Introducing Rishangles Baptist Church
Hi and thank you for taking time to visit our website. We are a Christian Church based in the village of Rishangles in Suffolk, which is situated halfway between Debenham and Eye. Each week we hold Sunday Services, in addition to other mid-week meetings and activities. If at anytime you would like to visit us, then you would be most welcome. Our car-park is located at the back of the Church.
Finding Us
Rishangles Baptist Church is situated beside the B1077 at the centre of the main part of the village of Rishangles. If visiting, then both our car-park and main entrance can be located at what appears to be the rear of the church. If you are using a satnav then the Church postcode is IP23 7JZ.
Church History
It has been said that everyone and everything has a story. For Rishangles Baptist Church the story goes back to the late 1700's when preachers would sometimes visit the village of Rishangles and hold open air services. In time this led to other meetings to study the Bible in peoples homes in Rishangles. During the early 1800's some of those who were part of these Bible study groups started meeting together on Sunday's to worship God.
With more and more people attending the Sunday meetings, it was decided to start meeting in a building which was once situated where the Church currently stands. However due to the building only measuring 20 feet wide, by 30 feet in length, the building would in time become too small.
During the 1840's those meeting each Sunday officially recognised themselves as a church. It was also during the 1840's that three further specific steps were taken. Firstly the Church became recognised as a Baptist Church. Secondly a number of Christians from Grundisburgh Baptist Church transferred to the new Rishangles Baptist Church to help support the new church. While thirdly in 1848 the Church appointed it's first pastor.
During the 1850's the church continued to grow in numbers and as a result plans were made to build a new larger Church building on the site of the existing building. So it was that building work was undertaken which was finally completed in 1862. This new Rishangles Baptist Church building, which was at the time officially known as 'Zion Baptist Church', provided a place for folks to worship God at Rishangles in greater numbers. This was especially important since despite the small size of the village of Rishangles, it is believed that during the 1860's over 200 people regularly attended the Church each Sunday, and on some special occasions over 1000 people are thought to have attended.
Although some internal changes took place within the Church, externally much of the Church remained unchanged until 1993. It was then that because of the vision and enthusiasm of those then attending the Church that a planned extension was completed, adding this to the original Church building. Whilst adding more space to the Church, it also added modern facilities such as a kitchen, toilets, and new meeting rooms to the existing worship area and it's balcony.