- Ampthill Baptist Church
- Dunstable Street
- Ampthill
- Bedfordshire
- MK45 2JS
01525 841682
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News and Events
January 2010
The Baptist Times published an article this month on the twinning relationship between Ampthill Baptist Church and Shefaamr Baptist Church in Israel. You can download the article as a PDF HERE
November 2009
Pastor Ashraf, Monther and Zina Naum are currently with us from our twin church in Shefaamr, Israel. You can see more pictures HERE
October 2009
Lighthouse Lights Party
Some photo's below of our Lights Party, held on Saturday 31st October. As you can see, lots of fun - and mess!
Stephen joins Firs Lower School for their Harvest Assembly
Senior Pastor Stephen Plummer was at The Firs Lower School in Ampthill on 15th October, where he led their special Harvest Assembly. Their very generous donations were divided between the residents of Agate House and Lavender Court.
Ampthill Baptist Church images 1900-1952
Mid-Bedfordshire,
Amongst them is an album of images from Ampthill Baptist Church, taken between 1900 and 1952, giving us a unique glimpse into the worship and the social activites of our predecessors. The Ampthill Baptist Album that can be accessed directly HERE, or else via the main website at Ampthill Images.
Some examples of the wonderful pictures that John has painstakingly collected and collated on Ampthill Images:
Exterior shot of ABC in 1910 showing the Sunday School outing
Interior of Ampthill Baptist Church in circa 1900.
Ampthill Baptist Church welcomes A K Bryan as its
new Minister in 1950
August 2009
Fusion 2009
Holiday at Home 2009
Once again, Ampthill Baptist Church had a fantastic summer programme of events. First off was the Ampthill Churches Christian Summer School event 'Fusion'. A fast-paced blend of games, songs, puppets, mess and mayhem underpinned with a strong Bible theme, which this year was about running the race God has marked out for us and not being deflected off from it.
After a break, it was the turn of the Senior Citizens of the town to come together for a week of activities under the banner of 'Holiday at Home'. Over 60 people took part in a fantastic week of activites, outings, meals and talks.
May 2009
Pentecost in the Park
Sunday 31st May
Just like last year's event, Pentecost in the Park was blessed with bright sunshine and blue skies as hundreds of Christians from churches in the Ampthill and Flitwick area came together at Katherine's Cross in Ampthill Park for a united service to celebrate Pentecost - the birth of the church. This wonderful outdoor service was the idea of Father Denis McSweeney at Sacred Heart Church, Flitwick and is put together by the Churches Together team.
This year the service was led by Ampthill Baptist's Senior Pastor Stephen Plummer whilst the Ecumenical Moderator of Milton Keynes Revd Dr Mary Cotes gave the message, focussing on the talents that we are given by God to achieve the work He has set out for us to do.
Music was provided by the wonderful Ampthill Town Band.
Revd Dr Mary Cotes gives the address
Releasing a balloon
Ask the Pastors!
This was the “Gardener’s Question Time” at ABC with Pastors Stephen and Ken putting themselves on offer to answer questions from the congregation. There was a good turn out and so many questions submitted that it was not possible to deal with every individual question on the evening. They were wide ranging, from questions about why Stephen and Ken became Pastors, how services and themes are put together, big questions about the Christian views on war, abortion, and creation vs. science, and philosophical questions. Other questions asked about difficult situations people find themselves in.
The questions were answered - some on the night and some in general and it was agreed they will be taken away and the Pastors look at them to see how they can best cover issues that matter to people over the coming months. The
This was a time of fellowship and learning shared over a cup of tea, we ended by asking the Pastors how we can best support them – with prayer for them being one of the key ways we can all do this.
This was a good evening and there may well be another in the future.
April 2009
Creation Care Walk
It was a good if slightly damp morning. tephen led 14 of us, aged 9-80+, on a gentle stroll around Ampthill Park, introducing us to some of the plants and creatures that live there. We also learnt to start recognising different bird song and to get to know a little about the park and its history. It was lovely to spend time enjoying each others company and God's creation.
Everyone enjoyed it so much that Stephen has agreed to lead another walk in a few weeks time.
Easter Sunday Baptisms.
It was standing room only for a wonderful celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus. The service also saw the baptisms of Sharon, Jasmine and Gary. You can see pictures over on our Baptisms page.
March 2009
Stephen Plummer commissioned as Chaplain of Bedford Blues Rugby Club
Senior Pastor Stephen Plummer has been commissioned as Chaplain of Bedford Blues Rugby Club in a service conducted by SCORE's Rugby Union Co-ordinator David Chawner. Representing the Bedford Followers were Geoff and Margaret Appleton.
Left to Right: Geoff Appleton, Margaret Appleton, Stephen Plummer, David Chawner
Stephen is a huge rugby fan and a former county-level player. It's a fantastic opportunity for him to be able to combine his love of God and his love of rugby through Chaplaincy support to the local team and their supporters.
Stephen has already kicked-off his Chaplaincy with some note, as Score's website recently highlighted:
"One of our players is sponsored by the local Ladies Lingerie shop - to the amusement of many of our supporters," explained Stephen Plummer, chaplain of Bedford Blues Rugby Club.
"I discovered that the shop was collecting underwear for women in Africa," continued Stephen. "Apparently they had learned from a mission society that lack of underwear was leaving the women more vulnerable to sexual assault."
So armed with this information, he approached the club and suggested that, given their association with the shop, they advertise the project, and act as a collection point. The club thought it was a great idea and ran with it.
So imagine the sight of guys dropping lingerie into containers scattered around the club. As to the signs on them, we'll leave that totally to your imagination! And all because of the chaplain!
"Joking aside," said David Chawner, SCORE's Rugby Union Coordinator, "this is an illustration of the creative ways chaplains can be involved in their club, linking them into the local community."
Ampthill Baptist Church have also joined in with the collection and have donated a very large pile of smalls to the mission!
Follow Ampthill Baptist on Twitter
You can now follow what's going on at Ampthill Baptist Church via updates from the social networking and micro-blogging facility Twitter. We're signed up as AmpthillBaptist. As well as updates on what's happening at church, we'll also be posting information from the charities and organisations we support as well as Christianity-related news items.
Visit of Sarah Hall, BMS Link Missionary
Sarah has been working in partnership with BMS World Mission since 1997. First in Tunisia and from 2001 onwards, in Guinea, West Africa, through which we have been following her work and progress. After first working to establish clinics to help patients with diabetes, Sarah has recently expanded her remit and has established healthcare programmes for women in the western part of Guinea. At the end of 2008 it became clear to Sarah that her time in Guinea was coming to a close and God was leading her on to new challenges. She is making one final tour of her link churches in the UK, before starting her new role working with TB patients in the UK.
L-R: Sarah Hall, Sally Metianu (Associate Pastor, Mission Partnerships), Rob Baker and Stephen Plummer (Senior Pastor)
January 2009
Visit of Steve Hughes from A Rocha
We recently had the pleasure of welcoming Steve Hughes, Chief Executive of
A Rocha in the UK to our church to speak to us. One of our major goals we have as a church is to look carefully at the impact we have on our environment and the responsibility we have as Christians to care for God's creation. You can listen to Steve's sermon HERE, and view the accompanying PDF file.
Ampthill Baptist Church Becomes a Charity
Under the new rules for the Charity Commission, the church needed to become a Charity and we are pleased to announce that we have cleared that hurdle at the first attempt. Our new charity number is 1127548. We have a new constitution in place to outline how we operate as a church. You can download a copy of this public document HERE.
December 2008
Christmas - Joy to the World!
At Ampthill Baptist Church our theme for Christmas 2008 was Joy to the World.
This year we took to the streets, Carol Singing and distributing invitations to our services over Christmas. The children of Lighthouse performed a navitity based on 'The Gift' on Sunday 21st December and we joined with our friends at the Methodist Church for a combined Carol Service. In return ABC hosted the Christmas Morning Service, led by Methodist Minister Joanne Sherwood and our own Stephen Plummer.
In the run up to Christmas, there are many parties organised by various groups in the church. Here are some photographs from the Fellowship Christmas Lunch and the Pastoral Care Group Christmas Tea for Seniors.
Fellowship Lunch
Pastoral Care Group Christmas Tea
And Father Christmas drops in...!
November 2008
Wedding!
You can never have too many weddings and we were thrilled to celebrate the marriage of Cliff and Amanda in November. The church wishes them every blessing in their life together. Congratulations to you both!
Happy Anniversary ABC!
On Sunday November 23rd Ampthill Baptist Church celebrated its 211th Anniversary. We had the great pleasure of welcoming Baptist Union General Secretary Jonathan Edwards to our church, and he spoke at both the morning and evening services. Both messages can be heard on our sermons page.
Church Secretary Liz Coulson (L) and Senior Pastor Stephen Plummer (R)
with Jonathan Edwards, Sunday 23rd November 2008
October 2008
Tools With a Mission Collection
Tools With a Mission (TWAM) is a wonderful Christian ministry that takes the redundant things from people's garages and sheds, cleans then up and passes them on, so that people in various places around the world can have the tools to start earning a living to support themselves and their families. From spades to spanners, screwdrivers to sewing machines, TWAM collects a comprehensive list of items for despatch to areas of the world that need them.
At the Fellowship Lunch in October, Ampthill Baptist Church made a collection of the things we no longer need and TWAM came to collect. Our donation included a large number of sewing machines donated by a local textile artist (not pictured).
Just some of our donation to the work of TWAM
Alan from TWAM arrives at ABC for the collection.
For past news and events, please visit our Archive page by clicking the picture below
.