Boot Prot Free

One church I was pleased to visit in May was Bootle Protestant Free Church. It is unusual for churches to call themselves Protestant in their actual name. I recall Muslim pupils at school wondering why Catholics call themselves Catholic but Protestants call themselves pretty much anything but Protestant. Although I made contact, I had not given enough time to arrange for someone to let me in and show me around.

Externally, I would have described in as Art Deco, redolent of the 1920s and 30s. The foundation stone is dated 1948, so it would not have been described as a forward-thinking design. And thank God it was not: 1950s and 60s architecture was pretty awful. I was struck by the structure's increasingly old-fashioned (but not archaic) building style. While not harking back to classical ancient Greece or gothic medieval France like many other churches, this style is certainly of its time.

Although churches and modes of worship can be stylised and dated, the gospel they preach (if preach it they do) is timeless and ageless, though it is always out of fashion. The Loyalism and Orangeism with which BPFC is associated appear anachronistic to some, but love of one’s nation and a keen devotion to Christ are not incompatible. In these days of social disintegration as iron mixes with clay, and religious apostasy seems to triumph as all gods and none are worshipped, I wish this Protestant Free Church well. Bootle is blessed to have it.