Kesgrave Baptist Church is an evangelical Baptist Church based in the town of Kesgrave, near Ipswich, UK. Our main purpose is to spread the message of Jesus Christ who alone is able to save people through His death on the cross and resurrection, and to learn more about Him.
There's a warm welcome to anyone to any of the church services, youth clubs, Sunday school and other meetings, whether you're a Christian or not. Our Sunday services attract people of all ages and backgrounds; there is also a Sunday school which runs during the morning service.
Our text for 2019 is:
"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." James 4:7
Christianity Explored Course
We run Christianity Explored courses periodically. If you are interested in finding out more about the claims of Christianity or just thinking a bit more deeply about your faith, then please contact our pastor, Andrew Thomson
For more details about Christianity Explored, click here.
Changes to Toddler Groups
From January 2020 we will be going back to having a single Toddler Group, meeting on Thursday afternoons during school term time. We hope to be able to go back to running 2 Toddler groups, one in the morning the other in the afternoon, as soon as more helpers become available.
Servants of the Word: building the church in Gambia
After Steven Musa-Kormayea's visit to us in July, we've updated the information on our web pages, and also put a lot of photos into our photo gallery, including the latest updates to the building project, with the classroom block nearing completion. Do take a look at these.
Also, the latest prayer letter from Steven is here. Do continue to pray for Steven and the work of the Gambia Bible College.
Verse of the Day
Church Calendar for 2019/20
Download our church calendar by clicking on the icon below. Alternatively, if you'd like a copy printed for you then please email Pat Tatham
Giving to the work of Kesgrave Baptist Church
We've set up a new way to give on-line, if you would prefer to contribute financially to the work of the Gospel at Kesgrave Baptist Church in this way.
Please visit our webpage on giving - which gives details of this, and other ways to give.
Rosie Bridgwater's Baptism
We were overjoyed to witness the baptism of Rosie Bridgwater recently. Rosie had come to our youth groups, then went to Wetheringsett summer camp, and it was there she became a Christiam. Rosie was baptised by Pastor Andrew Thomson on 24th September 2017, she affirmed that she repented of her sins and believed in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Here's the video of Rosie's baptism.
I was born in London and lived there until I was about 4. Me and my family didn't go to church back then. My father died, and we moved to Kesgrave. Because I was new, I went to Yoyo's to make friends. About this time I started going to All Saints sometimes with my family. When I moved to Ewoks, I began to listen to the talks about the parables, and began to understand most of it. It was at Ewoks that Esther first told me about camp, although I didn't realize that it was Christian at the time.
When I was at camp I listened to the talks, and, as a result, I asked Jesus to forgive my sins. After camp I began to pray regularly, using some of the prayer notes we were given. As I got older my understanding of the talks got better.
Before the camp in 2016 I knew about baptism, but I didn't know if I was ready. That year something clicked, and I knew I wanted to be baptized. The 'Go Deeper' group and camp this year have made me even clearer that it's the right thing to do. As I grow as a Christian, I want to tell my friends more about Jesus, and show that I'm a Christian in the way I talk and live.
Jonathan Tatham's Baptism
We were very overjoyed to witness the baptism of Jonathan Tatham recently. Jonathan's a teenager who's a student at Reading University, and who's been brought up within the fellowship of the church. He recently decided to profess his faith publicly in the Lord Jesus Christ
Here's the video of Jonathan's baptism for anyone who couldn't make it to the service.
Growing up in a Christian family and coming to church all my life has thankfully exposed me to the ideas of Christianity and stories of the bible from a very young age. Although church was always a part of my life, its significance was never clear to me and other activities such as sports were always more important, and, more enjoyable to me. It was when I first went to bible class at the age of 11, and especially when Tirzah took over a year later, that I first really started discussing and thinking about the bible and its meaning to a deeper extent. For example, we no longer just looked at the stories of the bible, we looked at what this meant for us and how what we read could be applied to our own situations 2000 years on. This helped me consider the importance of why I went to church and what it meant to be a Christian.
Over time, my interest in hearing the bible explained grew greater and my interest in listening to sermons increased and, with the help of making my own notes, I began to form my own opinions based on what I had heard. The arrival of Andrew accelerated this spiritual development as I felt that his sermons immediately began to challenge me personally and I was then at the age when I could really start applying what I heard on a Sunday to my own life. I really began to fully understand that being a Christian was not just about coming to church or praying once in a while. Instead it is about what Jesus did for us that gave us a chance to be saved, I just don’t think I appreciated this fact yet.
I was at a stage where I believed there was a God but I still struggled on a few issues such as assurance, what it meant to have repented and scientific views which oppose the ideas of Christianity. Starting over a year ago, I began having one-to-one meetings with Andrew which initially helped me in tackling the issues that I struggled with and then moved on to the underlying principles of what it meant to live as a Christian with sessions on faith, repentance and baptism. It was around this time that I began to realise that I would never fully understand everything in the Bible, and that these things were not important enough to stop me from giving my life totally to him. More importantly I do trust in Jesus, I believe his word is true and I want to live for him, not myself.
The idea of moving to University was a nervous time for me, I wasn’t sure whether University was for me or whether I’d enjoy it. I know that I and many other people prayed a lot that God would watch over me at this time. God answered these prayers in that I made new friends very easily and found a church that I feel is right for me. Even one of my seven flatmates is from a Christian family and chooses to go to the same church. Moving away was a time when the Bible, church and Jesus could easily have been pushed to the back of my mind but instead God proved that he answers prayer and cares for me despite my failings. There was no specific time that I felt I became a Christian but it was over the weeks leading up to university that I came to a point of knowing that I had truly repented of my sins and believed that Jesus died for me and so was ready to be baptised.