The History of Deeside Christian Fellowship Church

In the mid 1960’s the possibility of setting up a new church in Bieldside/Milltimber developed in the minds and hearts of Christians who were living in the area but worshiping elsewhere (mainly at Victoria Hall in Torry).

By the early 1970’s a group were meeting monthly (with the permission of their churches), for prayer and bible study, seeking further guidance from the Lord. By the end of November 1973 this had increased to meeting fortnightly with the specific objective to identify the scriptural basis on which the new church fellowship should be built.

With the guidance of the Holy Spirit a Statement of Faith was drawn up and approved and the overall objectives of the new church fellowship were agreed to be the worship of God, the faithful preaching of the gospel and a continuous programme for teaching the truths of scripture to young and old and all for the glory of God. Other important matters decided on included a weekly communion service to be followed by a family service with refreshments after. The family service was intended to be the main formal means of evangelical outreach to the community. Meeting the spiritual needs of all groups was seen as an essential responsibility for the church and the setting up of a mid week youth group and Sunday school for the children & youth in the local area which started in September 1974.

The twenty or so friends who were meeting even more regularly and moving forward in a fellowship of prayer and Bible study had a real sense of God’s approval of what they were doing. There were many important issues involved in setting up the new fellowship and people were appointed to be responsible for different areas including finance, administration, as well as such things as choice of hymn book. These developments led to the group being asked to make a financial commitment and individual members were also asked to make their intentions to become members of the new Milltimber Fellowship known to their parent churches.

It had been decided to concentrate the search for a suitable site for the new church building in Milltimber as it did not have a church, in the meantime, the education authorities had been approached and approval was given to initially hold a mid week youth club in the school and later monthly Sunday services with Sunday School. The local parents were fully behind them due to a lack of suitable youth activities in the area. In Sept 1974 the fellowship began running a youth club for the young people of the area on Wednesday evenings, and in April 1975 Milltimber Primary School also became the church’s meeting place for a monthly Sunday family service and Sunday school. The conviction was growing that the Lord was pointing to Milltimber as the place for the new church building to be.

The search for a site in Milltimber or even a large house to convert was proving fruitless but the group remained convinced that it was God’s will that a church be built here even though there were understandable concerns being raised about taking the decision to launch out as an independent fully operational church without a permanent home. After much prayer and consideration a unanimous conclusion was reach that it was God’s will for the group to move forward and leave the Lord to solve the problem of the provision of the land, so on 7th September 1975 members met for the first time as an independent evangelical church in Milltimber Primary School. This was a major step of faith at a time with apparent land options closed.

The Lord honoured that faith in the most remarkable way, shortly after a meeting in June which had taken the decision to go ahead with establishing the church, one of the members was contacted by a local business man and land owner to offer 1½ acres to the church for their new building. The news was received as resounding answer to prayer. The land was also in the ideal location at the end of Binghill Drive with plans for residential development north of the site. The site was given on the understanding that reimbursement of legal and other expenses was the only payment due!! A planning application was submitted for approval at the beginning of 1976 and a plan of the building was drawn up by a local architect who was impressed with the work being done with the youth in the community and who wanted to make a contribution. He subsequently drew the plans for the four extensions to the building that have taken place since.

God continued to answer prayer and the obstacle of obtaining planning permission was overcome. The building plans were enthusiastically adopted by the church fellowship and construction on the building began in early 1977. Building funds and various gifts for the church continued to flow in and the church building was ready for opening in early September 1977, two years after the start of the weekly family hour services. This was a very busy time for all with ongoing activities continuing and there were also many encouragements including several members of the girl’s club coming to faith. A ‘Who Are We’ leaflet, with the objectives of the church and its basic scriptural principles, and the first DCFC magazine, were prepared for distribution to the local community prior to the opening of the new church building.

The Buiding and The Extensions

Members continued to meet for Bible study and prayer and to give thanks to God for the way in which he had led them in the early years and for the continuing guidance and goodness to them as they prepared for the church opening which took place the weekend of the 3rd & 4th September 1977. It was an unforgettable day for those in attendance with an estimated one thousand guests viewing the church. There was a lot of joy and thanksgiving for the way in which God had guided and answered prayer over the years of preparation and for the years to come. A vibrant fellowship was now at home in its own church building.

The first extension to the church to increase the space for the Sunday School happened in 1978, with the second in 1985 to increase the auditorium space for the Family Service and in 1993 the auditorium and the Sunday School space was extended again with the addition of an upstairs seating for 50 and increased office space. A separate office building and meeting rooms for the Celebration Group and Sunday School is due to start construction in late 2011.

Church Plants

In the early years some members of the fellowship with young families who were living in Westhill began a mid week youth activity and this was so successful that in 1980 the time had come to plant a new church and in due course Westhill Fellowship was establish with the blessing of the Deeside Fellowship. More recently in the mid 1990’s some members who lived in Banchory started holding Services in the school which continued for a number of years and Banchory Christian Fellowship was established and through God’s goodness their new church building was opened in March 2011.

Banchory Chrisitan Fellowship

The History of Deeside Christian Fellowship Church Booklet was written by Jack Abbot in May 1994 copies of which are still available from the Church Office.