Last rites for Villa chapel

Aug 31 2007 By Poppy Brady, Birmingham Mail

A CHURCH which spawned the creation of Aston Villa Football Club holds its last service on Sunday before its demolition to make way for a new £4.5 million centre.

The New Testament Church of God, in Lozells, has been the base for thousands of worship-pers for almost 200 years in its role at the heart of the community.

It began as Villa Cross Wesleyan Chapel where some of the original Villa team were picked from the congregation.

In 1953 it became the first church in Britain, along with a church in Wolverhampton, to be bought by the New Testament Church of God under the lead-ership of Dr Oliver Lyseight, who died only last year.

Two services will be held on Sunday, at 11am and 6pm, to cater for the hundreds of people who will want to say their farewells to a building which has shaped their lives.

It has also housed a day nursery, a supplementary Saturday school and a busy senior citizens' day care centre.

Bishop Dr Derek Webley, who is in charge of the church, said: "It will be a very emotional day, but also the dawn of an exciting new era as it marks the start of the creation of a new church centre for us.

"We would have preferred to stay in the building, but after having professional advice we were told that it was not possible to keep it in its current state.

"We want to extend a warm welcome on Sunday to former members of the Methodist church to come along and join our celebrations. The history of this church goes beyond our time here and we want to salute that."

The new church building is not expected to be finished at the Lozells Road site until 2009.

In the meantime, worshippers will meet at King Edward VI School in Rose Hill Road, Handsworth, for Sunday services at 11.45am and 6pm.

The origins of the New Testament Church of God in the UK go back to the years after the Second World War when black people came to Britain from the Caribbean and needed a church to replace the spiritual fervour they were used to at home.