Ruislip Baptist Church

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About RBC

Who are we?

Worship

Leadership

Our beliefs

Our mission

Our history

Who are we?

We are a local fellowship of Christians who belong together as a family church, part of God’s worldwide family. About 300 people of all ages and backgrounds meet at RBC each Sunday. We have a large and lively children’s and youth programme.

We gather to worship God on Sundays and also throughout the week in various small groups. See some of the range of activities and groups under Church Life.

Our aim is to follow Jesus, to see a community centred on him, and help others to know him.

Worship

Worship is about thanking God for who he is and all that he has done, it is about enjoying him. Our whole lives are meant to be shaped by worshipping God, and gathering together to worship is central to this.

We have two regular worship services, every Sunday at 11am and 6.30pm. The morning service includes separate children’s and youth activities and groups, and a crèche.

There are also a range of other opportunities for prayer, worship, Bible study and fellowship during the week. Many of these are in small groups, meeting at various times typically in people’s homes. These groups are informal and friendly.

Please contact the church office for more information, or come along and visit us!

Leadership

Derek Page, Senior Minister. Derek is married to Carrie and they have three children. He grew up in the North East of England and became a Christian as a teenager. He worked in youth work in Edinburgh and Bournemouth. Derek trained at Moorlands College and Spurgeon's College, London, and has worked in the past with Saltmine Trust. He has been the Senior Minister at RBC since 1985. He enjoys music, walking, cooking and the ups and downs of following Newcastle United FC.

Andrew Goldsmith, Assistant Minister. Andrew is married to Nicola and they have two small children. Andrew grew up near Oxford, and trained as a mechanical engineer. He moved to Leeds and worked in medical engineering (designing replacement hip and knee joints and surgical instruments) for several years. Following a period in church leadership Andrew studied theology at the London School of Theology, and came onto the leadership team at RBC in August 2006. He enjoys swimming, watching sport and films, curries, reading and playtime with the children (especially lego).

Pastoral Co-ordinator. Ann Easton retired at the end of March 2010 and we look forward to Mary Willis joining the team later in the year.

Gillian Rose, Administrator. Gillian is married to David and they have two small children. After completing a degree in Psychology she worked for a while in a HIV/AIDS centre in London before taking on the role of Administrator in July 2003.

Graham Sumbler, Youth Minister. Graham is married to Becky. He grew up in Surrey, and became a landscape gardener running his own business for four years. He has been involved in church youth work in Surrey and Bournemouth, and worked for the Bournemouth Youth Service. Graham studied Applied Theology in Youth and Community work at Moorlands College in Dorset before joining the team at RBC in September 2007. He enjoys both playing and watching football games, and his other interests are socialising with friends, music, eating out, the cinema and watching DVD’s.

Claire Bornman, Children’s Worker. Claire married Ignus in June 2008. She has lived in Ruislip all her life and has attended Ruislip Baptist Church with her family for as long as she can remember. Claire trained as a dance teacher and currently teaches part-time in the local area. She joined the team in September 2008. She enjoys dancing, going to the theatre, and eating ice cream and chocolate.

Deacons

We also have a team of deacons. These are elected by the Church from amongst the membership, to serve alongside the ministers in leading the Church, providing oversight, direction and care.

Angela Davies

Nigel Dauncey

Alison Dennis

Geoff Easton

Chris Gardner

Denis Golden

(Church secretary)

Gus Jones

Nigel McGreeghan

David Rose

Tony Rose

(Treasurer)

Hilary Ross-Smith

Gary Steward

Sandra Ruddick

Duncan Tuft

Additional roles

Chris Follett

(Assistant Treasurer)

Helen Yarrow

(Sunday school co-ordinator and special needs co-ordinator)

Our beliefs

We believe:

In one God in three persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
The Bible is God’s Word, our final authority on all matters of faith and behaviour. It is completely trustworthy.
All humanity is fallen and sinful and needs rescuing from sin in order to know God and find freedom, forgiveness, life and hope.
God provided this rescue through Jesus, the Son of God, who died to save us. He paid the penalty for our sins, dying in our place, to atone for our sins. He is the one and only Saviour, the only way to God.
Everyone who trusts in Jesus, turning away from sin and towards Christ and asking for forgiveness, will be saved.
Jesus rose again, giving us hope beyond death.
The Holy Spirit is with us now – to change and renew us, to make us more like Jesus, to equip us to live for him, to lead and guide us, to comfort and encourage us.
The church is the body of Christ, to which all Christians belong. The local church is a part of this.
One day Christ will return and we will all see him face-to-face and give an account of our lives.

It’s not possible to include everything here about us and the Christian faith, but we hope these give you some idea of where we stand and what are our main priorities.

What is a Baptist church

Baptist churches have much in common with many churches of other Christian denominations (e.g. Anglican, Methodist, Pentecostal, etc.) A Baptist church - one of the Baptist denomination – generally has distinctive priorities or emphases in its belief and practice, which are common to Baptist churches.

Some of the most important areas we emphasise at RBC are as follows:

following Jesus. He is the centre of our life and worship, as our Saviour and Lord, and we encourage people to know him.
teaching the Bible, worship and prayer as the central activities when we gather together and to guide our lives.
believer’s baptism and Church membership. Baptism is a practice based in the Bible, in the New Testament particularly, where adult believers who publicly confess to following Jesus were baptised by immersion in water. Church membership is a means for people to express their commitment and belonging together as a local Church, with Jesus as the head of the Church.
mission – the command from Jesus to go and make disciples, both locally and globally. We actively support a range of mission activities and individuals. But every Christian is a missionary!
the ‘priesthood of all believers’, another way of saying that all believers are equal under God. From this follows a model of church decision-making and leadership that makes decisions as a whole church gathered together, in the Church meeting. We also appoint a leadership team to provide direction and oversight.

As well as being a Baptist church we are an evangelical church, a member of the Evangelical Alliance. An evangelical church is one that relies on and trusts what the Bible says and aims to follow it as God’s Word as our guide for life.

As a Baptist church we are affiliated to the Baptist Union of Great Britain (BUGB) and also our regional association, the London Baptist Association (LBA).

Our mission

RBC’s mission statement is a simple way to summarise what our goal is. This helps us define our priorities and direction as a church:

Building a vibrant, Christ-centred community with a vision for extending His Kingdom.

To achieve this we aim to be in a growing relationship with God, be in communion with each other and reach out to our community and world.

To find out more about our mission partners around the world, see here.

Our history

RBC

In 1937 local Christians founded a Baptist Church in the new suburb of Ruislip Manor. A wooden hall was built on the present site in 1937. By 1950 the church needed a permanent building which was built adjacent to the wooden structure. This is now the main hall within the present building.

Very soon more extensive facilities were needed and in 1960 the building was extended to include the present sanctuary, main entrance area, a kitchen, and some extra rooms.

The church purchased the property now known as the "Sidewalk", adjacent to the main building and this opened for use in 2000, providing offices, and space dedicated to youth work .

This is mainly the history of the church building, but the church in terms of the people - the fellowship - has also grown and developed. The numbers have increased as more people have joined through moving into the area, coming with friends, looking for somewhere that opens the Bible in preaching, and those who come through Alpha to explore what Christianity is about. From just a handful of Christians, we now see hundreds gather each week on Sundays and many during the week.

Office Address:

122 Manor Way

Ruislip

Middlesex

HA4 8HR