbers grew the capacity of the building became stretched. At this time, two parallel morning services were launched, with one taking place in the local community centre.

During 1995-6 another substantial building development was undertaken, designed to raise the capacity of the main hall to over 400 and provide smaller rooms for children’s work and other activities. But despite the increased size of the main hall, by 2004, attendance was once again stretching its capacity and Woodside began two separate Sunday services– at 10.30am and 5pm.

Today we regularly welcome around 300 people each Sunday to worship and take part in our children’s and young people’s activities. Our membership is almost as ethnically diverse as Bedford itself – with people from dozens of different nations making up our church family.

Now, 40 years since the Sunday School started and nearly 30 years since the official opening of Woodside Church , we look back and thank the Lord for His work as he has built his church among us.

As the church has been challenged to move forward in faith, so He has shown His faithfulness and provision. The present multi-racial congregations are a testimony to the vision He gave back in the 1960s and the faith of those who accepted His challenge.

Dennis Howe. October 2006