St Peter's Methodist, Earby

Submitted by Alan Marsden on Mon, 28/07/2025 - 00:00

St Peter’s Methodist Church in Earby looks rather like one of those ubiquitous Victorian primary schools hurriedly built in the wake of William Forster’s 1870 Education Act. As church and chapel architecture go, I do not consider this to be a compliment. Not that it now matters, for the church has closed. On its railings sagged a plastic banner:

200 Years of Methodism in Earby 1821-2021

Beneath the For Sale sign was another one, stating that it was a ‘potential development opportunity’. I thought this a rather pointless piece of information, as though persons wishing to start a Methodist Church called St Peter’s in the town of Earby would be the only ones planning to buy it; thanks to that sign’s inspirational prompting, others might purchase it and do something different. Another banner was attached to the railings, too, asking

#doyouknowHim?

This is the remains of a past, and failed, evangelistic initiative. Instead, we have another closed church, another empty chapel. I had enquired about buying the now redundant noticeboard for potential use at Hetton and took photographs to show the others. I asked how much the current owners would sell it for; a polite answer explained that it was not yet for sale but would I give an indication of how much we might pay for it? I did not. On that same noticeboard was a cheery invitation to

Rejoice in the Risen Lord

The Lord might be truly alive, and individual Christians with Him, but the old denominations are dead and dying, decaying and deceasing. For having drunk from the stagnant waters of doubt and denial, for having danced to the tune of the social gospel and redefined marriage, the judgements of God closes them down, one by one, slowly but surely.

I was sad as I cycled back.