Oakham Baptist Church, Rutland has marked its 250th birthday in 2022 with a renewed focus and commitment to the community, and as a result has ‘grown and reached deeper than ever before’.

That’s according to minister Tom Bowring, who is keen to share the East Midlands church’s positive story with the wider Baptist family.

The church has developed a threefold focus on social care, evangelism and prophecy over the past year. This is underpinned by its overall vision of ‘Loving Jesus, Loving People, Loving Oakham.’

“We emerged from Covid with the intention of becoming a place of sanctuary and hope in the local community,” Tom explains, “and Jesus has been doing amazing things through the church.

“We’ve acted as a vibrant community hub for our county, supporting weekly drug rehab and alcoholics’ groups; we’re a base for CAP (Christians Against Poverty) and host the council’s youth work initiatives.

“We are also pleased to have around a dozen Ukrainian families worship with us regularly, as a follow on from our Ukrainian social space that the council highlight as their primary focus for Ukrainian guest welfare.

“This has all led to us seeing an explosion of evangelism and we’ve baptised 12 people in the past year. We have seen lots come to faith, including those from marginalised backgrounds.

“Our Sunday services are ‘standing room only’ and the church is full of anticipation and excitement over the future, with us looking to begin an extension project in 2023 to enable us to do more for the Kingdom.”

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