Being with jesus
learning from jesus
becoming like jesus
ABOUT US
Counterslip Baptist Church is a group of people based in the south of Bristol who together are working out what it means to be disciples of Jesus, as revealed in the scriptures, at this point in history, right here where we live, work, love, strive, succeed, fail, celebrate, commiserate, mourn, laugh, cry.... and so on. We believe that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, and we believe that by His Spirit, and through His word, we can know Him and walk with Him today. As a community we seek to encourage each other to do just that in all the areas of our lives, in each and every moment.
Meet Our Team
Our team is made up of a number of different paid and volunteer roles, of pastors, elders, deacons, administrators and team/ministry leaders all of whom serve our church family to live out our vision.​
Our Elders
The Elders at Counterslip are made up of a team of volunteers who the church have sensed God calling to serve us as those trusted with our discipleship, spiritual oversight and leadership. They work with and support our Pastor in leading the church as the senior leadership team.
Our Deacons
The Deacons are a group of volunteers who the church have sensed God calling to serve us as those who have oversight for practical elements of our life together. They act kind of like department heads for the care of finance, fabric, family and facilities. They also partner with the Elders and our Pastor to form our trustees.
Pastoral Assistants
We employ a team of Pastoral Assistants who serve with our Pastor to oversee and lead key areas of ministry in the life of our church. They are:
Matt - Adult Pastoral Assistant
Emily - Youth Pastoral Assistant
Lara - Children's Pastoral Assistant
Admin Team
We have an admin team made up of some volunteers and some paid staff. They help us to keep life at church running, safe and accessible. They are:
Ann-See - Administrator
Ben - Safeguarding lead
Claire - Social Media Coordinator
Our History
Counterslip Baptist Church has existed in Bristol for over 200 years.
Here is the story of our church from then until now.
Where it began
In 1804 there were just two Baptist churches in Bristol, Broadmead Baptist & the Pithay. In this year, probably because of differences in theology the Pithay had started to decline in number. 49 of those who left planted their own church on 12th November. In 1810 the new church had grown and moved from Taylors Court to Counter Slip (a road just off of Bristol Bridge).
What followed
The church continued to grow and in 1878 they moved to Victoria street where they built a chapel and a school room. In the 1930s new suburbs of Bristol were being built and the population was increasing there. So Counterslip began to look for a site in the south to continue its work across Bristol, and it acquired the site on the Wells Road. After the war, and the bombing of the chapel on Victoria street, the church decided rather than rebuild in town they would move the whole church to the new site.
And now
Counterslip continued to meet here for worship until 2024 when the Church again felt God calling them to leave their building. Now we meet, still in the same area but, at Oasis John Williams school.
Baptists
So we're a Baptist Church. But what does that mean?
The Baptist Church story goes back to about 1609 when a group of Christians left the Church of England following the reformation as they didn't believe the reformation in the Anglican Church had gone far enough.
Baptist's got their name because they baptised adult believer, rather than christening babies. But this isn't what define Baptists. "Baptist" was more of a nickname give to them because of the type of baptism they did. The reason they did that kind of baptism is at the heart o what it means to be a Baptist
At the root of their actions was a deep desire to live life in line with the scriptures. Baptists believed, and still do today, in the authority of scripture and see the Bible as the word of God. Yes it was written by human beings, but is was written under the inspiration, guidance and power of the Holy Spirit, who is God, a part of the Holy Trinity.
Jesus Himself affirmed the scriptures, and despite what you might hear in modern conversation He never disagreed with them or changed them - that is a misconception and misunderstanding of the text. Jesus went even further than this and told His disciples that all the scriptures were about Him (Luke 24:25-27). This is why we have such a high view of the Bible, because it reveals to us just how incredible Jesus is, throughout all the scriptures (old and new testament).
The Bible from beginning to end points us to Jesus. Through the scriptures we discover who Jesus is, what He is like, what He came to do and the life He came to give us. What we discover in the scriptures is nothing short of amazing. That is why as Baptists we long to live in line with the scriptures. And because the focus of the whole of scripture is Jesus, our vision as a church is to:
Be with Jesus, Learn from Jesus, and Become like Jesus.
And the place we discover and understand Jesus first and foremost is in the Holy Spirit inspired scriptures, like Jesus Himself showed His disciples.
As Baptists we have some strange habits - dunking people under water and church meetings, among other things, but at the heart of all these things, and the reason for all these things, is our deep desire to live in line with the word of God. Whatever we face in life our patterns is to first go to the scriptures and seek our God as He has revealed Himself through His word.
That is what being a Baptist Church is all about.
Mission
Partners
Kalbassou: Chad
Kalbassou Doubassou is a Cameroonian Advanced Nurse and Surgeon, and Director at the BMS-supported Guinebor II hospital in Chad. Before joining BMS World Mission as an International Mission Worker, Kalbassou was chief personnel co-ordinator at Meskine Hospital in Cameroon. In June 2016 Kalbassou started working at Guinebor II hospital, and after working there for a year, Kalbassou began his service with BMS World Mission as an International Mission Worker. Kalbassou is married to Maimouna, and they have four adult children and five other younger adopted children.
Helen & Wit: Thailand
Wit and Helen work as church planters among the largely unreached indigenous Thai Buddhist people group. In this exciting new BMS work, Wit and Helen help to plant churches and disciple local believers alongside Thai church planters. Wit is originally from Thailand and before starting with BMS was minister at Thrapston Baptist Church while Helen is a TEFL teacher. Together they have two grown-up children.
Safe Families
Safe Families and Home for Good have a vision to provide a more holistic solution through the Church to prevent children entering the care system through family support and then, if they do, ensuring there are enough safe and nurturing homes through fostering , adoption and supported lodgings
