As a church family within the Church of England we hold to the Reformed Catholic faith as summarised in the 39 Articles. To give you a further flavour of what is important us here our four key areas:

Biblically Sound and Creedally Faithful

As evangelical Christians we hold that ‘Holy Scripture contains all things necessary for salvation’ and therefore we take the teaching of the Scriptures as of primary importance. Our interpretation of the Bible is guided by the faith which has been passed on to us, both in the catholic creeds and the Anglican Articles. We normally have expository sermons which last 15-20 mins because we believe that understanding what God has to say to us in the Bible, is crucial if we are to live a life which is faithful to Jesus. In addition, we run regular Bible-studies during the week, with special studies in Advent and Lent.

Taking Worship Seriously

True worship is serving Jesus in every area of our lives, and thus takes place mostly outside of church. However, when we meet together as a family we want to worship him as well as we can, and in a way which is informed by the practice and experience of Christians throughout the centuries. Our worship is known as ‘liturgical worship’, which is to say, that we use set forms which allow the entire congregation to take part and follows similar patterns used by other Anglican churches.

The Importance of the Sacraments

Baptism and Holy Communion, which are known as Sacraments, are ‘effectual signs of grace’ which ‘strengthen and confirm’ our faith in God. Both of these were commanded by Jesus and speak to us of his love and grace. Because of this we normally have Communion at the centre of our Sunday morning worship, and regularly baptise, both children and adults, in our services. We welcome Christians from other churches to join us at Communion if this is their normal practice in their home church.

Locally Engaged

God has placed our church family within the community of Padiham and calls on us to love our neighbours, as Jesus commanded in word and deed. As a result, we seek to serve those around us, individually and corporately. We regularly run toddlers groups, life skills groups, groups for those who want to explore the Christian faith, in addition to supporting charities with gifts of time and money, including our local food banks.