Message from our Minister, Sean Fountain
It is
my great pleasure to welcome you to our web site.
These
are exciting times at Pier Avenue Baptist Church as we are starting the
building work for the next phase of the Welcome Centre Project.
I can
recall my first visit to Pier Avenue. I arrived early and took a look
around the area, and then came to the Church. I was impressed with the
enthusiasm and dedication I saw amongst the people we met. But the
thing that really spoke to me was the vision the people we spoke to, had
for the Church. The writer of Proverbs certainly knew a thing or two
when he said;
Where
there is no vision, the people perish: (Proverbs 29:18 – KJV)
The
Welcome Centre concept was both challenging and exciting. The vision of
Welcome Hall, Atrium and the Back Corridor facilities was incredible.
It was certainly a major step of faith for the fellowship at Pier Avenue
and I believe God was honouring that faith and will continue to honour
it.
From
my point of view, I particularly felt that God was speaking to me about
the role of the Church in the community where He has called us to serve
Him. This has led me into new areas of theological reflection and
prayer.
The
Atrium is the part of the concept that holds everything together and
makes it all work. It provides a very visual symbol of the wholeness of
the Gospel. The Atrium will provide the facilities with a number of
advantages;
-
Improved Security for the children using the site
-
Improved Security for the back of the building
-
An improved heat retention for the Welcome Hall
-
A
less formal area that can be developed for lunch clubs / craft
groups / hobby groups etc. – a space to sit and chat
-
An area that can be used for less formal meetings
-
Movement between the other halls will now be undercover – you won’t
get wet.
We
would really welcome the opportunity to show you our facilities at Pier
Avenue and share with you the exciting God has for us in this
Fellowship. Come and see us – you would be very welcome.
Sean
Our Mission Statement
 Our fellowship here in Clacton has a Mission Statement,
which summarizes what we stand for. It says that... Our Purpose
Is:
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To celebrate God's presence
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To communicate God's Word
-
To educate God's people
-
To demonstrate God's love
We have broken this down to explain it. Our
purpose is:
to celebrate God’s presence.
We do this whenever we meet for worship – mainly on Sundays at 10:30am &
6:00pm – but also at other times when we praise and worship God together.
It says we are here to communicate
God’s Word. We strongly believe in mission – both locally and
internationally, and we support all kinds of mission work, involving
practical caring as well as evangelism.
It says we aim to educate God’s
people. This we do through various youth and children's’
activities, through Bible study and House groups, and through our Sunday
teaching programme.
And it says we exist to
demonstrate God’s love. We truly want our Church to be a family, in
which Christian love is shared between every member, and through which
God’s love is shown to the local community and the world.
These are the principles we stand for, and we welcome
all who love the Lord Jesus Christ, and who share these aims, to join us
in serving God in Clacton.
As Baptists, we are part of the universal Church of
Jesus Christ – but we have our own distinctive practices too. Our name
comes from our belief that baptism is for 'believers' not babies. We
baptise those who profess a personal faith in Christ, and we do this by
'immersion' in water – not sprinkling. We also believe that each local
Church (fellowship) is independent, and we do not have bishops or a 'national' Church.
The committed members of each local Church have full responsibility to
support and finance its work.
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