Higham Way Baptist Church came into life in 1957 as the result of a vision by the members of Hinckley Baptist Church in 1947 to establish another Baptist church in the growing community of Burbage and thereby ensuring the witness of the Christian gospel
Initially when the ground was chosen to build on, it was on a greenfield site surrounded by open fields, but the rapid growth of house building at the time soon brought new life and communities, as housing estates were created around the church
Initially the first building to be erected was the church hall in 1957. This was followed by the manse. It was intended eventually, to build “the church proper” on the adjacent land at the side of the church hall. This never materialised and so the multipurpose church hall became the center for both worship and community events and has remained so ever since, in many ways reflecting church’s ethos of Worshipping God along with practical action.
In the early years of the church, original members spoke of having to cope with up to 150 children in the Sunday School each week! with relatively few adults to lead them.
Success clearly brings its own challenges! But that generation were faithful and rose to their calling to serve God in this ministry. In the 1960’s Higham Way was one of the first churches in the area to open up a “playgroup” for preschool children!
Throughout the years children and young people’s ministry have played a large part of the church’s life, whether that’s Sunday School, youth clubs, or taking part in the local carnival floats etc. For many years we ran very successful holiday Bible clubs in the summer.
Sadly, social changes and attitudes have taken a lot of young families and their children away from the church and we no longer have any children attending our Sunday services, though we would dearly love to see this change.
In the late 1980’s Higham Way played a pivotal role in responding to the collapse of the communist regime in Romania under President Ceausescu. The church served as a hub for receiving and packing, sending lorry loads of donations for the Romanian church and was a catalyst for volunteers from many different churches to go out from Higham Way to Romania on numerous occasions.
In the 1990’s the church sold the adjacent land and with the help of the then Baptist Men’s Movement, built a sheltered housing complex for the over 55’s. Today, church members hold a very popular coffee morning on Fridays in their lounge and through friendly conversations and refreshments they minister to the pastoral needs of the residents.
For many years we ran a successful “Luncheon club” where people would come each week for a hot meal and fellowship. This continued until the late 1990’s when changes in social care along with a lack of volunteers brought things to a close. However, the idea of the church being at the center of the community, was revitalised by the introduction of the local authority’s “warm spaces initiative” following the Covid pandemic
At the same time, the playgroup, who used the church premises four days a week decided to close. Perceiving this then as a God given opportunity to use the building exclusively for “His kingdom purposes, the church responded by offering itself to become a “Warm welcome space” for the community. Initially we ran coffee mornings on Tuesdays, alongside a community food pantry. The success of these meetings has since led to the church offering free hot meals twice a month.
Soon after, we started our own toddlers group called “Seedlings” on a Wednesday morning and relationships with children, parents and carers are growing. At around the same time some church members started a craft group called “Crafty Cuppa” that meets on Thursday mornings, and they are developing good relationships with those who attend
It’s clearly a difficult exercise to reduce a narrative of nearly 70 years of history into a few paragraphs, brevity demands that that you choose only certain events. However, events are only part of the church’s narrative. At the heart of this story are the dear friends, too numerous to mention, who were faithful disciples of Jesus, and who in times past committed themselves to see the church and the community flourish through the Kingdom of God. It is these unsung heroes who contributed their time, goodwill and gifting, that has enabled each new generation to build on their labours.
Ultimately the presence of the church here at Higham Way, stands as a witness for the worship of Almighty God, exclusively through his Son the Lord Jesus Christ. The history of this church remains a testament to the ongoing influence, provision and support of the Holy Spirit, guiding successive generations to minister the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ to an ever-changing society.
May God’s grace, mercy and peace, continue to be present in the church’s future, enabling us all to serve both Him and the community around us, with the eternal, life changing gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord.