What do you believe?

The congregation at Hill Park are a Baptist Church. This means that we follow the historical Baptist Tradition as set out in the 1689 Baptist Confession Of Faith. We believe that this document best reflects a summary of the Bible’s teaching, which we uphold.

We have a formal membership of about twenty. All of the members believe the following Doctrinal Basis: 

1. We believe in the divine inspiration, infallibility and inerrancy of Holy Scripture as originally given, and we recognise its sole authority in all matters of faith and practise. 

2. We believe in one God, the Holy Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who are co-equal and co-eternal.

3. We believe in the universal sinfulness of man since the Fall, rendering him guilty in the sight of a Holy God and subject to divine wrath and condemnation. 

4. We believe in the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is holy, righteous, full of grace and love. In His infinite compassion He eternally chose His people in Christ to eternal salvation, holiness and good works.

5. We believe in the Lord Jesus Christ in His true humanity and full deity joined in the Unity of His Person. We believe in His Virgin birth; in His sinless life; in His substitutionary death on the Cross whereby He triumphed over Satan, sin and death; in His bodily Resurrection; in His Ascension into Heaven.

6. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Godhead, whose work is a necessity to make the death of Christ effective to the sinner, to lead him to repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. We believe in His sanctifying and enabling ministry in the believer and in the church.

7. We believe that through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His atoning work, the sinner is freely justified by God. Salvation is therefore by Grace and not by human merit or works.

8. We believe in the personal, visible return of the Lord Jesus Christ for His people and to judge the world, dividing men into the saved and the lost, resulting in the everlasting happiness of the saved and the everlasting punishment of the wicked. We believe that ‘everlasting’ in both cases means eternal and conscious.

9. We believe that Baptism is of divine authority; that none are proper subjects of baptism but true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ; that immersion is the Scriptural mode of baptism; that it portrays the death and resurrection of our Lord, and the resurrection to new life of the believer. (It never automatically conveys regenerate grace).

10. We believe that the Lord’s Supper is a Church Ordinance and that only true believers have a right to partake of it. It is a memorial of our Lord’s death, and a setting forth of our union with Him and with one another, until He comes again. (It is never to be considered a sacrifice of sin nor is there any change in the substance of the bread and wine).

Foodbank

We are a part of Pembrokeshire Foodbank. More information about how you can give or receive support can be found at www.pembrokeshire.foodbank.org.uk .

New Kapporet Christian Helpline

This is a way you can receive help through a listening ear and prayer support: www.newkapporet.org. 

Associating Evangelical Churches of Wales

We associate with like-minded gospel churches throughout Wales: www.aecw.org.uk.

We believe a rightly constituted church has Officers and Members. The Officers are appointed by the Members to help and minister God’s Word. (As explained in Acts Chapter 20 verse 28 and Acts Chapter 6 verses 3-6).

Hill Park currently has a Pastor: Rev. Ian Middlemist and two Deacons: Mr Jonathan Imbrey and Mr Gareth James. 

They are also Trustees of Hill Park as a legal Charity, in law. The Church Charity details and latest Trustees Annual Reports can be accessed on the Charity Commission’s website: www.register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/en/charity-search and search for Hill Park Baptist Church (Independent). The Charity number is:  1144351.

The church members meet four times a year to discuss church matters and to be accountable to each other.  We are often asked about finances. Fundamentally the Church members alone are committed to the good order of the church. The main expense of the church is to appoint a Minister. According to their ability the members of the church “share of all their good things” so that the Minister may have “a comfortable supply” (as taught in 1 Timothy Chapter 5 verses 17-18). But all the churches expenditure is regulated by its members and reported additionally to The Charity Commission. 

We do, however accept gifts from other individuals or organisations. We have a Gift Aid scheme. Please contact us for further information.

The original register of members shows that the first service ever held by the congregation was on January 27th 1856. A number of Welsh speaking families had moved into Haverfordwest and joined Bethesda English Baptist Church. 

Their desire to continue to worship God in their mother tongue, however, led them to hire a house in Back Lane, Prendergast where they held a Welsh language service between 9:30 and 10:45 am before joining the congregation at Bethesda for the 11 am service. 

Amongst the leaders of this group was a Mr James Rowlands, an architect, who spotted the potential for raising a chapel on a site at the bottom of Prendergast Hill. The freehold of the site was purchased and a chapel built, all for the sum of £1400. The building was officially opened in October 1858. 

By 1866, the membership had expanded to 140 from its small beginnings of 18 a decade earlier. Hill Park had also called its first Pastor in 1860 when the Rev. Henry Harries D.D became its minister. Following a further two ministers who stayed for a comparatively short time, Hill Park called the Rev John Jenkins to the pastorate. He ministered from 1871 until his death in 1912. During that period there were a number of changes.

First, the use of Welsh in the services declined as younger people failed to hold on to the language and in 1880 its use at Hill Park was abandoned. Second, as the congregation increased it became necessary to consider building a new chapel on the adjoining site. The foundation stones for the new building were laid on September 12th, 1888. Unfortunately, the builder entrusted with raising the new chapel proved unequal to the task. After the roof was put on, the south wall collapsed and it was discovered that the opposite wall also needed to be demolished. At this point the builder became bankrupt leaving the work unfinished and the chapel liable for the costs of suppliers the builder had not paid. Undeterred, with the debts paid a new builder was appointed and on July 27th 1891 the second chapel was opened. 

Like many other congregations of the time, the period at the beginning of the twentieth century saw an increasing emphasis on music and social gatherings in Hill Park. The central purpose of preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ was thus obscured for a little while but was gloriously recovered during the ministry of Rev. B.J. Allsopp who became the pastor in 1949. 

Prior to his coming the original chapel had been damaged by troops who had been billeted there during the Second World War. Compensation amounting to £255 allowed the repair and redecoration of the building. In the early 1970s the building was further altered but with the development of the basement in the main building in the 1980s the older building became increasingly surplus to requirements. 

Rev. Allsopp’s sixteen and a half years of ministry were followed by those of Rev. Lennard Jones, Rev. Charles Campbell, Rev. Graham Hind and Rev. Dr. Gareth Edwards. Each had a Bible centred ministry that upheld the preaching of the Gospel message of salvation through repentance of sin and faith in Jesus Christ.