About Us

Our vision

Our vision is to be a church that is "pointing people to Jesus and helping people to be equipped for Life."

We believe that Jesus has come to give LIFE in all its fullness! (excitement, beauty, diversity and goodness). We want to live that life and invite others to join with us as we seek to see his life transform our town and county

Our mission has three dimensions:

1. To help people FIND LIFE - through renewed relationship with their creator Jesus Christ. The Upward Dimension
2. To help people GROW IN LIFE - through discipleship, leadership development, fellowship and worship. The Inward Dimension
3. To help people SHARE LIFE - through pastoral care, community service, evangelism and overseas mission. The Outward Dimension

STATEMENT OF FAITH

What we believe:-

WE BELIEVE that the Bible is God’s Word. It is accurate, authoritative and applicable to our everyday lives.

We believe in one eternal God who is the Creator of all things. He exists in three Persons: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. He is totally loving and completely holy.

We believe that sin (wrong doing) has separated each of us from God and his purpose for our lives, but also that God has a rescue plan to save us.

We believe that the Lord Jesus as both God and man is the only One who can reconcile us to God. He lived a sinless and perfect life, died on the cross to take the punishment we deserve, rose again to prove his victory and empower us for life.

We believe that in order to receive forgiveness and the ‘new birth’ we must repent of our sins, believe (trust) in the Lord Jesus Christ, and submit to his will for our lives.

We believe in baptism by full immersion in water following conversion as an act of obedience to the command of Jesus.

We believe that God wants us to be filled with the Holy Spirit for enablement and empowerment of Christian service. The Holy Spirit enables us to use spiritual gifts, to carry out His work, in His strength and for His glory.

We believe that God has individually equipped us so that we can successfully achieve his purpose for our lives, which is to worship God, fulfil our role in the Church, and serve the community in which we live by sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ.

We believe that Jesus comes to give life. Jesus said, 'the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.' (John 10:10).

We believe that everyone will spend eternity in either one of two destinations, with God in his new Heaven and earth or separated forever from God in the lake of fire that was originally prepared for The Devil and his angels. Our eternal destiny is determined by our response to the Lord Jesus Christ’s offer of salvation, by either accepting him or rejecting him.

History

The history of Wick Baptist Church

The people of Wick Baptist Church first started meeting in a loft in Kirk Lane in 1806. Twenty years later the church re located to rooms above Bows Baker Shop in the old High Street. Due to continued growth the church moved again, in 1865, to a new building in Union Street, and this is where the fellowship worshipped during most of its lifetime.

However, because of structural faults in this building it was necessary to move again and, in 1997, when the Rev Angus Morrison was pastor, the whole church took what has been described as a huge leap of faith in purchasing the old Central Church of Scotland building in Dempster Street.

This building had been empty since it closed its doors in October 1990, when the congregation of Wick Central Church was united with St Andrew’s Church in Argyll Square to form Pulteneytown and Thrumster Church. After seven years of lying empty the building was in need of costly repairs to the roof and extensive renovation inside. The Baptist Church’s building fund at the time stood at only £12,000. However, within a year the funds had risen to over £135,000.

The congregation of just over 50 members had indeed acted in faith and just over a year after receiving the keys, on June 6, 1998, the newly-refurbished building was dedicated to God by the Rev Bill Slack, president of the Baptist Union of Scotland. Improvements to the building have been ongoing ever since and state-of-the-art audio and visual equipment has been installed recently.

However, the church is about something much more important than the building.

In the new millennial the membership rose to 60 members with attendances of up to 100 people, including children, fairly normal on most Sunday mornings. Since its early days the church has benefited from excellent pastoral care through the ministers that have served there.

The church was born at a time of revival in the North of Scotland. Much of the foundation work for this is credited to two brothers, James and Robert Haldane. God blessed James’s work here in Caithness from 1797 to 1805 but his brother Robert founded The Society for Propagating the Gospel at Home in Edinburgh in 1797.

This evangelistic mission was to touch the whole of Caithness bringing, as it has been described, “one of the greatest revivals the North has ever seen”.

Those who gathered in Kirk Lane 200 years ago were known as Anabaptists due to their belief in adult baptism by full immersion following profession of faith in Jesus Christ. The church still holds these beliefs as a basis for faith.

There were other times of revival to touch Caithness in the church’s history. Perhaps most notably was that of the 1920s when the ministry in singing and preaching of Jock Troupe, of the Salvation Army, saw churches, including Wick Baptist Church, and places like the Braehead and Market Square in Wick, packed out. It cannot be denied that the church as a whole in this country has declined in numbers since those days but many believe there are signs of change.

Methods of outreach have changed much since the days of the Haldane brothers or Jock Troupe. The church nowadays has to adapt and be flexible in its methods of outreach, although not in its message of the Gospel.

Most new converts and members to the church in recent times have come through an Alpha Course. Interested people gather together in homes and enjoy a meal, after which they watch a video and questions pertaining to the meaning of life are, hopefully, answered.

Since 1806, Wick Baptist Church has seen many changes. Buildings have changed, methods of outreach have changed and people have changed. The church was vacant for 3 years after the retirement of Bill Ferguson in 2017. However, Matt Alexander was inducted as pastor in August 2020 and we look forward with anticipation to what God will do among us through his ministry. We trust that, by his Grace, the Lord will ensure that this 'Wick' will continue to burn brighter and brighter and show many people the way to Jesus Christ and to eternal life.