Connecticut history

Connecticut

See Connecticut for a fuller list of assemblies.

The Hartford Gospel Hall began in 1907 on Asylum Street, the result of several workers spreading the Gospel. The assembly Christians met next on Park Street, then Witmore Street, from there to Farmington Avenue, and lastly to the current address at 685 Broad Street, Hartford. The Gospel Hall is the mother of several assemblies in the area. Fritz Bjork, Nick Vendetta, and A. Reagor have been among the leaders of the assembly. The Hartford Gospel Hall has commended workers to ministry in the U.S. and Canada. About 20 adults and youngsters now attend the assembly.

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An assembly in Manchester was meeting in the early 1920s, renting the Town Hall for their meetings. Around 1925 they built the Manchester Gospel Hall at 415 Center Street, where they presently meet. They conducted many Gospel campaigns and many souls were saved; they held street meetings every Saturday night in the downtown. Today there are missionaries on the foreign field who have been commended from this assembly.

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The assembly meeting at Prospect Bible Chapel, Hartford has its roots in the 1920s, when it was known as the Gospel Hall Society. In 1934, it was incorporated under the name The Scripture Truth Church and at that time it developed a set of Fundamental Articles for the church to operate under. John P. Barclay served as President, Duncan M. Surgenor was clerk, and Thomas Waugh was the treasurer. Overseers were Charles Austin, James Surgenor, Carl Martinson, J.C. Amont, William Gardener, and William Surgenor.

In November 1934, the Christians purchased a building at 576 Prospect Avenue and called their assembly Prospect Gospel Chapel. They have met at that location since then. In 1983, the name was changed to Prospect Bible Chapel.

Leaders of the assembly over the years include Charles N. Miller, Alexander Brown, James Serpliss, James Gardener, Marcus Harvey, Thomas E. Woods, James Daniels, and J. Victor Congdon. The assembly convenes an Annual Conference each September, and a Young Peoples Conference each March.

Mrs. T. Ernest Wilson (Elizabeth Smith), a missionary to Angola, was commended from this assembly, as were Gordon Reagor and Neil Dougal to the U.S. and Canada as evangelists. Others have been commended to serve at His Mansion and Emmaus Bible College. Miss Flora Barclay who served the Lord for many years in China was also from this assembly.

About 60 adults are currently in fellowship, with 30 children in the Sunday School. Two assemblies have derived from Prospect Bible Chapel: Fellowship Bible Chapel, first meeting in Rockville and then in Enfield, and which no longer exists; and Manchester Bible Chapel.

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Manchester Bible Chapel was started in 1988 through the efforts of Jack and Ruth Spender and Don and Jean Woods, with a nucleus of 11 persons, including some from Prospect Bible Chapel in Hartford. Its initial meeting place was in the Robertson school; since then the assembly has occupied a series of rented spaces. Elders have included Don Woods, John Zine, Mike Yenor, Rusty Hammel, and Mike Giacalone. As many as 80 have been in fellowship, though now attendance is about 20.

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In 1931, a few Christians began to meet weekly for Breaking of Bread, Bible study, and fellowship on Whitney Avenue in North Haven. The MacWilliam and Thomson families were the key people in starting the assembly and provided the leadership in the early days. In 1937, the assembly moved to a building on Newhall Street in New Haven and took the name Gospel Hall, Newhall Street. In the 1960s, the assembly built West Woods Bible Chapel at 165 Hillfield Road in Hamden, north of New Haven.

At its largest, the assembly had about 300 in attendance, but a split over a charismatic issue has reduced the number to about 50 today. Several other assemblies in the area have been started by people from West Woods Bible Chapel at New Haven, North Haven, Branford, and Cheshire.

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In 1972, Joseph and Andrea DePino returned to Connecticut after Joe was discharged from the U.S. Navy. Just several weeks prior, they had been wonderfully saved. They checked the church listings in the local newspaper, and as a result came to West Woods Bible Chapel in Hamden.

The DePinos were anxious to share their new-found faith with young people they had known, most of whom were Roman Catholic. Their temporary home was a trailer in Branford on the east side of New Haven, and it was there that they started inviting friends to a Bible study. Just at this time, Herbert McCaulley had to retire from secular work because of a heart condition and the elders at West Woods Bible Chapel asked him to teach the young people. When the numbers increased, they joined with another study group in a home in Branford. These young believers attended West Woods Bible Chapel and Broke Bread there on Sunday mornings, still having the studies on Sunday evenings as well as some week nights in Branford.

As growth continued, they felt the time had come to start functioning as an assembly. Jack Spender came out from West Woods and gave teaching regarding the Lord’s Table. Thus, Branford Bible Chapel was established as an assembly in 1973. For several years the assembly met in the gun club, the local armory, the historic Academy on the Green in Branford, and public schools.

The need to have a permanent building became a reality when after much prayer and searching, property was purchased in North Branford. The existing house was very useable and was remodeled. Most of the construction was done by the men in the assembly and the assembly met in its own building for the first time on the Sunday before Christmas in 1991. Mr. McCaulley had been commended to minster full-time in the assembly, where he remained until the Lord took him in 1997. Ken Hardisty was on furlough from the Philippines at that time and stayed until returning to that field in July 1999.

The brothers who faithfully ministered in the beginning were Herbert McCaulley, Harold Hardisty, Jack Spender, Joseph DePino, and Ernest Wegener. The current elders are James C. Baker and Joseph DePino. The assembly has commended workers to the Philippines and to Friends of Israel. About 80 attend the Breaking of Bread, with quite a few more attending the preaching service.

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Westville Bible Chapel in New Haven has its roots in a Bible study in the home of Ralph Kirchhofer in 1976. Those involved in the study started Breaking Bread together in the spring of 1977. West Woods Bible Chapel in Hamden was helpful in getting the work at Westville off the ground. In 1978, the assembly moved into the Edgewood Club building at 201 Alston Avenue, and in 1984, purchased the lot and building. Jack Spender, who taught an early Bible study on New Testament church principles, was influential in starting the Westville assembly, along with Ralph and Lunda Kirchhofer, Peter and Pam Herndon, Dill and Katie Ewen, and John and Karen Cramm.

Joe Pratt, Ed Anthony, Eric Broadbent, and Wally Van Wyck have also served as elders. Full-time workers Jack Spender and Ken Hardisty are supported by the assembly. Westville Bible Chapel has about 80 adults and youngsters in attendance.

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From its beginning in 1979, the Cheshire Bible Chapel in the town of Cheshire about 15 miles south of Bristol, had a vision for a work in Bristol to serve the families who traveled down from that area. In 1983, the Bristol Bible Chapel began in the Bristol Boys and Girls Club building and has continued to meet there since. Six or eight families from Cheshire Bible Chapel, including one elder and two deacons, along with Jack Spender, initiated the assembly in Bristol. Those active in leadership at Bristol Bible Chapel have been Ronald Russell, Brian Sorel, and Daniel Symolon. About 80 adults and youngsters attend the assembly.

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The present Groton Bible Chapel has its roots in a Sunday School work begun in 1919. Herbert and Bella Mackenzie had immigrated to the U.S. in 1900 and were followed in 1906 by William and Florence Ward, both families settling in Rhode Island. Both families had been in assemblies in the British Isles, and initially fellowshipped at the Westerly Gospel Hall in the town of Westerly, RI at the Connecticut state line. In 1917, both families were employed and lived in Groton, about 18 miles away in Connecticut, but continued at the Westerly assembly. Desiring to start an assembly where they lived, they began an afternoon Sunday School in a rented store front at 452 Thames Street. The work attracted many people, among whom were the Chiapperini, Post, Gore, Orkney, and Page families.

In 1920, evangelists John Rankin and Hugh McEwen held tent meetings in the town. Many were saved, and many joined in the Sunday School work. The Deady, Weiser, Whipple, Conghlin, and Gregg families came at this time, as well as Joseph Ward from England. The Christians began to Break Bread as the Groton Gospel Hall in that year in the store front. In the mid-1920s, William and Mary Campbell joined the fellowship and became leaders. For the remainder of the 1920s and 1930s, the church stayed at about 20 adults in fellowship. The Sunday School work remained as the chief outreach and focus of work.

By the late 1930s, some in the assembly felt the need to move the assembly from its separatist stance to the mainstream of evangelicalism. World War II brought more into the fellowship who shared this view. In 1949, a new Groton Gospel Chapel was completed at 81 Poquonnock Road.

David and Elsie Ward were commended as workers for the assembly in 1948. Hilmar and Ruth Burgess came in 1949 to join the work, and Bob and Barbara Campbell came in 1956. These dedicated workers, with others, had much to do with the substantial growth of Groton Gospel Chapel. The afternoon Sunday School was still a major feature of the assembly, but in the mid to late 1970s, had evolved into a Family Bible Hour comprising 500 to 600 adults in two services.

In 1959, the Christians purchased a 3.5 acre lot, knowing that needed expansion at their present location was not possible. Ground breaking for the Christian Education wing of the new chapel took place in 1961. Construction and dedication of the sanctuary occurred in 1973, and final construction of the gym took place in 1985. A name changes to Groton Bible Chapel took place in 1973.

Among the many workers commended by the assembly, we mention Carlos Cerqueira, commended to work among the Portuguese in Rhode Island. The assembly has yearly evangelistic crusades and strong missions and visitation programs. About 750 adults and youngsters attend the assembly today.

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Community Bible Chapel in Brooklyn, near the eastern edge of Connecticut, was begun in 1987 by David Bell and Steve Chuiek. The small assembly (up to 30 adults and youngsters) has met in homes and other locations over the years. David Bell and Steve Chuiek have served as the leaders.

An assembly was established in South Norwalk in 1952, following Bible studies led by David Ward in the home of Cliff and Isabel Foley. Harold Harper gave help in establishing this new work, which became the South Norwalk Gospel Chapel. Due to the high cost of living in the area, young couples who had been saved were forced to move, and the assembly was discontinued in 1995.

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Waterbury Christian Fellowship began to meet in September 1997. The assembly has been meeting in the Sheraton Hotel. The work started as a home Bible study in the home of Paul Forcucci, with Jack Spender teaching the studies. It started as an outreach to Kennedy High School, where Mr. Forcucci was teaching. The group has had the support of Cheshire Bible Chapel since the beginning.

The principal people initiating the assembly were Paul and Maria Forcucci, Jack and Ruth Spender, John and Foida Monroe, and Juan Torres. Waterbury Christian Fellowship is now waiting for the Lord to identify elders to lead the assembly. About 65 adults and children are in the assembly.

Sources

• Questionnaire responses and other correspondence
• The 75th Anniversary of the Groton Bible Chapel,1919-1994, by David Ward
• The History of Concord Bible Fellowship, by William E. Houston, 1999
• Letters of Interest, October 1953, p. 5; November 1953, p. 3; May 1957, p. 3 February 1982, p. 6