There are six churches that meet regularly and publicly in Brackley. A church is “an assembly” of people who gather together to honour God through worship, training, and by serving Him and the community.

Of the six, five of the churches in Brackley are affiliated to major denominations (or Christian networks):-

• The Baptist Union of Great Britain ( Brackley Baptist Church );

• The Church of England (St Peter’s with St James);

• The Methodist Church of Great Britain (The Methodist Church );

• The Roman Catholic Church ( St Martin ’s RC Church); and

• The United Reformed Church ( Brackley Community Church ).

The Brethren Assemblies in town also have links with other churches of like mind and order.

These five ‘denominations’ have very strong historical links.

The Roman Catholic Church as it stands can be dated to 1054 when the catholic church finally broke into two parts – the Roman Catholic church in the West, and the Orthodox church in the East.

The Church of England came into being in 1534 when Henry VIII made himself Head of the Church in England , breaking the affiliation with the Roman Catholic Church. This Church became Roman Catholic again in Mary’s reign (1553-8) but finally broke with Rome in Elizabeth ’s reign. During the time of James I (1603-25) a number of ‘puritans’ - who had tried to ‘purify’ the church from within – were very concerned that the Church of England would once again revert to Rome. They broke away from the Church of England to form “separatist” churches; independent of State control. These new “independent” or “Free” churches included the Congregational, Presbyterian, Baptist Churches, and the Quakers. These groups would often meet together in a common Meeting House (or Chapel).

The first Baptist Church was formed in 1609 by English ‘separatists’ who had fled to Amsterdam and was led by Revd. John Smyth (who had previously been a Church of England Vicar in Lincolnshire ) and Thomas Helwys. The latter wrote an appeal for religious freedom to King James when part of this new church returned to London in 1611. Helwys was immediately imprisoned where he later died.

The Methodist Church, just like the Baptist churches, separated from the Church of England; but this was much later around 1784 following the work of John Wesley (who was himself, and always remained, a Church of England clergyman.)

The United Reformed Church came into existence in 1972 with the merger of the Congregational Union of England and Wales and the Presbyterian Church of England.

There are about 1,750 churches and 150,000 adults in the URC. According to Wikipedia, today the Anglicans number about 73 million across the world; the Methodists number around 75 million; the Baptists total about 90 million; and the Roman Catholic church numbers over 1 billion (1,000 million).

St Peter’s Parish Church is part of the Diocese of Peterborough and the Vicar of Brackley also looks after the Magdalen College Chapel and the Mission at Halse. He lives here in Brackley. The Methodist Minister of the Brackley Chapel also looks after churches in Towcester, Silverstone and Greens Norton. He lives in Banbury. The Baptist Minister in Brackley just looks after the one church, Brackley Baptist Church and also lives here as part of the community of Brackley. The URC is currently looking for a Minister to serve the church here. The Roman Catholic Priest is based in Buckingham and is assisted by a deacon at Brackley.

Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches and Ministers are accountable to their Bishop. Methodist Churches and Ministers are accountable to the Methodist Conference, through District organisations. The URC is run by the local congregation and by the local Synod of representatives in a mixture of “congregational” and “Presbyterian” styles of government.

Baptist Churches are run by the local members themselves who are accountable to each other for the direction of the local church and for the appointing of a local Pastor or Minister. The Minister gets a vote in “Church Members’ Meetings” (where the key decisions are made) simply as a member of that church. Brackley Baptist Church belongs to the Baptist Union of Great Britain; the Southern Counties Baptist Association; and the International Baptist Convention; which are able to offer help as and when appropriate, but it is up to the Church to accept that help or not. Decisions are taken locally.

Five of the six churches in Brackley co-operate for the benefit of Christian work in the town as “The Churches in Brackley”. The Churches in Brackley also have a partnership with Northamptonshire YMCA to establish a sustainable youth work in Brackley. The Brethren Assemblies co-operate very closely together with each other but do not have any formal links with the other churches in Brackley.

So what’s the difference?

In Belief:

There’s very little difference in key beliefs. All six churches adhere to the doctrine of the Trinity (or Triune God) set out in the Ancient Creeds. The Church of England, the URC, and most of the Baptist churches are Calvinistic in their theological understanding whereas the Methodist Church is traditionally Arminian (If you don’t know what that means – then it doesn’t matter to you!).

In Organisational Structures:

The main difference is in how they are organised. The Methodists, Roman Catholics and Anglican churches and the Taylorite Brethren assemblies have hierarchical administrative structures whereas the Baptists look more democratic. (On closer examination the Baptist members get together to try and figure out what God wants in that local church and community.) The URC is a mixture of these hierarchical and congregational styles.

In Baptism:

Anglican, Methodist, Roman Catholic, and URC churches can christen or baptize babies or infants by sprinkling. Baptist churches and Brethren Assemblies will only baptise people who are old enough to ask for baptism for themselves and are able to tell others of how they came to have a personal belief in God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This Believers’ Baptism is usually by immersion into and under water.

Anglican, Methodist and URC churches are also able to baptise believers by immersion into and under water as long as the person being baptised was not previously christened.

In Style of Worship:

The style of service varies from place to place. Most denominations have Service Books to suggest how public worship can or should be organised. There is much more flexibility in Anglican and Methodist churches than there used to be; Baptist churches have always been free to use or not use their Service Books. So the styles of Worship Service and music are not fixed and depend on local customs and leadership.

The style of Worship in St Peter’s will be very different from some of the evangelical ‘student’ Anglican churches in places like Oxford .

Likewise, the style of public worship in the Baptist church in Brackley is quite different from the very informal style of worship in the People’s Church, Banbury or the more traditional style of worship in New Road Baptist Church , Oxford . In Brackley you will find both lively modern Christian music and a relevant sermon presentation. In the Methodist Church some of the services are led by a wide range of lay-preachers who each bring his or her own style and preferences week by week. The URC’s Brackley Community Church uses a café-style approach when meeting together on a Sunday morning. The Brethren Assembly do not use musical instruments to accompany their singing and meet early each Lord’s Day for the Breaking of Bread (Communion) Service at 6.00am.

How can I find out what suits me best?

The best thing to do is to visit a church for yourself. All Worship Services on a Sunday are Public Services and you do not have to belong to one (or any) of the churches to attend. Just turn up and you will find a warm welcome.

You are welcome to see if there’s a style which suits you and helps you to ‘connect’ with God.

Services of Public Worship on Sundays include:

• 8.00am : Holy Communion at St Peter’s Church or Magdalen College Chapel

• 9.00am : Mass at St Martin ’s RC Church

• 9.45am : PACE (Sunday School for all ages) at Baptist Church

• 10.00am : Public Worship at St Peter’s Church

• 10.30am : Public Worship at the Methodist Church

• 10.30am : Brackley Community Church (URC)

• 11.00am : Public Worship at the Baptist Church

• 6.00pm : Evensong at St Peter’s Church