The Reformed Baptist Study Centre exists to serve the church from the riches of Baptist history and theology, to strengthen her understanding of Scripture, history and theology within the Reformed, confessional and Baptist tradition.
Its purpose is not only to preserve our heritage, but to cultivate rigorous scholarship and faithful teaching for the ongoing reformation of faith and practice in the life of the church today.
We believe that the health of the church depends upon her grasp of the whole counsel of God, the full breadth of divine truth as revealed in Scripture and confessed through the ages.
Our task, therefore, is to foster serious study that bridges academic theology and the local church, equipping believers and leaders to think deeply, teach faithfully and live confessionally.
The Centre serves the local church as its priority, while also contributing to the wider church, seeking to build up Christ’s people through truth that informs, transforms and reforms.
At its heart, the Centre stands on the firm ground of the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith (1677/89). This Confession, which is the fruit of the Reformation’s maturity and the Puritan desire for fidelity to Scripture, embodies a theology that is biblical, catholic and reformational.
Our work honours the stream from which it flows: the apostolic church, the Church Fathers, the faithful medievals, the Reformers, the Puritans and the Baptists who laboured to confess the same truth in their time.
Biblical: Ruled in all things by the teaching of Scripture
Reformed: Rooted in the doctrine and practice of the Reformation.
Confessional: Grounded in the doctrinal heritage of the Second London Confession.
Historical: Drawing from the wisdom of the saints through the ages to enrich the present.
Ecclesial: Working with churches, pastors and institutions to promote theological maturity.
Scholarly: Encouraging careful research and academic excellence in service of the church.
The Centre’s work is multi-dimensional. It is academic in discipline, pastoral in concern and ecclesial in purpose.
We pursue our mission through: Lectures, courses and conferences exploring the history and theology of the Reformed and Baptist tradition. Research, mentoring, supporting both emerging and established scholars, academic partnerships for serious students of theology and church history. Resources designed to serve the broader church.
The Reformed Baptist Study Centre continues the spirit of endeavours like the Hanserd Knollys Society, which sought to recover early Baptist writers marked by:
“a holy attachment to ‘the truth as it is in Jesus’; clear and pungent exhibitions of the word of life; an uncompromising adherence to the scriptures as the rule of doctrine, practice, and ecclesiastical organization and discipline; and finally, a fearless following of their convictions, derived from the divine oracles.”
We share their conviction that genuine reformation requires more than the study of history, it demands a living confession of truth by the people of God.
To unite faithful scholarship with confessional conviction, recovering the riches of the church’s theological and historical heritage for the benefit of pastors, students and congregations, that the church might be strengthened in the whole counsel of God.
Though born from the Reformed Baptist heritage that took deep root in Britain, the Study Centre’s vision extends globally.
It seeks to serve all who share this confession, wherever Christ is confessed and his Word is loved, through research, study and the cultivation of sound doctrine for generations to come.
We believe in the importance of in-person meetings and seek to host events throughout the United Kingdom.