Oxgangs Community Church

Oxgangs Baptists building bridges.

Scottish Baptists are building strong bridges with their local community and bringing people to faith, thanks to a £5,000 grant from the Baptist Insurance Grants Programme.

The donation, part of our programme of giving back all available profits to the Baptist family, has helped Oxgangs Community Church on the outskirts of Edinburgh to staff its ‘Hub’.

The Hub, a former shop rented and refurbished by the church, serves as a community space and outreach centre, serving meals to local people, offering youth and family activities, and much more.

‘Oxgangs is in the top ten per cent most deprived areas in Scotland, and we have high unemployment and issues with crime and drugs, unfortunately associated with that,’ said Pastor Aaron Elder.

‘We opened the Hub in 2023 with a mission to engage with the local people, and the Baptist Insurance grant was vital in allowing us to staff the venue appropriately and helping it to become a really important focal point for the community.

‘We have hundreds of people using the facility every month, for all sorts of purposes – from our Oxtots parent and toddler groups, and film nights, to joining our gardening group or football team, to seeking help with debt and the after-effects of drug addiction or child sexual abuse.

‘It’s open most of the time, whenever a group needs it, like a traditional community centre, and for us it’s basically a home, where everything happens, and where we base all of our groups and activities.’

While the faith message is always there, it isn’t pushed hard – Aaron and his team are happy if people ‘belong before they believe’, but it has borne fruit, with previously unchurched people starting to join services and being baptised.

‘In the eighteen months since the Hub opened, we have had a variety of new folk coming forward to be baptised – last year we had eight, and in the first quarter of 2025 we’ve already had four,’ said Aaron.

‘Others have joined the Alpha course, which arose out of our community meals, and many more are simply starting to attend services. We now have around eighty adults and thirty or forty children and teenagers joining us to worship, most of whom have no history in church. Obviously, that’s very exciting.

‘The support from Baptist Insurance has accelerated and enabled our work, and I can only say a heartfelt thank you. I would certainly encourage other churches throughout the country to apply for a grant.’

Oxgangs Community Church is doing a fantastic job in Edinburgh. This is exactly what the Baptists Insurance Grants Programme is about, putting the money we make back into the Baptist family and helping people to find God.

Anne Bishop, Chair of the Baptist Insurance Grants Committee