Seeking God's will, and with support from the European Baptist Convention and the Baptist Union of Great Britain, the church called Rev. Peter Idris Taylor, MA, DPS. to become the first British pastor at Brackley. He had previously served as a Pastor in Swansea, Wales and had later become the Baptist Youth Officer in Wales. He studied for the Christian Ministry in Wales at the South Wales Baptist College and in the U.S.A. at the Northern Baptist Theological Seminary, near Chicago. He commenced his ministry in December 1992. His induction service was led by Revd. John Merritt (General Secretary of the EBC) and the preacher was Revd. David Coffey (General Secretary of the BUGB). The music was led by the Cambrensis Choir of South Wales.

During 1993 the church experienced a modest growth in the number of members from both the British and American communities. Consequently, the church decided to install a Baptistry. Up until then Baptisms had been carried out either in an old 'chest freezer', or the church has used the facilities of the Weston District Baptist churches. After a month of remodeling the stage and steps incorporating the new Baptistry, it was used for the first time on Saturday, 30th October 1993 when six candidates, two British and four American were Baptised. After setting the date we discovered that this was ten years to the day that "time gentlemen please" had been called for the last time on the British Legion Club.

During the Spring and Summer of 1994 we were losing at least one family a week as RAF Upper Heyford prepared for closure. By the end of June we had lost 90% of those who had been members prior to the beginning of 1993! The last six months of 1994 were difficult as we slowly recovered from the 'Drawdown'.

In the Autumn of 1994 some of the rooms were remodelled to make space available for proposed Preschool ministries. The Youth Room was turned into a Creche for babies, and the old Creche and Toddlers' rooms were knocked into one to form the Conference Room opened in November 1994.

Two other classes were knocked into one to form the Preschoolers' Room. This enabled the Church to begin the Little Fishes' Parents' and Tots' Group, in 1994 followed shortly by the Little Fishes' Playgroup. In the Autumn of 1998 the church started Housegroups which are now called "Life Groups" as each one has completed a study based on the Purpose Driven Life. The name of the Sunday School was also changed to PACE (Programme of All-age Christian Education).

About this time a new Youth Ministry programme was launched. A Youthroom (The Spirit Store) was opened in September 1997. During 2002-4 we were helped by Revd. Kris Angelov who was our youth pastor while studying at Regent's Park College, Oxford. This was a very important time in the life of several young people. Kris went on to become Pastor at Fleetmeadow Baptist Church in Didcot, Oxfordshire, while he pursues his doctoral studies.

During 2000-3 we were also blessed to have Dr. Jim Mullin as a Pastor-Student while he trained at Spurgeon's College, London. It is impossible to sum up how well Jim served and the difference he made to the life of the church and individuals in it. He went on to become Pastor of Haddenham Baptist Church near Cambridge.

Following a month of prayer and reflection in May 2001 a Working Group was established to re-examine our ministry programmes in the light of our Mission Statement. Recommendations were phased in during 2003 and a thorough evaluation was carried out in 2004. "The Big Picture" remains our vision plan.

See

Part of this includes a Sunday evening service which is led by a team of preachers and worship leaders from within the congregation. During our Pastor's 2007 Sabbatical 24 of the 28 Sunday services were led by preachers and worship leaders from within the fellowship who continue to work with the Pastor Sunday mornings and evenings. Revd. Peter Idris Taylor is the longest serving pastor in the history of the church having been here since 1992.

In 2004 the church installed a new multimedia system including an integrated rear projection system to replace the older data projection system. This enables us to use video and song projection even on the sunniest days.

Brackley Baptist Church, which until 1993-94 had mostly American members, is situated in the heart of Brackley a town of about 14,000 citizens. RAF Upper Heyford closed in June 1994 and ''our hope'' that British, American and other nationalities will carry on the ministry established back in 1970 is being fulfilled. We are a church composed of about a dozen nationalities worshipping God together. Each step the church has taken, was to seek out God's Will for His church in Brackley. Among all that has been going on, His Will has always remained the key issue.

The Church continues to experience traumatic 'turnovers' as people move in and out of the town. The congregation continues to grow steadily with its members and attendees representing over a dozen nationalities. The church operates a programme which is exceptional for one of its size. It can only do this because of the commitment of its members and their desire to share their faith in words and actions, and so grow in Spiritual maturity.

If you are moving to Brackley or one of the surrounding villages, we sincerely hope that you will share the vision of the church and become a part of God's continuing History as we serve Him together through the ongoing ministry of Brackley Baptist Church. Our motto remains Proverbs 3: 5-6:

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight"

Back to History Main page