In you, Lord my god, i put my trust

1957  The  Glad Tidings Hall Church (in fellowship with Assemblies of God), now known as Assemblies of God Pentecostal Church (AOG) Redditch, worshipped in a little hall called “The Dickens Fellowship”.  Back then, the church didn’t have a pastor, but it was kept going by Elder Arthur Adams.

1958  John McFarland joined the Glad Tidings AOG Church and is now the only surviving member.  In 1958 the Glad Tidings AOG moved to the “Kingfisher Hall” in Worcester Road, Redditch. At that time, Worcester Road (no longer there) led into Oakly Road behind the bus station.  John Whitehouse (Temporary Pastor) and his wife, Evelyn Whitehouse, looked after the church.  They lived in Erdington, Birmingham and travelled by bus every Sunday to Redditch.  The bus journey consisted of a bus from Erdington to Birmingham City Centre and from Birmingham City Centre to Redditch.  They also repeated this journey during the week to attend mid-week services at the church.  Although this was a temporary pastoral position for John, he pastored the church in this way for four years.

1961  Ronald Burston took on the permanent role as Pastor for Glad Tidings AOG from John Whitehouse, and shortly afterwards,  the Glad Tidings AOG church moved to Easemore Road and worshipped in the Scouts Hut.  During the 1960s, the church grew as some fantastic services were held in the Scout Hut. Some of the great memories were of Bikers that used to turn up at the hut, take their helmets off and join in the service.  These were also scary times, as some bikers were aggressive, unpredictable and violent.

Pastor Ronald Burston was a great evangelist and teacher.  Under Pastor Burston's leadership, the Pentecostal church attracted people from the Windrush generation. Sadly most of these have gone home to be with the Lord, but Calma Barnett still worships at the church and has been there for over 50 years. The Glad Tidings AOG moved to Prospect Hill and built a church in 1966.  This was the first property owned by the church, albeit the church did not own the land.  Sadly, for this reason, the church building is no longer there, and the land is now a car park.  

John McFarland was gifted in working with children and young people and had a unique way of getting them to attend church.  This included walking into parks, rounding up children orderly and then telling them to follow him to church. In 1961 John was instrumental in starting a Sunday School in the village hall in Alvechurch.  He and others worked tirelessly at door-to-door knocking and street walking to encourage parents to send their children to the new Sunday School. Sometimes they would make the thought of attending Sunday School so exciting that the children begged their parents to let them go.  Their effort and hard work were worth it, as 100 children were present on the first day of opening the new Sunday School.

John repeated this youth outreach ministry by opening a second Sunday School in the village hall in Hopwood.  These were great times as The Glad Tidings AOG had its roots in the town and Sunday Schools in two other nearby villages.

1969  Pastor Tom Jones became the leader of the church and remained there in Prospect Hill until the late 1970’s.  He appointed a Youth Pastor named David Vaughan.

1977  Pastor Perkins became the pastor of the church following the retirement of Tom Jones.  He pastored the church for approximately four years.

1981  David Vaughan became Pastor of Glad Tidings Hall AOG Church and over some time, the church became known as Redditch Assemblies of God.  In 1982 Redditch AOG moved to Elm Road and built the Church.  The first phase of the church building was what is now known as the Minor Hall.  Phase 2, the Main Auditorium, was added to the Minor Hall two years later. The church experienced many miracles over the years, including receiving two anonymous gifts of approx £39,000.  The Redditch newspapers got hold of the story and gave it the headline “Pennies from Heaven” Pastor David Vaughan was the pastor of Redditch AOG for 30 Years.  Remaining church members since the 1970s and 1980s include John McFarland, Gwen Williams, Ivy Thompson, Eulalie Vaughan and Coral Barnett, to name a few.

2012  Tim Work pastored the church in 2012 and worked for approximately four years.