Parkside Baptist History

On the 26th of March in 1880 at the half yearly meeting of the SA Baptist Association held at Mitcham, a committee was appointed to take action in relation to the establishment of a Baptist interest in the growing suburb of Parkside. The first meeting of the committee was held in the vestry of Flinders St Baptist Church on the 30th of March 188- with Rev S Mead as chairman. Land was eventually purchased for a cost of £263 and plans discussed for building the chapel. While this was going on the first service was conducted in the home of Mr J Coudrey at 46 Young St on the first Sunday in August 1880. A month later the vestry at the rear of the church was completed (now crèche and prayer room) and services were held there until the church was opened for worship on December the 5th 1880. Records show that the vestry meetings were “crowded to its utmost capacity morning and evening”. The church was constructed in a matter of just a few months at a cost of £1450-12-0.

By the 7th of March 1882 the Parkside Church had taken over all responsibility of the salary of the minister. The affairs of the church were handed over to the church community and the original committee based in Flinders St Baptist was dissolved. On the 14th of June in 1882 due to the large numbers of people, there was a move to form Glen Osmond Baptist Church. Records state that “The work at the chapel grows so fast we can hardly keep up with it… our chapel which was thought to be big enough for several years, is always full to the doors every Sunday night”. On the 9th of August 1882 a committee was appointed to look into advisability of forming a new church at Glen Osmond. The first Glen Osmond Baptist services were held in the Institute on the 4th of October 1882.

The Sunday School rooms and Lecture Hall (now church hall) was erected in 1883 at a cost of £973 and the church kitchen and porch added in 1884. In 1885 Parkside Primary School was formed and the Government rented the church Lecture Hall to run the school in. The Baptist Hymnal was introduced simultaneously with the introduction of the new Coudrey Memorial Pip Organ which was completed in 1913. The porch was modified in 1920 as a memorial to the men who died in the war (now storage rooms at the southern end of the chapel).

On the 16th of February 1999 a meeting was held to discuss the options of renovating the church or moving to a new site and over the next 4 years this discussion continued. In 2003 a feasibility study was commenced and a report tabled on the 16th of November. On Sunday the 15th of February 2004 the decision was made to stay and renovate the current church property. In May 2004 the church manse was sold and on the 14th November 2005 the works began. The chapel and hall were joined together and many new additions made to enable the church to serve God’s purposes better and open up new ministry opportunities. The church was officially opened on the 6th of April 2008 with much rejoicing and celebration.