Health & Safety Policy
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Rosebery Park Baptist Church, 812-814 Christchurch Road, between Boscombe and Pokesdown, Bournemouth, BH7 6DF. Also online.
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Our Morning Service starts at 10.30am.
Our church building is almost exactly opposite the Parkwood Road turning off Christchurch Road, if that helps you to picture where we are!
We are a ten-minute walk from the Boscanova end of the pedestrian area of Boscombe and a five-minute walk from Pokesdown Station. We don’t have our own car park so if you come by car, you’ll need to find parking. It’s usually possible to find a space in the streets behind the church to the north or leading off Parkwood Road to the south. We are on the main bus route along Christchurch Road, including More Buses 1, 1a, 1b, 2, and m2, with Parkwood Road stops, east-bound and west-bound, nearby.
When you arrive you will be met at the door to the entrance foyer by one of our greeters. Wheelchair access is via a door on the left side of the building. If you come in a wheelchair, one of the welcomers will open the side door for you.
There is a disabled access toilet (and baby changing facilities) towards the front of the main church on the left side. This is in addition to a ladies’ toilet and a men’s toilet in the entrance foyer, and another toilet in the adjoining hall.
Hand gel is available in the church. A few members of the congregation continue to wear face coverings but very few continue to observe social distancing or avoid shaking hands.
You will be given an ‘Order of Service’ which is a handout listing what part of the service is happening when, what songs we will be singing, and what Bible verses we will be looking at. Here is an example:
We currently have about 25 to 35 adults attend, and a small number of children. Some people dress smart-casual, others casual – come as you are!
The service starts with an opening prayer and is followed by about twenty minutes of praise and worship (singing). We sing a mix of traditional hymns and more contemporary praise and worship songs to the accompaniment of an organ, keyboard, or guitar. Song words are displayed on a large screen.
On the first Sunday of each month we take Holy Communion, which is where Christians eat a small piece of bread and drink a tiny glass of red grape juice (standing in for wine) as a symbolic and blessed reminder of Christ’s body given for us and Christ’s blood poured out for us. You can read more about this in the Bible, book of Luke, chapter 22, verses 14 to 20.
Children can attend ‘Sunday Fun’ in the adjoining hall or remain in the main church hall where we have some children’s books, colouring books and simple play items. All our children’s workers are DBS checked and have passed their safeguarding training.
Usually the Minister, Simon, gives a sermon, but sometimes it is one of the other church members or a guest speaker. The sermon is about 25 minutes long.
The whole service lasts about an hour. Afterwards, we hope you can stay to join us for teas and coffees, and a chat, in the adjoining hall.
Our Afternoon Service starts at 4pm.
Typically about 15 adults attend this service. It is more informal than the morning service and we have almost entirely contemporary praise and worship songs, rather than hymns, and they are accompanied on the guitar.
As it is a smaller congregation, the talk is usually in a more interactive format. Simon may ask questions and members of the congregation often ask questions which Simon can’t answer.
This service is also about an hour long, sometimes slightly less.
After this service we also have tea, coffee and other refreshments – and in the afternoon service we usually have real coffee!
Here is an example of an Order of Service:
In some of our 4pm service on Sundays we will be showing ‘Alpha’ videos, about aspects of the Christian faith, which are about 25 minutes long, followed by time to discuss and ask questions in small groups. These sessions are due on Sundays in 2023: 16 April; 14 May; 11 June; 9 July; 13 August. Read more about our ‘Alpha’.
You can find us along the Christchurch Road, half way between the Cafe Boscanova end of the Boscombe pedestrian area, and Pokesdown Station.
Sign at the top of Parkwood Road, almost exactly opposite the church.
SAFEGUARDING: Rosebery Park has policies in place to ensure compliance with legal requirements such as safeguarding. All church members working with children have had safeguarding training and are DBS checked.
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Rosebery Park Baptist Church, 812-814 Christchurch Road, between Boscombe and Pokesdown, Bournemouth, BH7 6DF. Also online.
812-814 Christchurch Road, between Boscombe and Pokesdown, Bournemouth, BH7 6DF
Rosebery Park Baptist Church is a community of people who are seeking to follow Jesus Christ. We’re a community, not a building. Admittedly, on the front of our building, in Christchurch Road, Pokesdown, are the words ‘Rosebery Park Baptist Church’. But the building isn’t the church. We – the people – are the church.
(Photo: Rev. Simon Bartlett & Priscilla Bartlett)
We’re the church on Monday as well as on Sunday, and we would be the church if we had no building. We’re quite a mix: young and old, different nationalities and different backgrounds. We’re trying to follow Jesus but none of us is perfect. We have specific beliefs about who Jesus is. Our beliefs are expressed in a formal statement by the Baptist Union of Great Britain. But a very brief expression of our beliefs could be, ‘JESUS: LORD. LOVE. LIFE. HOPE’.
(Photo: Coffee Morning)
We could describe the few hundred metres between the church and Pokesdown Station as the Portobello Road of Bournemouth. There’s a concentration of antique shops selling everything from bric-a-brac to high-class antiques, and a great selection of bakeries, cafés and restaurants. But good as all this is, we hope that at Rosebery Park you will find something of even greater value!
(Photo: Church building)
Rev. Simon Bartlett
Sunday Services 10.30am and 4pm
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Rosebery Park Baptist Church, 812-814 Christchurch Road, between Boscombe and Pokesdown, Bournemouth, BH7 6DF