Church Support

Support for a Pastoral Vacancy: This can be a time of transition and difficulty within a church however they can also be a wonderful opportunity for the church to grow and discern God's voice in the way forward.

Pastoral Vacancy enables churches to take a step back and explore together what God is calling them to be in their local community.

The Regional Team can help you explore these possibilities and provide your church with lots of practical advice, including:

Appointing a moderator
Considering a review process
Composing a church profile
Designating a search group
The settlement process

Revds Linda and Johnny can give advice on the Baptists Together (Baptist Union of Great Britain) Settlement Process

Useful documents for churches looking to appoint a Minister are available on the Baptists Together website.

If you are a Church entering into a pastoral vacancy or seeking a new minister, please contact Johnny or Linda.

Church Networks: We understand the unique pressures of being a small church, medium size church and a large church. Sometimes it is helpful to meet with the leadership teams of other churches in similar sizes to share and learn from each other. We network these churches together, for the latest see the Updates Page.

Conflict Resolution: If you are experiencing a difficult time as a church we are here to support you. We have people who are able to walk alongside you as a church and leadership team to aid you in resolving any issues that are preventing your ministry and mission.

Moderators: Sometimes churches need extra support, especially in a time of transition. In the NBA we work with people who have a special skill at navigating churches through times of transition. If you would like a moderator to walk with the church in discerning a new minister, moving to a more missional model or in listening to your community, then contact the office here.

Financial Support: Home Mission

Home Mission is all about helping Baptist churches and individuals to reach their mission potential and bring the love of God to their communities.

The money raised aims to help Baptist churches and individuals to reach their mission potential and bring the love of God to their communities. It is used to fund:

Grants to local churches: These grants include church planting, renewing local churches and mission project grants. Through Home Mission, hundreds of lives have been affected and many have found faith in Jesus. To find out about grants available to your church, please contact the Rev Hayley Young.

The Northern Baptist Association Team, who are engaged in missional development in our area, supporting new initiatives and churches and supporting the on-going work of churches and their ministers and families.

Three specialist teams based at Baptists Together (Baptist Union of Great Britain) to resource churches in their work through legal, ministries and finance support. In addition, these teams represent the mission of God in national ways such as engaging with Government and speaking out on matters of faith.

If you would like to apply for a Home Mission Grant then contact Rev Hayley Young for an initial conversation

Church Closures

Occasionally churches will come to the point where they accept that their mission in their community has been accomplished and that they need to close.

Clearly this can be a difficult time for those concerned and we want to help congregations as they face up to that possibility. There are always legal hurdles that need to be overcome and decisions that need to be made about local assets.

So, if you are in that situation then it is vital that you let us know before you formally resolve to close so that we can advise you of the process and help you through it.

Contact Rev Hayley Young to chat about the next steps