Guiseley Baptist Church, Leeds Guiseley Baptist Church

Our church is in Guiseley, a town located about halfway between Leeds and Ilkley. We have over 90 members, and regular contact with lots more adults, young people and children who are involved with the various groups that make up ‘church’, not just on Sundays, but throughout the week. Our mission and ministry is carried out in a number of ways, including: being a food collection point for the Bradford North Food Bank; facilitating CAP Job Clubs; leading Alpha courses at one of the prisons in Yorkshire, providing table tennis clubs – one for adults and another for children and young people: Cornerstone – welcoming seniors for lunch and with the opportunity to read the bible and pray; hosting Mainly Music – a group where parents, carers, and pre-school children can come together to sing, play, and enjoy the company of other families; house groups meet regularly to study the bible, pray, and share life together.

Our children and young people have continued to grow in their relationship with God under the leadership of our Youth and Children’s Worker (Y&CW) and our team of committed volunteers. We have several groups for youth and children meeting through the week as well as groups with age-appropriate activities on Sunday mornings. Our Y&CW is very involved in the local school community where he provides pastoral care in the Student Support Centre, acting as a bridge between the school and GBC. At the end of February, we were thrilled to be able to buy back the building adjoining our chapel that began life as Sunday School rooms but was sold in the early 1990’s. We are excited to seek God for how He wants us to use our newly acquired spaces to further the mission and ministry here at GBC.

We have been in pastoral vacancy for almost six months. We need wisdom as we seek to call a minister for the next season at GBC. Our leadership team, and others in the fellowship, have stepped up, more than ever, to meet the preaching, pastoral, mission, and ministry needs of the church and community – we all need God’s guidance and sustaining power to continue to serve Him faithfully and fruitfully. Our youth and children’s work is beginning to grow – please pray that many will come to know Jesus as their friend and Saviour.

We give thanks that God has led us to buy back our adjacent building. We’ve been blessed with a series of God-incidences (not coincidences!) over the last year, that enabled the sale of our second manse that we no longer required, the purchase of the building next door, the early release from our tenancy of local office space, generous donations from our church family – to name but a few. We’re having a couple of prayer breakfasts over the next few weeks to begin to seek God as to how all our buildings might be used in the coming months and years to further the work of God in Guiseley and beyond.

Liz Allen