RRBC History

The first churches in Bury were the Parish Church of St Mary’s (Church of England) which dates back to before the year 1000, and later what was then a Presbyterian church on Bank Street/Silver Street built in 1719, which traces its origins back to the ministry of Puritan Henry Pendlebury (d. 1695). In 1790, it is thought that a group of Trinitarian Christians left the Bank Street Church which had become Unitarian in its teaching. They left to form what became New Road Independent Church (Congregational), which later led to the formation of Bethel Independent church on Henry Street (1804).   

There had been Baptist churches across the country since the 1600s, including churches in Lancashire at Manchester, Warrington, Newchurch and Goodshaw. Before 1835, there were no Baptist churches in Bury, and so local Baptist believers would travel to places such as Bacup, Liverpool or Manchester to hear preaching. Later, they began to meet in a schoolroom, which in 1804 was shared with what would become Bethel Independent church. One such Baptist was Richard Lord. When Richard Lord died in 1821, Baptist preacher William Gadsby preached at Bethel Independent church. When a second Baptist chapel was opened on Hope Street in Rochdale in 1810, some Bury Baptists began to attend.

In March 1835, Hope Baptist Chapel in Rochdale released twelve Bury-based members to form a church in Bury. Initially meeting in a schoolroom, they bought land in Freetown, where they built a chapel and a chapel house which was opened in October 1836. The Sunday school was started at the same time and by 1868 there were 147 pupils. In 1886 the Sunday school building was added to the church. By the end of the century Providence Baptist Chapel had had 4 pastors and had grown into a strong and flourishing work. One such pastor was Robert Moxon, who served until his death in 1906.  

In the following 80 years there was only one pastor and the work declined almost to extinction. By 1980 the congregation consisted of 16 adults and 8 children, the building was in a state of disrepair and maintenance impossible. Some felt it was time to close the doors but a few others had a vision of relocating and rebuilding. In 1981 the building was sold. The congregation struggled to meet, then in 1983 the old school kitchens in Radcliffe Road were purchased and the first service was held there on 12th August with 12 people.

The church struggled on for another three years, in 1986, time and money were running out, but in answer to much prayer two men, Geoff King from Watford and David Higham from Wigan, felt the call to come to Bury and so began the pioneer work known as “The Bury Project”. After five years God had so blessed the work that the church was in a position to support a full-time pastor. Youth work and a toddlers group were well established, the congregation was growing and the impossible was beginning to be possible. As the church approached the millennium it had really outgrown the use of the old school kitchens which were no longer fit for purpose. The church decided, in dependence upon the Lord, that a new building was needed.

In 2004 the new church building was opened and at the Open Day on 4 December over 500 people from the local area visited to see displays of various activities and join in the fun. A few weeks later, the building was filled with over 200 people met together to worship and to give God thanks for the opening of a new chapter in the ongoing story of his goodness to the church.

Clive Bullock served as minister from 2015 to 2021, taking over from Geoff King. 

On 1 July 2021 Russell Phillips started as the new minister.