PASTOR GEORGE WISE "Protestant Stalwart"
"Elected to Council"
At the Municipal elections that same year Mr. Wise stood as a Protestant candidate for the Kirkdale Ward and was returned with a handsome majority. Two other victories were also achieved, resulting in three Protestant candidates being returned as City Councillors. In Breckfield Ward the Protestant candidate. Dr. Woddy, was defeated by only one vote. Pastor Wise served one term of three years as a member of the City Council because it was learned that, as a full-time minister of religion he was not eligible for nomination. Notwithstanding opposition in the City Council by the Irish Nationalist Party, a tacit understanding was reached, an open air meeting was permitted at St. Domingo Pit which became a recognised Protestant platform. The rooms over the shop in Potter Street were no longer suitable for the number of people who wanted to be associated with the work of Pastor Wise, and accordingly a Welsh Methodist Church in Netherfield Road North, at the corner of Crete Street and Conyer Street, being up for sale, was purchased and opened by Pastor Wise as the Protestant Reformers Memorial Church on Christmas Day morning, 1903
		"The Original Protestant Reformers Memorial Church" "Click on picture to enlarge"
An article reporting the occasion in the Liverpool Daily Post said that "within six months the church would be either closed or the foundation of a large congregation established". The latter became true and Pastor Wise became the leader of the largest congregation in the city, having a Men's Bible Class over one thousand strong. The Men's Bible Class was a great tribute to the work and influence of Mr. Wise, many members of which had been rescued from lives of wickedness to a saving faith in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amongst this number were some who had belonged to the Roman Catholic Church. Doubtless if Mr. Wise had been asked his opinion with regard to all the organisations associated with his church, he would have said, "The greatest of these in my Bible Class". At any rate it was the one for which he was compelled to fight and suffer most. There was certainly nothing like it in the city. Every Sunday afternoon the church was filled to its utmost capacity by adult men whose religious devotion was at once an example and inspiration. At a moment's notice Mr. Wise would announce a hymm, the organ would give the opening chord, and these hundreds of men would join in deep-throated chorus. Hymn books were to hand, but in most cases they were not used, for everyone seemed to know the verses off by heart. Mr. Wise in the pulpit was a very different man to the Mr. Wise who addressed the open air meeting. He delivered sound Scriptural extempore sermons, eloquent in phrase, brotherly in sentiment, The George Wise Bible Class was the greatest reward that the Pastor ever had for his life's work. He was particularly proud that two hundred and forty of his members joined the British Colours when the Great War broke out, By the end of the war over eight hundred and eighty were killed or reported missing, and over one hundred and sixty wounded. Mr. Wise did not live to see the final contribution which members of his church made to the war effort. He died in November 1917, before the conflict ended.
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