History of Princes Risborough Baptist Church
How Old Is Our Church?
We are over 300 years old, or at least the Church is - or, to be precise, parts of it are. The Baptist Church at Princes Risborough was established in 1707, with an original Meeting House registered as a place of worship in 1708. Baptists have been worshipping on this site ever since. The original baptistry and its adjacent well can still be found beneath our floorboards, but the building itself was largely rebuilt in 1805 and enlarged again in 1814.
For a Baptist Church, 300 years is quite old . The first Baptist church in Great Britain was opened at Spitalfields in 1612 . Ours is still open.
For more about our Church history click here.
Why Baptist?
Baptists are part of the world-wide Christian Church. Our fundamental beliefs and our policies, church management and ministry of service are all based upon the authority of Scripture. So what makes Baptists different from other Christians and what makes a Baptist church differ from the churches of other denominations? Contrary to popular belief, it is not the practice of Believer’s Baptism that is the primary distinction. The essential starting point for Baptists is the concept of the “Gathered Church”. Where two or three (or more) are gathered together with the Lord Jesus Christ in our midst, then we are a constituted Church. We gather together seeking to know the will of God and recognise that authority comes from Jesus Christ as Head of His Church. This principle means that a Baptist Church starts locally, as indeed ours did over 300 years ago. By our own wish, we became affiliated to the Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland in 1813. There are now over 2,000 such churches.
For more about Baptist History visit the BU Website.
Where Did We Come From?
Buckinghamshire has a long history of Nonconformism, extending back at least to the early 16th century. Following the English Civil War (1642-1651), Baptists met in private houses in the villages around Aylesbury. By 1688, one such church was meeting at Ford. By 1700/1701, some of the members of the Ford Church began to meet at Princes Risborough and a separate Church was formed. In 1707, land was given on which our original Meeting House was built.
How Did We Celebrate 300 Years?
A Tercentenary is very special and this one provided many great opportunities. A year-long programme of events was organised. We looked back on our history, which often proved to be an inspiring story of triumph over adversity by many devoted servants. We looked at ourselves and our service today and we have become inspired to seek God's plan for us and to discover how best to bring the power and love of God to meet the desperate needs of our 21st century world.
For more about our Tercentenary Celebrations click here
Where Are We Going?
In 1797, ninety years after the foundation of our Church, the few members left solemly declared their intention to become "...a Visible Church of Christ..." Our Vision today is to live up to that historic declaration and in our modern terms strive towards the aims and goals embodied in today's Mission Statement:-
"We are here to worship Jesus Christ and
obey His teaching, to care for one another and
be open to sharing our good news with everyone."
Our Tercentenary helped us to focus on exactly how to tell that Good News. During 2007 we were able to do this with banners, balloons, Daffodils and many special events. Now, in 2008, we are moving forward with this new Website, a redesigned Church Magazine and plans to refurbish and refit our cherished, historic, buildings to meet the needs of a 21st century Church and Community.
At a Church Meeting, in January 2007, a resolution was passed accepting in principle a Proposed Building Project and agreeing to obtain quotations from architects to undertake detailed design and project management of the scheme. These plans are currently being actively pursued.
For further information about our Building Project click here.
To return to the Welcome Page click here
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