ArchieHall600
Thanksgiving for Norfolk preacher and chorus writer
 

A thanksgiving service will be held in Dereham on Friday, March 3 for Archie Hall, a former King’s Lynn preacher and prolific writer of Christian songs and hymns, including the well-known chorus ‘He Made the Stars to Shine’

A thanksgiving service will be held at Wellspring Family Church in Dereham on Friday, March 3 at 2pm for Archie Hall, who died on February 9 2017, aged 89. 

Archie attended the Christian Brethren Assembly, Seabank Chapel, in King’s Lynn for over 40 years with his wife Marthe.  He was a preacher at the Chapel as well as a visiting speaker to Gospel Halls and other churches in Dereham, Norwich and Cambridge.

Archie Hall was also an avid evangelist, tract writer and composer of Christian hymns and songs.

Archie was born in Glasgow in 1927, the youngest of 3 children.  His early days were challenging due to the loss of his mother at the age of 10 and his brother, killed in World War II, a few years later.

His son, Peter Hall, said: “Surviving a serious illness, he came to faith in his early 20s. From then on he was a passionate evangelist with a clear sense of the need to live life today with a view of the hereafter.”

Archie married Marthe, from Switzerland, in 1954 and they had 5 sons. He was a Civil Servant and in 1971, aged 43, came to King’s Lynn from Glasgow where he managed the Social Security office until the mid 1980s.

A gifted writer and composer Archie Hall created around 90 hymns and choruses throughout his life, many reflecting his own spiritual journey. His most well-known composition is the children’s chorus, ‘He Made the Stars to Shine’.  Interestingly he could not play a musical instrument and all of his music was transcribed for him by others.
 
Passionate about evangelism, Archie also wrote Christian tracts some of which are still available to buy today, including ‘Have you reached your limit’, ‘One minute to midnight,’ and ‘Too busy’.  He also wrote for God spots on Radio Norfolk.

Peter said: "Outside of his Christian engagement, Archie was a keen gardener and fly-fishermen, often taking self-catering holidays in North Yorkshire to spend time pursuing elusive trout!"

Archie and his wife Marthe moved to the Eckling Grange Christian Residential Care Home in Dereham for the last few years of their lives.

There is an open invitation to anyone who would like to join the Hall Family for the Thanksgiving Service for Archie Hall’s life on Friday, March 3 at 2pm at Wellspring Family Church, 35 Neatherd Road, Dereham NR19 2AE.