Church is first and foremost a community of people gathering together to worship our glorious Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Our meetings generally include worship by singing, the reading of Scripture, prayer, and preaching from the Bible.
Our morning services can have between 70-100 people; whilst our diverse evening services are between 20-30. At both services, fresh fair trade tea and coffee is served.
Since Church is a community, a family, our congregation reflects the diverse age range from the very young to the young at heart! Everyone is gifted by God to help serve and build up the church, and so everyone can find an area of service the Lord has called them to.
As a Baptist Church, we believe in the importance of personal saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and this is primarily expressed through the waters of Baptism.
Of course, many people are on a journey of discovery into the riches and beauty of God. At Barton you will find a warm welcome wherever you are on the journey of discovering this beautiful God we love and worship. So whether you have a little faith or none, come and join us and continue your journey, as we also continue our journey of discovery. Let us journey together, daring to say 'Yes' to God.
In many ways we would each echo the words of the former trader in slaves, John Newton, who famously said,
"I am not what I ought to be ... I am not what I wish to be ... I am not what I hope to be ... Yet ... I am not what I once was ...And by the grace of God, I am what I am."
Also, we are part of the Baptist Union of Great Britain (read the declaration of principle here) and also of the Evangelical Alliance (read the Statement of Faith here) but more importantly than that we are part of the Universal Church of Christ.
Our vision as a church in Torquay is to seek to be a growing community of God's people: Wholeheartedly committed to God, filled with His Spirit and maturing as Jesus' disciples. We seek to be committed to each other in deep and caring fellowship, and committed to our community of which we are a part, in love, service and witness.
To that end we place a strong emphasis on teaching that is solidly based on the Bible, and preaching the word of God. It's through God's word that we find guidance in knowing how to go about doing all the other things we do. It's through the God we find in the Bible that we are enabled to truly be committed to, and serve, each other and our community.