Woodstock Road Baptist Church, located in

Summertown, Oxford Summertown in North Oxford is a suburb of Oxford, England. Summertown is a one-mile square residential area, north of St Giles, the boulevard leading out of Oxford's city centre. Summertown is home to several independent schools and the city's m ...

, UK is an

evangelical church Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual exper ...

and is a member of the

Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches The Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (FIEC) is a network of 639 independent, evangelical churches mainly in the United Kingdom that preach an evangelical faith. History The FIEC was formed in 1922 under the name ''A Fellowship of ...

History

The church was opened in 1897''Jackson's Oxford Journal'', September 1897. as a church for those of the

baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

persuasion of the

protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

religion following a period of time when a group of people met for open air

worship Worship is an act of religious devotion usually directed towards a deity. It may involve one or more of activities such as veneration, adoration, praise, and praying. For many, worship is not about an emotion, it is more about a recognition ...

under the leadership of Rev J. H. Moore. The church was built on a plot of land on the Woodstock Road adjacent to the bottom of the newly occupied residential area of Summertown in Oxford. The original church building (known as Victoria Hall, in commemoration of the Diamond Jubilee of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

), is of white brick with stone facings and capable of holding 100 people. The west wall of the church building was made of wood, with the intention being to expand the building westwards when numbers of attendance required it. The church was extended in the 1930s by the addition of a brick walled, tin roofed 'hut' which as later roofed over to make a more permanent structure. The church can seat approx. 200 people, though it currently has seating for 120. It was a member of the

Baptist Union Baptists Together (officially The Baptist Union of Great Britain) is a Baptist Christian denomination in England and Wales. It is affiliated with the Baptist World Alliance and Churches Together in England. The headquarters is in Didcot. H ...

until the 1980s. The trust deeds of the church were redrawn in the late 1990s by the then

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

Keith Stokes and the church elders. This allowed the church to separate from the Baptist Union due to differences in

doctrine Doctrine (from la, doctrina, meaning "teaching, instruction") is a codification of beliefs or a body of teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the essence of teachings in a given branch of knowledge or in a belief system ...

. Woodstock Road Baptist Church (also known as WRBC or Woody Road to its members) is a

bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

believing and preaching church. The church closed for renovations from September 2012 to December 2012 and then again from September 2013 to April 2014. The church reopened on April 2, 2014.

Church Services

Homegroups meet around and beyond the city on the first, second, and third Wednesdays. Church services are streamed online a
Church Services

Doctrine

The beliefs of the church can be found on the church web site a
Doctrine and Beliefs

References

External links

WRBC Web Site

WRBC on Google Maps
{{coord , 51.774, -1.267, type:landmark_region:GB-OXF, display=title Churches in Oxford Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches Baptist churches in Oxford