Bingley Baptist Church

Sunday Morning Worship 21st April 2024

Mission and Vision Statement

Welcome to Bingley Baptist Church

We are a church with a heart to serve the local communities of Bingley.

Our mission is to reach out to people with God's love, and make a difference in the lives of ordinary people.

We hope that our times of worship will allow people to draw closer to God and to one another.

We endeavour through all we are doing to make a difference in our community.

A difference that will change the lives of people young and old alike. Over many years we have worked from a conviction that people matter to God and as a consequence they matter to us.

Meet Our Team

Rob Harris - Interim Minister

Rob joined the church as Interim Minister in January 2022, previously he had been the Interim Minister at South Craven Baptist Church. During the course of his ministry he has served the Baptist family in Queen's Road Coventry, Bilston, Hereford and Skipton.

Rob is married to Jan, they have two grown up sons and a granddaughter. When Rob finds time for leisure he will no doubt be found walking on the hills of North Yorkshire and will probably be carrying a camera with him. There was a time when he enjoyed cycling but the hills in Yorkshire seem to be getting steeper than ever in the last few years!

Simon Wakefield - Minister in Training

Simon has been a member of the church for over 20 years and is currently serving as a Minister in Training.

For over 23 years he has been a teacher and a senior leader at schools in Leeds and Halifax.

Simon is married to Janet and they have two children. In 2022 he successfully applied to become a Minister in Training within the Baptist Family and it was agreed that his placement church would be here at Bingley. For the next three years this is going to mean a lot of hard work as he combines study with sharing in the leadership of the church.

In his leisure time Simon enjoys reading crime stories, trudging around the countryside and gardening.

Stuart Anslow - Deacon and Church Secretary

Stuart originally comes from the Midlands, but has been in Yorkshire for nearly twenty years and a member of Bingley Baptist Church for the last fifteen!

He became a Christian as a teenager, many years ago, during a Youth for Christ event! He is passionate about being 'authentic' Christians and the church being family, as well as making a difference in our local community.

For the last thirty years Stuart has worked in the world of Education, as a teacher and latterly as headteacher in a school in Skipton. He now works as an Education Advisor to schools.

Christine Pitts - Deacon

After years of a recurring feeling in her heart that life as she knew it wasn't enough and that the life she was living couldn't be all there was. Chris started to seek out and find a deeper meaning and purpose to the life she had been given and what to do with that life.

Chris would say that she always had an in built belief in God, a belief that was with her from childhood and has been with her throughout the years.

In 2000 she did the Alpha course here at Bingley Baptist Church and found the true meaning to the wonderful gift of life and God's purpose for her life. She said after that her life changed, she became a member of the church and attended every Sunday and joined in the fellowship, worship and praise. She joined a Small group and enjoyed studying the word of God and praying with others in the group.

She was baptised in 2003 and gave her testimony, telling how Jesus came into her life and had always been in her life.

For the past 40 years Chris has worked in the NHS, mainly in the Bradford area and is now an Advanced Nurse Practictioner.

Recently she has been blessed with grandchildren and has moved house so life is busy and there's a lot of DIY to do!'

Andy Empson - Deacon

Andy lives in Bingley with his wife, son and daughter. He was brought up in a Christian household and although he always believed in God, drifted away from Jesus during his teenage years. After graduating Andy began working as a maths teacher.

In his early 20s he spent two years living and teaching in Ghana, with the charity VSO. It was during this time that his relationship with God started growing deeper, which has shaped his life ever since.

Andy currently teaches maths in a Bradford secondary school and he helps run a charity that works in the Ghanaian community he used to live in.

Andy is always happy getting out in the Yorkshire Dales and the Lake District and has recently bought a telescope and taken up amateur astronomy.

Richard Fulford - Deacon

Born in Birmingham; Richard 'did' Maths at Warwick University and after 2 short spells in teaching settled into a career in commercial computer programming. Before retiring he ended up working for Leeds City Council doing report writing and database management.

He became a Christian whilst living in Birmingham in 1973 and joined a house church. He moved North and joined St Margaret's, Durham, then Holy Trinity, Platt Lane, Manchester and later St Thomas Crookes in Sheffield.

Richard married in 1989, and has 3 children who are now in their late 20's and early 30's.

Richard is involved in children's work and is a member of Bingley's Open the Book team.

He is particularly interested in reading the scriptures, prayer and listening to Bible based sermons; encouraging and building up the church, and listening to (and singing) Christian music.

Keith Hughes - Deacon

Keith was born in west London but moved to Yorkshire in 1988. His is married with four fostered and adopted children.

He has worked as a secondary school teacher of RS for 35 years. He has also run his own catering business. Having retired from teaching he now works as a driving instructor.

He became a Christian in his late teens. He has been a member of several churches over the years of various denominations. He held office in some of these churches.

He is passionate for the church to be as ecumenical as possible and not let denominations divide us. As a consequence he has helped run an ecumenical youth group in the past and is a member of an ecumenical pub church bible study group.

About Us

There has been a Baptist Church in Bingley since well before 1874 when the current chapel was built. Although looking very Victorian from the outside with it's towering spire, the inside of the chapel has been modernised to cater for the present generation.

During the course of the week both the church and community make exceedingly good use of the Family Centre, ancillary rooms and kitchen. Whilst the church doesn't have parking facilities there is plenty of off street parking and near by car parking facilities in the town centre.

Following the Covid pandemic the church is very excited to be stepping out again and facing the challenges that the post Covid world is presenting to us.

Although we don't stream our services live we do in fact invite people who can't actually get to the church to join us on Zoom and the Service will in the very near future be here on our website for people to watch if they wish to hear the message again.

Welcome to The Hub

Over the last few months we have developed the ground floor of our building to be a Hub for the local community to connect with and use.

Our Toddler group, Board Games & Banter Club, Saturday Arts Workshop, 2:42 evenings and our Sunday Family Lunch after our Morning Service, are already taking advantage of the facilities to meet people and support each other.

We aim to develop a safe, inviting place where people belong. Where they can share the ups and downs of life, and how faith in God can make a difference.

Worship at Bingley Baptist Church

Sunday mornings are incredibly important in the life of the church. It is the time when we can come together in the presence of God to bring an offering of worship.

Looking back to Acts chapter 2:42-47 on the second Sunday of the month we share in a time of worship together followed by lunch in The Hub. This is not just because most of us like food (which we do) but more importantly so that we can truly share fellowship together.

By meeting in this way we get to share very informal conversations and build up relationships with each other. Worship and teaching becoming an integral part of our time of sharing together.

There are also times when we share Family Breakfast together and then enter into a time of Family Friendly Worship where young and old stay together for the whole. We like to think that you may come to church for the first time as a stranger but you won't leave a stranger

Our times of praise are led by our worship band which we try to make accessible to everyone. We use a lot of contemporary worship music along with some of the great songs of the past. These times of worship are led by members of the Worship Team.

Young Church

Young Church at Bingley Baptist is a relaxed and fun time for children and young people to learn about God.

During the first part of the service the children and young people are welcome to join in with the worship time, but we also have a kid's area for those who want to do some colouring or play.

After worship it's time for Young Church to start in the Family Centre. We play some games then look at a Bible story and have a prayer time. Everyone is welcome to join in, but no-one is forced to do anything they don't feel comfortable doing. We often do arts and crafts activities or watch and discuss Bible videos. There are toys available for young children to play with and parents are welcome to stay with their children if they want to.

We believe it is important for children and young people to enjoy coming to church whilst also learning about the role God can play in their lives.

Toddlers

Toddlers has been running in the church for over 30 years. We open every Wednesday during term time from 9.40-11.00am.

We provide toys, jigsaws and loads of fun things for the children to do in rooms that are set up each week ready for the children and their carers.

We welcome all and try not to turn anyone away even though we have been very busy at times. During the session we provide tea, coffee and biscuits for the adults and water, juice and of course biscuits for the children.

It's become quite a tradition that we all join together for a short sing every session and we also celebrate any birthdays before everyone goes home.

We have built up good relationship over the years with families and are always willing to offer support and prayer if we are told of problems or illness.

When children leave or move on to school we always give them a Children's Bible and at Christmas we give all the children an infant version of the Christmas Story.

Mums and carers appreciate the chance to meet up with each other and see their children learning to play and develop their communication skills together.

Many first time mums who don't know others in the area find time spent at Toddlers especially valuable. It is lovely to watch friendships develop.

There is a small charge of £1 per adult and 30p per child to cover the cost of refreshments.

Conference Facilities

If you are looking for a place to hold an away day, small conference, off site deacons meeting or PCC meeting we may well have the facilities that you are looking for at an affordable price.

For us here at Bingley Baptist Church this is a new and bold venture into the conference and training world. We are committed to providing a quality and adaptable venue catering for your every need to ensure the smooth running of your conference or event.

We are ideally situated just five minutes away from the Aire Valley Trunk Road in West Yorkshire and only a couple of minutes from Bingley Train Station. St Ives, Myrtle park and Prince of Wales park are within easy walking distance as are the Three and Five Rise lock systems should you wish a little outdoor time.

Bingley Baptist Church can provide a full range of state of the art equipment required for your church or corporate training requirements. We can also meet your catering needs and will be happy to quote you for our services from buffet lunches to light refreshments on arrival and during the day.

Our premises can be used in many different configurations. The Family Centre Hall can accommodate between 80 and 100 people, whilst the Chapel can hold in the region of up to 150 people on one level and if the gallery is used then an awful lot more.

We also have facilites for varying sizes of break out groups depending on how the rooms are used.

If you would like to know more about what we can offer or would like to come and have a look at our premises please contact the church office on 07947 609280.