Community Recognition for Bramley Baptist Church

Revd Paul Greenin at number 11

Revd Paul Greenin, minister of Bramley Baptist Church, Leeds writes:

Every now and then an opportunity to have an experience of a lifetime comes along. This was one of them.

I recently unexpectedly received an invitation to attend a reception at No. 11 Downing Street, for community leaders in Rachel Reeves’ constituency where Bramley Baptist Church is located. At first I thought it was from a Prince in a far-flung, little known place but it turns out it was genuine!

We are a small church of around 30 members so these things don’t happen very often but it was wonderful to have our mission recognised in this way.

We run a toddler group called Stay and Play. We have events in the community during the year with Churches in Bramley, when we celebrate Good Friday and have a summer Fun Day which attracts a large number in Bramley. I do a number of collective worship events with the school next door to our church building. We had a good Christmas with a Carols by Candlelight being well attended. But we struggle to do more. So to get this invitation was delightful.

It turned out to be a great event and I enjoyed the privilege very much. There were about 30 community representatives from South West Leeds and Pudsey. It was an excellent opportunity to network with other leaders.

I will always remember the time a small church leader got to go to No.11 Downing Street.