During the first few years in the new building the congregations gradually increased; the number in the Sunday School rose to 116 by the end of 1960, with 16 teachers and staff; 21 scholars entered and passed the National Sunday School Union Scripture Examination and won the Rose Bowl for the Brighton and West Sussex area; week-night Junior and Senior Fellowships for children started; the financial year of the Church was altered to commence on 1st January from 1960 and the Annual Church Meeting changed from October to January.

A monthly newsletter called ‘The Chronicler’, distributed free over a wide area around the church, had its first issue in January, 1959 and continued for many years until its title was changed to ‘Contact’, which in turn has continued up to the time of writing.

The building was registered “For the Solemnization of Marriages,” and in July 1960 the Rev. Albert Crowther was appointed as an ‘Authorised Person’ under the Marriages Acts, with the Secretary as Deputy for this purpose. A condition was the provision of a fire-proof box in which to keep the Marriage Register, but the Registrar-General could not say where such a box could be obtained! The alternative was a safe of sufficient size, but the Church opted instead to ask the local Registrar to attend each marriage at the church, and this cooperation has continued with excellent relationships over the years.

In May 1962, the Pastor accepted a call to the Baptist Church at Stafford, concluding his ministry here in August, the Rev. D. Bryan Jones, Minister at Aldwick Free Church agreeing to act for the Church for any special pastoral needs until a new Minister could be appointed.

In October that year the Church unanimously invited Mr. Michael Wotton, M.A., then a student at Bristol Baptist College, to become Minister of the Church at the earliest convenient date – but this could not be until the end of the academic year.

The winter of 1962-3 proved disastrous for the empty manse! Frost wrought havoc with the plumbing; a new boiler and sink unit and complete redecoration were necessary before the new Minister and his wife moved in.

Michael’s Ordination and his Induction to the ministry here took place together on 6th July 1963, worship being led by the Rev. R. A. Cowley, B.D., of Tyndale Church, Bristol, the Ordination by the Rev. L. G. Champion, B.A., B.D., D.Th. (Vice-President of the Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland and President of Bristol Baptist College) and the Induction by the Rev. Vivian C. Evans (General Superintendent of the Southern Area of the Baptist Union). It is interesting that “Laying-on of hands” was included in the Ordination Service. It was a practice that was not common in Baptist churches at that time.

As Michael arrived the work was encouraging. The membership had risen to 68, all the organisations were flourishing and a Senior Girls’ Fellowship had recently been started. The Youth Fellowship were helping to support a young refugee in Hong Kong, through OXFAM.

The following are some of the events recorded in the Church Minute Book during Michael Wotton’s ministry:

• A Year Book was published in 1964
• An inter-church morning worship was started at Pontin’s Camp, Bracklesham Bay and the Church participated in the rota.
• The Rev. David Boone, M.A., took over the General Secretaryship of the Kent and Sussex Baptist Association (In later years he retired to Littlehampton and was a good friend of the Church here for 30 years).
• A ‘Stewardship Campaign’ was held.
• A lending library was started at the church.
• Occasional matters of discipline (and help) were dealt with. For example in 1965 a man connected with the Church was charged with stealing.
• Members participated in the Old People’s Welfare Committee, the Marriage Guidance Council, the Leprosy Mission, the Bible Society and Christian Aid, and there was good cooperation with other churches in the City.
• By 31st December, 1964 there were 121 children under 14 and 28 young people between 14 and 20 in contact with the Church and its organisations; some parents’ evenings were held and a short series of enquirers’ classes.
• In 1965 a visiting mission was held “to the new houses now being built north of St. Paul’s Road.” (The beginning of the East Broyle Estate).
• The new Baptist Hymn Book was adopted.
• John Green retired as Treasurer at the end of 1965 and Fred Fry succeeded him.
• The House Groups were reorganised and increased from two to four, with between 45 and 50 attending.
• A series of articles by Michael Wotton appeared in the Chichester Observer.
• Two coach loads of people went to the Billy Graham Greater London Crusade.
• An ‘Over-Sixties Fellowship’ was commenced on 29th April, 1966, under the leadership of Mrs. Cheesman and Mrs. Weddell.

A sadness early in Michael Wotton’s ministry was the death, in 1964, of Arthur T. J. Brown, who had been the first Treasurer of the Church and a man of spiritual stature and great experience. Arthur invested some money to produce an annual dividend for the Church and this provided the ‘Arthur Brown Memorial Prize’ given for many years to the best Sunday School scholar on moving up from the junior to the senior school. His son and daughters presented a hymn book trolley in his memory and this has been in constant use ever since.

The year 1967 was an important one in the life of the Church and greater progress was made then than in any previous year.

A 12-day project called ‘Life 1967’ was held in October, with 33 professed decisions; there were five baptisms; the membership rose to 88, with congregations of 100 in the morning and 75 in the evening; there were 119 children on the Sunday School Roll; the Women’s Fellowship and the Over-Sixties Fellowship had increased; and 400 families had connections with the Church.The Church participated in ‘The People Next Door’, a project of the Chichester Council of Churches and cooperation among the churches of the City in 1967 was the subject of comment in the Secretary’s report.¹⁴

The progress continued in 1968. The membership rule concerning those who had not been baptised as believers (referred to in an earlier chapter) was discussed, but it was decided not to make any alteration. A ‘One Step Forward’ week was held. The minutes refer to a letter sent to the Baptist Union regarding “the need for special nation-wide prayer for the economic, mental and spiritual well-being of the nation.” There were severe floods at Edenbridge and Tonbridge and the Church shared with other Baptist churches in Kent and Sussex in helping the flooded churches there. The debt to the Baptist Union Corporation for the loan for the building had been reduced to £1,100 by the end of the year.

Michael Wotton had contracted paralytic poliomyelitis during his studies and had been on his back for months before coming to Chichester, and although he could walk with sticks, he needed special motorised transport (the three-wheeled kind issued to disabled persons at that time). His natural sympathy with disabled people enabled him to minister to a far wider public than the church members and congregation and it soon became apparent that the numbers on his visiting list were becoming very large. The schedule he left when he moved to West Cliff, Bournemouth, Baptist Church in December, 1968 was a masterpiece, containing 496 names, coded to indicate the connection or otherwise with the Church and special notes and needs. The Church had seen much progress under his ministry.

¹⁴Church Secretary’s Report of 23rd January, 1968: “The spirit of cooperation among the churches of the City is excellent and our Minister is Chairman of the Council of Churches this year. We had mixed feelings about the decision to merge the Free Church Council into the Council of Churches by creating a ‘Free Church Section’ of the Council and we have yet to see how this will work in practice. I think it would be right to say that we are glad to cooperate with all true Christians though we cannot yet see that organisational union would really be the benefit which some would have us believe. At the same time we have noted the renewed interest in many quarters in the matter of believers’ baptism and we cannot but feel glad to see signs of the movement of the Spirit as the reading ofthe Bible and greater freedom of discussion and worship begins to take place in the Roman Church.”