PAULSGROVE BAPTIST CHURCH
ABOUT PAULSGROVE AND OUR CHURCH
Paulsgrove is a suburb on the northern edge of the city of Portsmouth and as a housing estate was built soon after the Second World War to ease the housing shortage within the city, which had been bombed heavily during the blitz of 1941. Many of the original houses were concrete and steel prefabricated houses which could be erected quickly and easily. A large number of these are still in use today. The estate was built on the site of the old Portsmouth race course, which is remembered in the name of Racecourse Lane. The M27 motorway built in the mid 1970s split the estate in two. The estate design is unusual in that all the services such as shops and schools are to the south of the main road through the estate (Allaway Avenue) with the bulk of the housing to the north.
The population of Paulsgrove is around 15,000. It is a mixture of private and social housing, and has many social and economic problems. Up to 50% of the local area is in the 6 – 10% most deprived areas in England. The other 50% is divided between the 20 – 50% deprived areas of England. (Source: Dept for Communities and Local Government, Indices of Deprivation 2015). It is therefore a needy area with a variety of challenges.
Our Church
Paulsgrove Baptist Church was established through war reparation funding as the Paulsgrove housing estate was developed after World War 2. Its title correctly is Paulsgrove (Kent Street Memorial) Baptist Church, named after a city centre church destroyed in 1941. The earliest buildings were built in 1954, with extensions in the early 1960s, and is a typical concrete and glass building of that era. It consists of two main buildings (the present church sanctuary and a large utility hall, the 1954 original church) with a flat roof section between them which contains a number of smaller rooms used as offices, together with toilets and a recently refurbished kitchen. In 2016 we were able to re-roof all the church buildings through gifts and fund raising.
We are an independent Bible believing and teaching church, with the aim of "Growing lifelong disciples of Jesus Christ by being a Christian, Caring, Community."
We are affiliated to the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (FIEC) and subscribe to their Statement of Faith. We have one regular Sunday service which is held in the morning at 10.30, and are a real 'family' with people from a wide age range and backgrounds.
As well as our Sunday meeting we have a variety of regular and occasional teaching, small group and prayer meetings held at different times to reach as many church members as possible.
We love our local community and seek to serve people in the name of Jesus - whether it's being good neighbours, or through our mercy ministries and schools input.
Our current membership is 38 adults. We also have regular attendance from some families who are not church members. Many of our church members come from within the area of the Paulsgrove estate.
