A church for all
The best way to get to know us is to come along and meet us, but we know that when you go somewhere for the first time, it can help to know a little about what to expect, so here you will find some of the basics.
Our welcome
Here at Stoneygate Baptist, we seek to be a broad and inclusive church, and our aim is to extend a full and warm welcome to everyone, whatever their background, beliefs, sexuality, gender identity, ethnicity, age, health or abilities. We gather for worship and friendship, and we encourage everyone to participate in and contribute to church life as fully as they are able. Everyone is invited to share in communion, and baptism and church membership are open to anyone who professes faith in Christ. We welcome all couples wanting to talk about marriage, and all families who wish to bring children into Christian community through infant dedication. We're not perfect and we don’t have all the answers, so we know we will make mistakes and we won’t always agree with one another, but we are committed to listening and learning and loving. If that sounds like the sort of community you would like to be a part of, we would love to welcome you.
To help people know that we are a place of welcome, in March 2020 we voted to register with Inclusive Church, uniting with their vision which says that: We believe in inclusive church – a church which celebrates and affirms every person and does not discriminate. We will continue to challenge the church where it continues to discriminate against people on grounds of disability, economic power, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, learning disability, mental health, neurodiversity, or sexuality. We believe in a Church which welcomes and serves all people in the name of Jesus Christ; which is scripturally faithful; which seeks to proclaim the Gospel afresh for each generation; and which, in the power of the Holy Spirit, allows all people to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Jesus Christ.
As of April 2023, the church is registered to marry both opposite sex and same sex couples. You can read more about our journey to equal marriage here.
Our services
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Sunday services start at 10:30 and last about an hour. They are normally led by our minister, with members of the congregation providing music and readings. You can expect a mix of traditional hymns and newer songs, with the words printed in books and projected onto a screen. We always have prayers and a reading from scripture, as well as a thought provoking sermon and usually some space for reflection. We celebrate communion together on the first Sunday of the month, and all are invited to take part. Sometimes we worship cafe church style, sharing breakfast and taking the opportunity for more discussion and creativity. When you arrive, you will be offered a copy of our newsheet so you can find out more about our activities, and after the service, you will be invited to stay for refreshments so you can get to know people.
Our building
The church is over one hundred years old, but we have worked to make it as accessible as possible. We have a ramp to improve access at the front of the building, as well as step free access at the side of the building. Inside, the front half of the main church space has chairs laid out in rows, while the back half has chairs around tables, and all of the furniture can be moved to suit access needs. The sanctuary also has a hearing aid loop and sound system installed. At the back of the sanctuary, we have a kitchenette so that refreshments can be served with ease, as well the 'Prayground' with books and activities as a space to play and explore faith. We also have an all gender accessible toilet, including a baby changing unit and a toddler toilet seat.
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Two of the most interesting features of our building are the baptistry, which is built into the platform at the front of the sanctuary and is where we baptise people by full immersion, and the organ, which we affectionately call the little sister of the instrument at De Montfort Hall as they were built by the same organ builder.
Our beliefs
We seek to be a community that encourages thoughtful engagement and embraces a diversity of understandings. However as a Baptist church in membership of Baptists Together, two of our distinctives are believer's baptism and congregational governance.
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The first means is that we baptise people when they choose it for themselves, and we do it by lowering them fully under the water. The early Baptists would have used pools and rivers, in part because being a nonconformist was illegal and so Baptists did not have their own church buildings, but now it is common to see purpose built baptistries like ours. For us, baptism is a deeply significant act which marks a person's commitment to faith. It is usual for the person being baptised to share a little about why they have chosen it, and the congregation prays for them and promises to support them.
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The second means that Baptist churches may appoint ministers, as well as other particular roles such as deacons and elders, but they are led by their members, with all significant decisions taken at the church meeting. Some decisions will be made by taking a vote, but most often they are are made by coming to a consensus through prayerful discussion. This is important to us because it means that everybody who has committed to the church has a voice and can shape its life and ministry. It also means that one Baptist church can be quite different to the next!
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You can learn more about the wider Baptist family by visiting the Baptists Together website, and you can discover some of our recent teaching by visiting our blog.
Our history
Stoneygate Baptist Church was founded in 1901, after a disagreement in another local church led to a number of members leaving. The written records do not say what the disagreement was about, but oral tradition suggests it was concerning the Boer War, with those who formed what was to become Stoneygate Baptist Church being opposed to the conflict. This would certainly be consistent with the church's long history of pacifism and conscientious objection.
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The new congregation originally met at Knighton Public Hall on Clarendon Park Road, now the Leicester Chinese Christian Church, before work began on this building. Services were held in the church hall from October 1913, as that was completed first, and the church building was officially opened in March 1914. The original trust deeds set out how the church was to be governed, but include little in the way of a statement of faith, setting a long tradition of welcoming different understandings.​
A lot has changed since the church was founded, but this has continued to be a a place of worship and fellowship, with a strong heart for peace and inclusion. May that continue for many more years to come!
Our minister
Rev Leigh Greenwood joined us in September 2018, moving to Leicester with her husband and young son, since which time they have been joined by a daughter. She was previously minister-in-training with Revive Baptist Church in Leeds, and has a Bachelor of Divinity from the University of London and a Master of Arts in Theology from the University of Durham. She is passionate about the church being a place of welcome and inclusion and has a particular interest in mental health and wellbeing. She also has a keen interest in the links between theology and popular culture and is an enthusiastic convert to the contemplative and imaginative styles of Ignatian Spirituality. Alongside her role at SBC, Leigh is Baptist chaplain at the Chaplaincy to the University of Leicester, and co-editor of the Baptist Ministers' Journal.