100 Years of Milton Baptist Church

From Salisbury Road to Baytree Road

The first evening service took place in Salisbury Road on 15 August 1926, led by Rev Herbert Drake of Clarence Park with support from Wadham Street and Bristol Road Baptist churches. Morning worship followed the next week, and the mission grew into a community church.

In the early decades Clarence Park and lay pastors including Mr Lawrence and Norman Finney supported the fellowship. The congregation outgrew Salisbury Road, bought the Baytree Road site in 1933 and opened a new church there in January 1938. John Dyer built it for £3,280.

MBC became an independent Baptist church in 1950, with Rev William Hitchcock as its first pastor after independence. A 1965 extension made more room for church life, while Sunday School grew so strongly that Junior Church moved into the Sunday morning service in 1972.

The old building was taken down in 1998 and the congregation worshipped at Worle School during redevelopment. MBC returned after Easter 1999. Through every change of place and programme, the church's calling to worship, share the good news of Jesus and serve its community has remained.

The Monday Ladies' Meeting, begun in 1931, is one example of the faithful relationships that have carried MBC's life across the generations.