- Charlotte Baptist Chapel
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Charlotte Chapel is a church in Rose Street in central Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. Though calling itself a Baptist Chapel, it is in reality an independent church and is not a part of the Baptist Union of Scotland, which is the official denominational body of Baptists in Scotland.
Contents
History
The church was established in January 1808, when Christopher Anderson, a young Edinburgh businessman, began evangelical work in the Pleasance area of the city. By 1816 his Pleasance church was too small, and he bought Charlotte Chapel, recently vacated by the Scottish Episcopal Church, who had moved to St John's Church, on Princes Street. The original building seated 750. Anderson was pastor until 1851. Membership peaked at 232 in 1873, although many more attended services. Membership began to fall due to emigration, and by 1901 the church had no minister and only a small congregation. Joseph Kemp, of Hawick, was appointed pastor, and began a revival, holding open-air meetings in Princes Street. Membership rose once more and in 1907 plans for a new building were prepared. The present church was opened in 1912, at a cost of £7,250, with seating for exactly 1000. The only alteration was the creation of a lounge in 1984.
Senior Pastors of Charlotte Chapel
- W. Graham Scroggie (1916 - 1933)
- J. Sidlow Baxter (1935 - 1953)
- Gerald Griffiths (1954 - 1962)
- Alan Redpath (1964 - 1968)
- Derek Prime (1969 - 1987)
- Peter Grainger (1992 - 2009)
- Paul Rees (2009 - date)
Worship
There are two services every Sunday, the first one at 11:00am and the second one at 6:30pm.
Building
The church building has 5 floors. In the basement is an area usually used for babysitting during worship, toilets can also be found here. There is a meeting room on the first floor with a small kitchen. The main worship hall and the balcony are on second and third floors. The fourth floor is used as another meeting room.
Belief
The doctrinal basis [1] of Charlotte Baptist Chapel is the fundamental truths of Christianity, as revealed in Holy Scripture, including:
- There is one God in three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
- God is sovereign in creation, revelation, redemption and final judgement.
- The Bible, as originally given, is the inspired and infallible Word of God. It is the supreme authority in all matters of belief and behaviour.
- Since the fall, the whole of humankind is sinful and guilty, so that everyone is subject to God's wrath and condemnation.
- The Lord Jesus Christ, God's incarnate Son, is fully God; he was born of a virgin; his humanity is real and sinless; he died on the cross, was raised bodily from death and is now reigning over heaven and earth.
- Sinful human beings are redeemed from the guilt, penalty and power of sin only through the sacrificial death once and for all time of their representative and substitute, Jesus Christ, the only mediator between them and God.
- Those who believe in Christ are pardoned all their sins and accepted in God's sight only because of the righteousness of Christ credited to them; this justification is God's act of undeserved mercy, received solely by trust in him and not by their own efforts.
- The Holy Spirit alone makes the work of Christ effective to individual sinners, enabling them to turn to God from their sin and to trust in Jesus Christ.
- The Holy Spirit lives in all those he has regenerated. He makes them increasingly Christlike in character and behaviour and gives them power for their witness in the world.
- The one holy universal church is the Body of Christ, to which all true believers belong.
- The Lord Jesus Christ will return in person, to judge everyone, to execute God's just condemnation on those who have not repented and to receive the redeemed to eternal glory.
About
Charlotte Chapel has several 'daughter' churches:
- Niddrie Community Church in the Niddrie area of Edinburgh.
- Wester Hailes Baptist Church (founded 1971)
- Barnton Baptist Church (founded 1986)
External links
Categories:- Churches in Edinburgh
- Religious organizations established in 1808
- Category B listed buildings in Scotland
- Listed buildings in Edinburgh
- Baptist churches in Scotland
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