We are ordinary people from a variety of backgrounds who have been blessed with the extraordinary privilege of knowing Jesus Christ the Son of God who has saved us from our sin and is transforming us by the power of His Spirit working in us. He has given us new life and a blessed hope that fills our hearts with joy and peace.
Jesus commands us to tell everyone the good news that whoever believes on Him will be saved and so we make it our aim to share this good news with everyone we can through our preaching and through the witness of our lives as we seek to live in obedience to His Word.
As a Church we preach the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. The Bible is the inspired Word of God and is our sole authority for what we believe and how we should live.
The Bible teaches that the Church is the body of Christ and that believers are members of His body. We have become children of God by adoption and through the new birth and are now members of His family. Jesus commanded us to love one another just as He loved us and so we seek to demonstrate the love of Christ in our lives and in our Fellowship.
Ian was born in 1958 in Bolton, Lancashire and by the grace of God came to saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as a teenager through the ministry of the Sunday School and Young People’s Fellowship in the local Church his parents “sent him to” as a child.
It was not until he was in his twenties however, that the Lord brought him into a deeper experience of the Holy Spirit. As a result of this there came a deeper love for the Lord and a greater desire to know His Word and to obey it. Soon after this Ian was baptised in water by full immersion on confession of his faith and in obedience to God’s Word.
Following this Ian began preaching, first in the open air in Bolton town centre and from time to time in the Church he now attended with his wife Gillian and young daughter Lydia. The Lord gradually opened up opportunities for Ian to preach and teach God’s Word in other places too. The call of God to preach and to serve Him more fully came in time and eventually this led to Ian leaving his former career in design and advertising to attend Bible College full time for three years. On graduating from Bible College Ian and Gillian were led to Chorley where Ian has served as pastor since 1994. They have two daughters and five grandchildren.
Evangelism has always been at the heart of Ian’s ministry and he has been involved in open-air Gospel preaching for many years. Ian’s main ministry within the Church is in Bible teaching which usually takes the form of expository verse for verse, passage for passage preaching through entire books of the Bible. Currently Ian is preaching through Ephesians on Sunday mornings and Genesis at the mid-week Bible Study. Ian has also had a keen interest in Bible Prophecy for many years and is currently preaching a series of messages on Sunday evenings entitled “Perilous Times, God’s Word for Today” in which he discusses the events of our time in the light of Scripture, particularly the prophetic scriptures.
We believe that the Bible (i.e. the Old and New Testaments excluding the Apocrypha), is the inspired Word of God, the infallible, all sufficient rule for faith and practice (2 Tim. 3:15-16; 2 Peter 1:21).
We believe in the unity of the One True and Living God who is the Eternal, Self-Existent "I AM", Who has also revealed Himself as One being co-existing in three Persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Deut. 6:4; Mark 12:29; Matt 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14).
We believe in the Virgin Birth, Sinless Life, Miraculous Ministry, Substitutionary Atoning Death, Bodily Resurrection, Triumphant Ascension and Abiding Intercession of the Lord Jesus Christ and in His personal, visible, bodily return in power and glory as the blessed hope of all believers (Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:23; Heb. 7:26; 1 Pet. 2:22; Acts 2:22, 10:38; 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 9:12; Luke 24:39; 1 Cor. 15:4; Acts 1:9; Eph. 4:8-10; Rom. 8:34; Heb. 7:25; 1 Cor. 15:22-24, 51-57; 1 Thess. 4:13-18; Rev. 20:1-6).
We believe in the fall of man, who was created pure and upright, but fell by voluntary transgression (Gen. 1:26-31, 3:1-7; Rom. 5:12-21).
We believe in salvation through faith in Christ, who, according to the Scriptures, died for our sins, was buried and was raised from the dead on the third day, and that through His Blood we have Redemption (Titus 2:11, 3:5-7; Rom. 10:8-15; 1 Cor. 15:3-4). This experience is also known as the new birth, and is an instantaneous and complete operation of the Holy Spirit upon initial faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. (John 3:5-6; James 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:23; 1 John 5:1).
We believe that all who have truly repented and believed in Christ as Lord and Saviour are commanded to be baptised by immersion in water (Matt. 28:19; Acts 10:47-48; Acts 2:38-39).
We believe in the baptism in the Holy Spirit as an enduement of the believer with power for service, the biblical evidence of which is the speaking with other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance (Acts 1:4-5, 8, 2:4, 10:44-46, 11:14-16, 19:6).
We believe in the operation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of Christ in the Church today (1 Cor. 12:4-11, 28; Eph. 4:7-16).
We believe in holiness of life and conduct in obedience to the command of God (1 Pet. 1:14-16; Heb. 12:14; 1 Thess. 5:23; 1 John 2:6).
We believe that deliverance from sickness, by Divine Healing is provided for in the Atonement (Isa. 53:4-5, Matt. 8:16-17, James 5:13-16).
We believe that all who have truly repented and believe in Christ as Lord and Saviour should regularly participate in Breaking of Bread (Luke 22:14-20; 1 Cor. 11:20-34).
We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men, the everlasting conscious bliss of all who truly believe in our Lord Jesus Christ and the everlasting conscious punishment of all whose names are not written in the Book of Life (Dan. 12:2-3; John 5:28-29, 1 Cor. 15:22-24; Matt. 25:46; 2 Thess. 1:9; Rev. 20:10-15).
