Our Mission
Our mission is to lead people to a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, and to help them grow in their faith through Bible-centered teaching, prayer, and fellowship. We seek to serve our community through acts of love and compassion, and to share the hope of the gospel with those who do not yet know Jesus. We desire to be a light in the darkness, and to use our resources and talents to further God’s kingdom in New Zealand and beyond.
Our Vision
Our vision is to be a community of believers who are deeply rooted in the Word of God and passionately committed to sharing the love of Jesus with those around us. We long to see lives transformed by the power of the gospel, and to see our church be a beacon of hope and a place of belonging for all who come through our doors. As we seek to follow Jesus, we desire to grow in our love for God and for one another, and to use our gifts and resources to serve our community and the world.
Our Values
Christ-Centered
We look to Jesus as our example for all things we do and say and apply scripture for teaching, correcting and training.
Belonging
We invite and welcome all people to do faith and life together. We regularly gather as a whānau to learn, grow and celebrate.
Spirit-Led
We are committed to individual and collective devotion to God.
Generosity
We choose to be a blessing to others with our time, resources and talents.
Missional
We believe that people who don’t know Jesus matter to God and to us, so we share our faith with an outward focus.
Authentic
We strive to be Christ-like in character and genuine in our interaction with others.
Our Faith
We believe the Bible is the only infallible, reliable and authoritative written word of God. We believe in only one God, eternally existent in three persons; God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
Meet Our Team
At Bethlehem Baptist Church, our Ministry Teams play a vital role in fostering a vibrant and engaged church community. Reflecting our commitment to shared leadership, these teams focus on specific aspects of church life, such as worship, outreach, and discipleship.
Our History
Bethlehem Baptist Church started in The Bethlehem Hall in 1988 under the leadership of evangelist Tom Frew and his wife Aileen. This small group of people spent a number of years meeting in the Te Puna hall before making the change to Bethlehem.
The church grew and developed networks into the local community and established a very confident overseas ministry partnership with YWAM Marine Reach. These early days were exciting as God began to fill the noisy old hall with new believers.
In 1995, Craig & Michaela Vernall came from Carey Baptist College upon Tom Frews retirement. (Tom in fact spent another 15 years in full time ministry and is now retired and in his 80’s)
The church continued to grow in size. In 2000, a church building was first built on Bethlehem Rd – and when completed, the 366 people who were part of the church moved into the new premises. Over the years the church continued to grow with different building projects being entered into as the need arose.
Bethlehem Baptist has always been blessed with passionate people who want to spend their lives in valuable service for Jesus. Over the years we have had hundreds of people enjoy seeing Jesus touch people’s lives through the different ministries.
Bethlehem Baptist has always had a high focus upon families and children. The commitment made to young people has always been a priority with our weekend and mid week programs.
And as the church has grown, there’s been the ability to identify and serve different needs and ministry opportunities both locally and overseas. This website will show you more about these ministries.
Some of the larger events on our calendar have been the Night Before Christmas and the Easter Journey which have introduced thousands of people to the message of Jesus.
We at BBC know we are a blessed people. As the Lord told Abraham in Genesis 12. “We are blessed to be a blessing.” We hope our church community will be a blessing to you.