Profile of Rodbourne Baptist Church – 2010 – www.rcbc.org.uk

Our church mission statement is “To know Jesus and to make Him known”

Rodbourne Baptist Church is an evangelical church open to the leading of the Holy Spirit and is situated in an area of Swindon (known as Rodbourne Cheney).  The area has a mixed range of housing including both Council and privately owned houses together with a limited number of small shops in the vicinity of the church.  A public house, school and supermarket are the main buildings opposite the church with some smaller shops, which range from a tattoo parlour to a vets, to a working mens club and library,  which are situated around the corner in an area known as Moredon.  There are two other churches in the immediate area with whom we have good links, The Church of England, (several hundred yards down the road), and a Methodist Church around the corner.  The school across the road is a primary school and this school is linked (they share the same headteacher) to the primary school in  Moredon.  The Moredon school is approximately half a mile further on up the road from the church.  The main Senior School is situated approximately half a mile to the south of the church and serves a very large area of council estate as well as private housing and has on average 1300 pupils.   Two members of our congregation work at the senior school and meet for prayer on a regular basis at the school.  As the church is situated on a main road it is well served by public transport both in and out of town and has good parking facilities in the car park at the rear of the pub.

Sundays at Rodbourne

The church has a membership of 40 ranging in age from 30 something to several people in their 80’s and 90’s.  We also have an active Bible School for those aged from 3 to 16 years and it is presently attended by up to 12 youngsters, mainly church children and grandchildren although we do get some youngsters who turn up from time to time without their parents who are totally un-churched.  As their mother has been to the church as well she knows that they are in good hands.  We have a Child Protection Policy, children’s advocates and all those who work with children and vulnerable adults in the church are CRB checked.  There are a variety of professional people in the church from nurses, teachers, and clerical staff to carpenters and factory workers.  However quite a significant proportion of our members (15) are retired together with a few widows and widowers.

 Around 30-40 people attend the morning service that includes lively singing, led by various musicians in our music group playing both contemporary and traditional worship style music.  The group meet every week to rehearse the music for the following Sunday and they have all formed such a close bond with each other that this enables them to seek the leading of the Holy Spirit in the worship time. This means that the worship time can include not only songs but times of intercession, prayer, speaking in tongues and testimonies. The words to the songs are put onto the multimedia screen and for those who have poor sight we arrange to have the words of the songs printed out and in the case of one blind lady who comes we are arranging for copies of the songs to be printed in Braille.  Most of our songs come from Songs of Fellowship although songs from other sources are introduced from time to time.  Since we have been without a minister speakers are invited from around the area to bring us Gods word and we are indebted to them for this.  Children join in the first part of the service for worship and then leave for their own teaching in the Bible School part way through.  A crčche room is available for those with young babies with an integral sound system so that parents/carers can continue to feel part of the service.

A weekly notice sheet is produced and distributed on Sunday mornings and gives details of what is happening in the church during the following week. 

A family service is held on the third Sunday in every month with a communion service on the second Sunday evening and fourth Sunday morning. There are at present six deacons on the diaconate.  We occasionally meet for shared lunches on Sundays at various times throughout the year and these are always well attended.

The evening service is of a more reflective nature with a prayer time, short worship time and  and is attended by approx 13 people.  The word is given by different people on a rota basis each week.

Weekly activities for the community

                                                   The Pram Club in action

As part of our outreach to the community the church runs a Weekly pram club on a Tuesday (Term time only) attended by around 35 youngsters and 25 parents/carers mostly unchurched.  The Pram Club has been commended as the best one in Swindon and we as a church are justifiably proud of this commendation. Invitations are given out to Easter, Harvest and Christmas Services. 

We also hold a coffee morning for the local community on a Thursday morning and up to 75 people may pop in for coffee and buy things from the donated item stalls.  This helps to raise money for an orphanage in Naivasha Kenya run by Bishop Jeremiah Pallangyo which the church supports.

Swindon Healing Rooms also hire the premises on a Monday evening for an hour and they also go along on a Thursday to the coffee morning in order to offer prayer/comfort to anyone who should request it. 

Other weekly activities

Two home groups meet fortnightly with the hope that we shall be able to start a third home group in the near future.  At the moments nearly 25 people attend these home groups and comprise of members and non members of the church. 

Prayer Meetings are held on the first Wednesdays in the month and a Bible Fellowship is held on the third Wednesday in each month.  Both of these meetings are attended by approx ten  people.

An early-morning men’s prayer meeting is held on Friday mornings from 6.00 – 7.00 a.m. and this is attended by six men.  A Ladies Footsteps meeting is held once a month on a Saturday morning.  Around 13 ladies meet for prayer and bible study and a shared lunch from 9.00 – 1.00 p.m.  A men’s breakfast meeting was recently started once a month on a Saturday morning and so far around 15 men have attended each time.  It is hoped to invite more un-churched men to this event in the future.

The future

During 2009 we commenced a study called Fit 4 Purpose run by our local Baptist Association (WEBA) and we are currently looking to commence an action plan with the church on how we can show Jesus to our local community.  We wish to continue and improve on the links already established with the Pram Club and the coffee morning and the Healing Rooms.  However the Fit 4 Purpose study is making us re-evaluate our position in the community and asking God what and where he wants us especially in relation to our mission statement “.To Know Jesus and Make Him Known”

As part of our outreach to the community during 2010 the church hall is being put to good use as we are to hold a model railway exhibition led by the local steam railway society and this will bring people in from all over the county.  It is hoped to serve tea and coffee and perhaps give us opportunities to chat to people about the Lord.

We are looking for a Minister who will be able to guide us as we seek to  bring our Mission Statement alive, who will strengthen and galvanise us into action as well as encourage those gifts already at work in the church.  We need someone who has a strong Bible based teaching which in turn will enable us to deepen our sense of worship and build up our community at the same time.

Church or Tardis?

Although our church building appears to be sandwiched between the houses once you step inside it opens up immediately and gives a feeling of a large open space.  The church was extended to form a very large hall attached to the main worship area with good kitchen facilities together with both gents, ladies and disabled toilets.  We have approximately six meeting rooms of varying sizes including a crčche, a store-room for all the donated goods, Sunday school rooms, office and prayer room. We also have a good amount of storage area in the loft.  The older part of the church is currently undergoing some renovations, i.e. leaded windows have been repaired, stonework is to be cleaned, and the electrical equipment is to be PAT tested and the lighting may be redesigned to make it not only more cost effective but provide better light levels.

The church remains a place of worship within the community maintaining strong links with the

other churches in the area.  We meet up with the local Methodist, Church of England and URC churches and we hold United Services with them in January.  At Easter time a United Walk of Witness is held.  We also have good links with our Baptist Cluster in the town

and regularly meet up with another Baptist Church (currently without a minister) in the area for evening worship using each others churches alternately.

The church supports several missionaries, some involved in YWAM in the UK, one couple serving in Ethiopia, and one family working with YWAM in Mexico.  We also support the work of Bishop Jeremiah in Kenya who runs a home for orphaned and displaced children (see above).

We have also applied for Home Mission Funding for 2010 (this has been granted) and 2011 (this is currently in progress) and although we are a small congregation we know that God has great things for us in the future.