More on the Baptist Church

The Baptist church is now one of the largest Protestant and Free churches in the world, with a U.K. membership of 160,000, gathered in 2150 churches. It is found throughout the world, particularly in Europe where it began. America boasts the largest number of Baptists world-wide - between 11 and 12 million.

British Baptist churches today remain independent of the state and established (Anglican) church. They have a unifying body called the Baptist Union, which will oversee finance, staffing, buildings and legal matters, giving mutual support wherever and whenever needed. Churches can choose whether or not to belong to the B.U., and how closely they work with it.

The Baptist Union has an active missionary wing - the Baptist Missionary Society, sending Christians (many of whom are young adults taking a 'year out') to help work in many parts of the world.

Most Baptist Churches also belong to the British Council of Churches, thus showing oneness with Christians of other denominations.

Church members are people who have a personal faith in Jesus Christ, and will usually have been baptised. It is the church members who have the right to choose how the church is run, how it spends its money, how much is pays its Minister(s) and who leads it. 'Volunteer' workers such as Elders, Deacons, Sunday School teachers, youth leaders etc. are all elected by the church membership, as well as the actual Minister him or herself.