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City Road Baptist Church
About
Our beliefs, principles and history of the church.
Declaration of Principle

Baptist Union of Great Britain

The basis of this Union is:

  1. That our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, is the sole and absolute authority in all matters pertaining to faith and practice, as revealed in the Holy Scriptures, and that each church has liberty, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to interpret and administer His laws.
  2. That Christian Baptism is the immersion in water into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, of those who have professed repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ who ‘died for our sins according to the Scriptures; was buried, and rose again the third day’.
  3. That it is the duty of every disciple to bear personal witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to take part in the evangelisation of the world.
A concise outline of the history of City Road Baptist Chapel
The first minister Mr. Probert preached his first sermon in the Pithay on December 25th 1834. It is said that he laboured in the face of many difficulties in this uninviting locality, but his efforts met with the reward of devoted zeal and persevering energy. The late Alderman Charles Newth wrote of him, “He was a real Welshman, who often gave us a bit of Welsh fire when delivering the grand old truths of the Gospel. There was no glossing over them with any new theology. A favourite text of his was, ‘God so loved the world….’ He preached without fear or favour.”

During his ministry the membership increased to upwards of five hundred, and it soon became imperative that a change of environment should be obtained. To quote from the Bristol Daily Post of September 9th 1861, “This new site faces Stokes Croft Road, branching off from which is the new City Road….”

The new building was opened on Wednesday, September 11th 1861. The preacher on that occasion was the Rev. C.H. Spurgeon who preached to a crowded congregation in the afternoon, and in the evening in a large wooden structure situated in Back Fields. This building was crowded by an audience of 2,000 and it is said that, “The meeting was greatly disturbed by an enormous crowd who clamoured for admittance, all eager to hear so great a preacher”.

Unfortunately the Rev. Evan Probert did not survive long after he had seen his church installed in the new building, and in 1867, after 32 years of fruitful labour, he was called to his rest at the age of 65. Many other great ministers have exercised ministry over the years at City Road Baptist Church in its long record of witness and mission in the centre of Bristol. These are the names of the ministers who have served at City Road:

Rev. Evan Probert: 1834 – 1867

Rev. J.R. Wood: 1867 – 1873

Rev. Walter J. Mayers: 1874 – 1889

Rev. J.J. Doke: 1889 – 1894

Rev. J.T. Briscoe: 1895 – 1913

Rev. E.W. Mills: 1913 – 1922

Rev. W.F. Grey: 1923 – 1932

Rev. Wilkinson Whiteley: 1934 – 1938

Rev. P.A. Clements: 1940 – 1944

Rev. Joseph Sutton: 1946 – 1950

Rev. C. Markham Jones: 1951 – 1962

Rev. Harry Whyte: 1963 – 1972

Rev. Ivor H. Tomlin: 1973 – 1984

Rev. Andrew Kellett: 1984 – 2002

Rev. Steve Conchrane: 2002 – 2011

The current minister of the church is Rev. Eric Aidoo (2012 – )

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