We are a diverse group of people seeking to express our faith in Jesus together in central Christchurch. People of all ages are involved in the church, and in recent years more and more are living close by, although many travel from across the city when we meet. On a Sunday we gather for worship where singing, praying, reading scripture and preaching all take place. We are trying to grow in our sense of community and to serve a recovering city that was partially destroyed by major earthquakes in 2010-2011.

While OTBC has more than 160 years of history as a congregation, we are embracing a lot of change while valuing the strengths of our past. This means we sing classical hymns as well as recent songs, and make reference to the major seasons of the church year such as Advent, Lent and Pentecost. We also value Baptist strengths such as ‘freedom of conscience’ and the ‘priesthood of all believers’. We wish we were as radical as our forebears were and maybe one day we will be!

We usually have two services on a Sunday: one at 10.00am, with morning tea about 10.30am, and an International Service at 2.00pm followed by afternoon tea. On the first Sunday of the month we combine together at 10.00am and celebrate communion together. We don’t ask visitors to identify themselves by standing up or wearing a name tag! You’ll be welcome to join us and get a feel for who we are and what we are like as God’s people in this place.