Who we are

Bethlehem Baptist is a large community comprising people from all walks of life. We provide a warm welcome to all those seeking to explore God and church life at any level. We encourage people to experience Bethlehem Baptist at 3 levels.

Belong

Like most churches there are different elements that make up the life of our church:

• Celebration. Where we gather together in groups of around 500 for teaching and worship on Sundays at 9am and 10.45am.
• Congregation. Where task-centered, relational focussed groups gather for ministry purposes in numbers between 20 and around 100, e.g. local ministry activities, ministry abroad and BBC L!ve.
• Cell. Where people are known personally, share their lives and seek to develop discipleship and pastoral care.

We find that peoples' experience supports our promise line of "where new hope is born". We therefore encourage you to come as you are and enjoy the teaching and fellowship our congregation offers.

Believe

We hope that during your time with us, you come to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and grow in your relationship with God, and that this leads to baptism as a public acknowledgment of this commitment. We run monthly baptismal sessions if you would like to know more. See our whats on for when the next one is.

Commit

Membership is a step you can take should you choose. It does not preclude you from playing a part in the life of our church. Membership provides a mechanism to declare your commitment to us and enable those in leadership roles to be accountable to the Church. We offer membership orientation evenings during the year.

Want to find out more ?

Our church has adopted a set of Strategic Values to help identify who we are and what we believe.

Our History

Bethlehem Baptist was planted officially by Otumoetai Baptist Church in 1988 and based at Bethlehem Hall. It became a fully functioning Baptist Church in July 1989 under the leadership of Tom & Aileen Frew. 1995 saw Craig & Michaela Vernall join us and under their leadership saw the church continue to grow in health and numbers. In 1994 a process of moving to the current location on Bethlehem Road began which came to full completion in 2000. We are now in the process of further physical expansion to cater for the needs of the community.

Craig, our senior pastor was raised in Tauranga and graduated from Carey Baptist College in 1994. He presently serves the Baptist Union in a leadership capacity on the Baptist Assembly Council (governance team) and is presently part of the Baptist World Alliance, Emerging leaders Network.

Craig is married to Michaela and they have 3 children. Craig has a passion for the outdoors and thoroughly immerses himself in the beauty of this amazing country whenever possible. Family life is very important and as much time as possible is spent with them.

Craig's main responsibilities now fall to leading the team at Bethlehem Baptist which is a significant change from the times of 15 years ago when he was the only person employed by the church.