Carey Baptist Church is an independent evangelical/Baptist church in Reading, England.[1]
| Carey Baptist Church | |
|---|---|
 Carey Baptist Church, front facade | |
  Carey Baptist Church Location within Reading | |
| 51°27′11.1″N 0°58′47.13″W / 51.453083°N 0.9797583°W | |
| Location | Reading |
| Country | England |
| Denomination | Baptist |
| Website | careybaptistchurch.org.uk |
| History | |
| Founded | 1867 |
| Architecture | |
| Functional status | Active |
History
editThe church was founded in 1867 and was named after William Carey, a famous missionary from Northamptonshire, who went to India in 1793, and never returned to his homeland.[2]
Carey's first pastor was John Howard Hinton.[3]
Notable past elders include Rev. Theodore Harold Bendor-Samuel.[4]
In the mid-1970s two members of Carey, David and Madeleine Potter, founded a Christian Charity called Prospects to support learning disabled adults and help them reach their full potential. In 2016, Prospects became part of the Livability Group. [5]
Additional premises, The Carey Centre, in Anstey Road (a parallel road behind the chapel) were acquired in 1993, following the closure of Central Evangelical Church.
As of June 2009, Carey Baptist Church now owns part of what was the Oasis Public House.
Carey today
editThe church building is on Carey Street (Anstey Road) in central Reading,[1][6] close to the Inner Distribution Road (IDR), Oxford Road, and The Hexagon.
The main service times are 10:30 and 18:00 on Sunday. MP3-format files of the sermons are available on the church's website[7] and Sunday services are streamed live from the website. Sunday services can also be watched live on Facebook or YouTube.
The church is affiliated to Affinity and the FIEC Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches.
The current pastors are James Muldoon and David Magowan.[8] Jonathan Stephen left the church on 16 July 2006 to take up the position of principal of the Wales Evangelical School of Theology in September 2006,[9] while Basil Howlett retired from the position of co-pastor in January 2009.
Missions
editThe church continues to work in the tradition of William Carey by sending missionaries abroad to India [6][10] and the Amazon.[11] In 2005 a missionary from Carey, David Barnes, was serving in Aysana, a small village, about five hours down river from Iquitos, Peru.[11]
Ian Stillman, a deaf missionary sent to India by Carey Baptist, was arrested in August 2000 and charged with smuggling 20 kilograms of cannabis after the drug was found in a shared taxi. It is widely believed that the charges were fabricated. Parliament "pa(id) tribute" to Carey Baptist on the successful campaign to obtain Stillman's release from prison.[12]
References
edit- ^ a b Carey Baptist Church, Reading, Find a Church, UK.
- ^ [1] Churches named for William Carey, webpage of William Carey University, accessed 11 May 2011.
- ^ Bill Newton (2017). One Hundred and Fifty: Carey Baptist Church 1867-2017.
- ^ [2] Theodore Bendor-Samuel, April 1998, Evangelical Times
- ^ "Celebrating the 40 year journey of the charity: Prospects – for people with learning disabilities". Livability. May 2016. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
- ^ a b "Praying that Ian will be freed Archived 2011-09-28 at the Wayback Machine", 14 January 2002, GET Workingham newspaper.
- ^ Sermons, Carey Baptist Church, Reading, UK.
- ^ "Minister set to move on to pastures new," 5 August 2009, Whitby Gazette.
- ^ "Faculty at WEST". Archived from the original on 9 June 2011. Retrieved 11 May 2011. Rev. C. Jonathan Stephen, Principal, faculty page, Wales Evangelical School of Theology, accessed 11 May 2011.
- ^ "Stillman hearing challenged," 25 January 2002, Church Times.
- ^ a b "Can you help fill a shoebox?, 26 August 2005, Get Surrey newspaper.
- ^ [3] "Early day motion 321." 9 December 2002, Parliament of the United Kingdom.
