On Saturday 27 June the church at Radcliffe Road Baptist Church (RRBC) met with invited friends from other churches to give thanks for Geoff and Maggie King’s 30 years of ministry in Bury, Greater Manchester.
In 1985 Geoff and Maggie left Derby Road Grace Baptist Church, Watford, to re-plant a small and fading work in Bury. Along with David and Laura Higham from Wigan, Geoff and Maggie were supported in this work by their sending churches and by the Grace Baptist Mission.
After the first five years of the replant, the growing church called Geoff to be its pastor. On Saturday the church gave thanks to God for the many conversions and spiritual growth under Geoff’s ministry, and Geoff and Maggie’s loving and faithful pastoral care of both the saved and unsaved down through the years.
In his very helpful ‘core business’ type message, Malcolm McGregor, former pastor of Peel Street Baptist Church, Accrington, preached from 2 Timothy 4:7 ‘I have kept the faith’. Malcolm reminded us that ‘the faith’ is not something we should ever meddle with – it is God’s message revealed to us. It is our responsibility to keep, defend and energetically proclaim this faith down through the years. The church in Bury has been blessed with a pastor who has done this for the last three decades. One of the unmistakeable features of Geoff’s ministry has been a consistent evangelistic and missional emphasis.
New pastor
The weekend 27-28 June marked Geoff’s final weekend as pastor of RRBC Bury. In the past Geoff has served as President of Grace Baptist Mission (GBM) and his intention is to continue as a member of GBM Council. After a six month sabbatical Geoff will be rejoining the active eldership in the New Year, God willing. The church has called one of its other elders, Clive Bullock, to take on the pastorate/lead teaching role from October.
