The History of Dingwall Baptist Church
Dingwall Baptist Church (DBC) has its origins in a Bible study started on 23rd August 1998 in the home of its founding pastor William Rainey from the USA.
DBC’s first public services were held in Dingwall Community Centre’s coffee bar. Having experienced phenomenal growth, the church moved to Dingwall Town Hall in August 1999, then to Dingwall Primary School in October 2000 and finally into our own premises in Dingwall in March 2003. We sold these premises in 2021 with the express vision of finding a more manageable building in a more prominent position in which to worship and continue our vision to serve our community.
Fellowship and community outreach has always been one of the strongest aspects of our ethos. Over the years we have sought to reach out and serve our community in a variety of ways. This began by running a Play At The Church (PATCH) parent and toddler group some 18 years ago, only setting it down when Covid 19 intervened and we sold the church building. PATCH enabled us to provide a lifeline to parents , grandparents and childminders within our community who met others and shared the ups and downs of parenting while providing a safe place for the children to interact and play together . We were constantly encouraged when people attending the group asked us for prayer.
Around 15 years ago, we also started taking soup and other food to those in need in our community. We developed our vision further by providing a safe place where lonely or marginalised people could meet and feel welcome: Bite n’ Blether a name chosen by our group was born. We were blessed to see many folk benefit from this weekly ministry, knowing that they were loved and accepted just as they were. They in turn were able to often take the food that Bite n’ Blether supplied to share further with their friends as they sought advice and prayer for themselves and their families , Again Covid 19 intervened and the group had to cease meeting although we still maintain these valuable connections.
In 2016, we started hiring our church building to wider secular groups. We were really encouraged to see many of them participate in our community-based work and share in our ethos, e.g. contributing warm winter coats for the homeless, food for Bite n’ Blether, food for our collection to the Dingwall Foodbank and toys for our PATCH group. More recently, we have helped local Syrian Refugees and hosted ‘Weekend Conversations’ at the church to help them learn English. It has been a blessing to see all these various aspects of our ministry help break down barriers and develop trust and acceptance with people in our local communities.
DBC continues its ministry serving the community and developing individuals appreciation and understanding of the God we serve.