West Croydon Baptist Church was founded in 1869. Membership was 28 and its pastor was Dr. James Archer Spurgeon, brother of the famous Baptist preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon. The church experienced tremendous growth in its first 50 years, so by the turn of the century, attendance was 700 members in the morning and 800 in the evening. The growth continued and by the 1920's membership had soared to 1,200, making West Croydon Baptist Church one of the largest Baptist Churches in Britain.
The next 70 years of the church's life was a very different story. The Church experienced massive and continuous decline resulting in a worshipping congregation which was in reality less than the drastically reduced membership of 180. The only interruption to this pattern was a ten-year spell from the mid-fifties when the church benefited from a preacher (Revd. Geoffrey R. King) who had an international ministry,.
WCBC held for most of its life a formally strict etiquette; a light classical style and a well-educated middle class atmosphere. However, this ethos was to become increasingly out of place in contemporary Croydon.
In the early 60's the northern half of the Borough of Croydon experienced the formation of a new black, mainly West Indian community. WCBC, to its credit, endeavoured to respond to this changing situation by calling a returned missionary from Jamaica to pastor the church. This strategy was not without its' problems but the fact that the church today consists of 29 different nationalities is in some part indicative of the progress of the Church's initiative.
It is worth mentioning that the culture of the Church was not specifically changed but the Church did seek to welcome 'others' and that is the foundation upon which it builds today.
In the 1980's the then Ministers endeavoured to move the Church into a more charismatic spirituality and expressive style but were, in the main, unsuccessful either due to a lack of pastoral skills and/or the stubbornness (resistance) of the Church to change. In the 1990's under the leadership of Revd. Roger Standing the Church spent time "Catching the Vision" with the whole fellowship invited to participate, and spend time in study and prayer seeking the Lord for the future. Having heard from God (in and through each other) the Church adopted the vision "To Grow and Go". As part of this process a new logo of a man taking up his cross and heading for the Croydon Skyline was introduced as a visual representation of the vision.
Today the vision for WCBC remains the same but the ethos has changed significantly. The Church is much more informal and contemporary. It is intentionally multi-cultural in its practice and encourages the use of spiritual gifts. The church recognises that because of its size, it functions best using the concept of 'a church of small groups'.
West Croydon Baptist Church (Spurgeon's Tabernacle) is affiliated to the Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland and is a member of The East Surrey District of the London Baptist Association, the Evangelical Alliance and Churches Together in the Borough of Croydon.
WCBC is now a legally recognised Registered Charity No. 1128517.