The Believers

An insignificant building of red brick and blue slate in Burghley Street was for 60 years one of the town's smallest churches, originally the meeting place of the Plymouth Brethren and later The Believers, a non-conformist breakaway sect. 

The building was originally used as a storehouse and dates back to the early part of the 19th century. It was previously used as a garage for lorries owned by the local nursery firm of E N Moody and Sons Ltd, which later became Nursery Supplies, until bought in 1945 by the Plymouth Brethren, the fundamentalist Christian Protestant sect founded in Dublin in 1827. The name comes from the first assembly that was held in Plymouth in 1831 to celebrate its arrival in England. 

The congregation in Bourne was always a small one but in later years, members voted to leave the Plymouth Brethren and operate independently which they did for more than 20 years. The sect was characterised by extreme simplicity of belief and a notice over the front door proclaimed: "You are invited to a preaching of the WORD of GOD each Lord's Day at 6.30 p m if the Lord will."

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