Church Profile – Bethel Baptist Church, Hale We believe that church should be a genuine community, growing together in Christ and on mission to reach others for him. Over the last few years, we have been going through a steady process of change becoming more intentional about what we do, seeking to grow closer as a community and getting a little more contemporary in our presentation. From being a church largely made up of well-taught believers, we are seeing the congregation now grow to include more seekers and Christians with a wider range of spiritual maturity. We would love to do more to build on our contacts in the nearby Sandy Hill estate and we know that we need to do more to reach men. The church has an excellent reputation in the local community which enables us to run events for children and young people but we do want to do a better job of teaching and discipling the teenagers who are within the church. These are some of the reasons why we would benefit from more paid staff time. Bethel is a busy church. We think it would be a good place for someone to develop their ministry gifts. Details of our activities will be on the website www.bethelbaptist.org.uk. The website is still being updated so here is a quick summary: Sundays: A morning service which has been growing in number. Four groups are run to cater for children from babies upwards. There is also an evening service. Community Groups: Run twice a month and are designed for fellowship. We discuss God’s word, pray and aim to deepen relationships. Prayer: We start the year with a week of prayer. There are various regular meetings. Among them: a monthly central prayer meeting, Smaller Prayer Groups once a month and prayer meetings for the missionaries we support. Bible Study Groups: At the moment, two daytime groups that meet for bible study; one mostly attended by older women and one for discipling younger women. Fellowship Weekend: On one of the May bank holiday weekends we take away a hundred or so for teaching and fellowship. Bethel Baptist Church, Bethel Lane, Farnham, Surrey, GU9 0QA www.bethelbaptist.org.uk 01252 719243 [email protected] Parents and Toddlers: Takes place twice a week and has been an excellent gateway for people to come to Family Services and evangelistic courses. Coffee Shop: Every Tuesday morning we run a café from the church. People in the community of all ages enjoy attending. Friendship Morning: A fortnightly outreach for older people. We also do a monthly Sunday lunch for ‘seniors and singles’. Women’s Evangelism: We run 4 or 5 events a year. They normally include food, an activity or craft, and a talk or testimony. These are an effective bridge between befriending events and church or evangelistic courses. Men’s Evangelism: Social and sporting activities every couple of months. Courses: We promote Christianity Explored particularly at Family Services and Women’s meals. Courses run according to demand. We use other courses too because we find that most people need a longer period really to work through the gospel. KTC, NRG: Weekly, term-time events for children and young people. KTC is for school years 3-6; NRG for years 7-9. For church teenagers we have also been running a monthly Youth Service. We are thinking of replacing NRG with something pitched at the level of church children but open to all secondary school age children. Holiday Bible Club: This takes place the last week in August for about 40 pre-school children and 170 primary school children. In the build-up this year we ran a club on the Sandy Hill estate; we also always enter a float in the village carnival. We finish Holiday Bible Club with a picnic for families on the Friday and a well-attended Family Service on the Sunday. There is a flavour of the church from some of the organised things we do. If you think you might fit in, do get in touch - we would love to talk to you. Bethel Baptist Church, Bethel Lane, Farnham, Surrey, GU9 0QA www.bethelbaptist.org.uk 01252 719243 [email protected]