The Bible says that for those who trust in God, the best is always yet to come, so we’re a forward-looking people.

However we do also honour the past as evidence of God’s faithfulness in bringing us to the place we are today.

The church that became Brickhill Baptist Church was planted in 1793 by a group of believers from Bunyan Meeting Church (itself started by John Bunyan, author of Pilgrim’s Progress). They were led by a man named William Smith and originally met in Bedford’s town centre, at the ‘Old Chapel’ in the George Inn Yard. A new venue was built in 1868 in Mill Street and the church became known as Mill Street Baptist Church (left). The church moved to its current location in 1965 under the leadership of John Cooper, moving from the town’s centre to a newly-built housing estate in the north of the town: Brickhill. The church was renamed Brickhill Baptist Church (below).

Since that time, led by Peter Ledger from 1969 to 1997, and from 1997 to the present by Paul Woodward, the building and the church have continued to grow and change. The auditorium at the current site has been expanded by over 100% (bottom image), the ethnic diversity of our community has increased significantly, and many of the practices of the church have been transformed as we continue to rediscover biblical principles for church life. We have worked increasingly closely with other churches in the town, and have associated ourselves with the Evangelical Alliance a movement of churches uniting to change society, and Newfrontiers an international family of churches together on a mission.

We currently have, on average, over 400 people attending our Sunday services. Many ministries have developed over the years to bless our town, our nation, and nations around the world. We run the Hope Trust, a service that offers Christian counsel for people in need. Our building is used as a venue for national events. Another of our organisations, Operation Tanzania, sends clothes and much-needed resources to people in Tanzania. These are just the tip of the iceberg, as a visit to the 'What we do' section of the site will show!

Brickhill also has a rich history of seeing people from within our community move to other places to expand God’s Kingdom, a fitting response to God’s call on us to be a resource church. This sense of call is one of a number of promises we believe God has given us. Prophetic words that we live with and that shape our plans and priorities include the call to see a “new generation” arise who love God and live for Him. God has promised us growth in numbers of people saved and added to the church, and in terms of miraculous signs of His Kingdom.

With so much to thank God for as we look back, we can look forward with confidence and trust in Him. We continue to believe that we have good news for our town: that Jesus Christ died to save sinners and they can know love, peace, and joy if they accept Him as their Saviour. We express this love through our ministries, and by equipping everyone in our church to share this love in the day-to-day things of life. We continue to work with other churches in Bedford, the UK, and other nations to see this good news preached all over the world. We continue to seek to raise up people gifted by God to make a difference wherever He wants them to be. We continue to trust the Bible as God’s authority on how we are to live, and we continue to welcome the Holy Spirit as God amongst us. By God’s grace, we will continue all this and more, to His glory.