Today - Knaphill Baptist Church in the 21st Century

A New Minister

We said farewell to Rev.Bob Younger in June 2000, and started the process to seek a new Minister.

The process of calling a new minister to the Church started in the summer of 1999, when Bob Younger formally announced his intention to retire on his 65th birthday in June 2000. Bob hoped that this would give the Church time to find a new pastor to take over when he retired so that a long interregnum could be avoided. The Church created its own profile to send to prospective ministers and the Church's Moderator, Glyn Prosser, led the Deacons through some seventy to eighty minister's profiles (no small job!). Several invitations were issued by the Deacons to meet with ministers who all declined. And then one minister did respond and met with the Deacons and Church. The Church got to the point of calling him to the pastorate but he declined as he did not have anywhere to live and the Church did not have a manse. Whilst the Church had been sure that God was calling him to Knaphill, the message from God was actually "you need to get a manse". Some hectic months then followed working through the process of purchasing a manse, which you will find below.

The Deacons met with a couple of other people as prospective candidates but there was always a maybe/maybe not. And then, both through the official channels and through word of mouth, the Deacons learned of a minister in the Sussex area who had just finished at his current church. Was this a co-incidence? A meeting was set up with Gordon Steer and then there was a bombshell. The Church Secretary, Brenda Rice, died suddenly around two days before Gordon was due to visit. It was decided that the meeting should go ahead and the Deacons met with Gordon. As a result, Gordon was invited back to meet with the Church and to "preach with a view to the pastorate of the Church" and a unanimous invitation was issued to Gordon Steer to come and be the next pastor of our church. Gordon was formally inducted into the pastorate of the Church on the 18th September 2004. You can read more about Gordon here.

A Manse

Work continues

Baptisms

However much we may work on the building to suit the needs of the church today, it is not, as Robert Black knew well in 1886, the church. The challenge to the present membership is to respond further to the renewal which has come by God's grace, and to offer, by its life and activities, a living faith in the God who revealed himself in Jesus Christ and the friendship of a loving fellowship to all those living in Knaphill and in its surrounding area.

News - You're up to date! You'll find more of what is happening this year on our News and Events Pages

Page Last updated 22:31 06/Aug/2005