Quick links: Vision, Our Story, What We Believe, Leadership Team

We are a dynamic Holy Spirit filled church, made up of people from all walks of life and different nations, joined together by the saving work of Jesus Christ.
We value and pursue the presence of God, knowing He wants to meet with us, through passionate worship, biblical teaching and encouraging one another in our community.
 

Encounter

You are created to walk with and experience God, today. No matter who you are, your past, your current situation, God is inviting you into an incredible relationship with Him.
Through the death and resurrection of His son Jesus we have access to God, our heavenly Father who has sent His Holy Spirit to encourage us and empower on this journey.
 

Equip

Not only has God called you, He has also equipped you. When you step into the love and purpose Jesus has won for you, your life will change radically.

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds[c] and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ...
 

Empower

The last promise Jesus gave us before He returned to the Father was to send His Holy Spirit in power. His resurrection life lives in us and empowers us to bring His Kingdom to earth.

Vision

Advancing the gospel of Jesus by being a Christ-centred church family in which every member is growing in their knowledge, enjoyment and sharing of the love of God through the empowering of the Holy Spirit.

Goals

• To build a family of supportive, authentic believers who passionately pursue Jesus, creating an environment where people feel they belong.
• To cultivate a kingdom culture where we honour Jesus as King by believing and obeying His word.
• To honour, pursue & make space for Holy Spirit, choosing to submit ourselves to His leadership.
• To faithfully steward what we’ve been given, believing that God will pour out His love and power and multiply all we have as He advances His kingdom.
• To create a Kingdom Sanctuary where we actively pursue kingdom activities to facilitate His presence.

Aims

• TO WORSHIP GOD. We want to know God and allow his Fatherly love to capture and transform our hearts and cause a response of love and obedience.We want our meetings to be marked by the enjoyment of the presence of God as we see his greatness and beauty and are caught up in adoration and wonder.

• TO BE A CHRISTIAN FAMILY. We want to be a Christian community knit together by the love of God, accepting one another and committed to one another. We want our unity to be a powerful witness of God's love overflowing in our lives.
   
• TO MAKE DISCIPLES. We want a church full of people who are committed to following Jesus and who, day-by-day, are growing to be more like Him, learning to hear his voice and live and serve in the power that God’s Holy Spirit gives us. 
   
• TO SPREAD GOD’S LOVE. We want to be good news by being involved in our local community in ways that demonstrate God’s love. We also want to proclaim the good news about Jesus Christ in ways that are relevant, understandable, powerful and attractive so that others come into his kingdom. And we want to reach out beyond our local community to touch the needy in other nations.
   

 

Our Story

Greenway Christian Fellowship, Bishop's Lydeard, and Fountainhead Christian Fellowship, Taunton, merged in 1992 and adopted the name Thomas Street Christian Fellowship because their main meeting place was in Thomas Street.
In 1997 the church moved to a new meeting place in the old Marshalsea House near the River Tone (where the Tesco supermarket now stands) and changed its name to Riverside Church.
In 2001, after seeing great favour and financial provision, the church purchased the old telephone exchange in Hamilton Road and kept the name Riverside Church, the name now carrying a spiritual rather than literal significance. For five years, from 2002 until 2007, the church operated an indoor skateboard park, Dreamfields, as a facility for young people of the area.

In 2010 the ground floor hall, formerly the skate park, was renovated and became the main meeting hall for the church. This was done with the help of a grant from Viridor Credits in order to provide a multi-purpose facility that could be used by the local community. The building (known as The Exchange) is now also used by many community groups and some other churches for their meetings.

 

What We Believe

• The one true God who lives eternally in three persons—the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
• The love, grace and sovereignty of God in creating, sustaining, ruling, redeeming and judging the world.
• The divine inspiration and supreme authority of the Old and New Testament Scriptures, which are the written Word of God—fully trustworthy for faith and conduct.
• The dignity of all people, made male and female in God's image to love, be holy and care for creation, yet corrupted by sin, which incurs divine wrath and judgement.
• The incarnation of God’s eternal Son, the Lord Jesus Christ—born of the virgin Mary; truly divine and truly human, yet without sin.
• The atoning sacrifice of Christ on the cross: dying in our place, paying the price of sin and defeating evil, so reconciling us with God.
• The bodily resurrection of Christ, the first fruits of our resurrection; his ascension to the Father, and his reign and mediation as the only Saviour of the world.
• The justification of sinners solely by the grace of God through faith in Christ.
• The ministry of God the Holy Spirit, who leads us to repentance, unites us with Christ through new birth, empowers our discipleship and enables our witness.
• The Church, the body of Christ both local and universal, the priesthood of all believers—given life by the Spirit and endowed with the Spirit's gifts to worship God and proclaim the gospel, promoting justice and love.
• The personal and visible return of Jesus Christ to fulfil the purposes of God, who will raise all people to judgement, bring eternal life to the redeemed and eternal condemnation to the lost, and establish a new heaven and new earth.

For more information please visit the Evangelical Alliance Basis of Faith page.


 

Leadership Team

We believe in and embrace the biblical model of team leadership. Our heart and goal is to empower every single person, encouraging them to walk in their purpose and calling in the kingdom of God.

Our Leadership Team covers 4 core areas:

• Services - Focus our hearts & minds on the pursuit of Holy Spirit and encountering His Presence. We want to create an environment where people want to come by cultivating a culture based on the values and teaching of King Jesus - a Kingdom Culture. We are a family church with a vibrant Kids Ministry currently focused on primary school aged children. We also have a toddlers 'creche' available on a Sunday morning.
   
• Family - We are part of Gods family and our heart is to welcome all to know the incredible love of our heavenly Father. We want to connect, building strong healthy authentic relationships built on trust enabling people to grow and feel that they belong here.
   
• Discipleship - Jesus spent 3 years with 12 Disciples that changed the world. We want to follow His example by teaching, learning and growing in our identity as children of God. We meet regularly in various teams to encourage and empower each other as we follow Jesus.
   
• Outreach - Jesus said "freely you have received so freely you should give" We run local initiatives where we aim to support and connect with our community. We also support a group of churches in Zambia.

  
 

We are part of the Taunton B1 group of churches.

A group of church leaders in Taunton started meeting together for prayer and fellowship in 2003. This grew in depth during 2005 and 2006 to such an extent that the group took on the name of B1 after the prayer of Jesus in John 17:1, “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me."

This group now extends to include 14 church leaders from different backgrounds and denominations united around the common desire to see the Kingdom of God come in Taunton. This group of leaders draws strength and encouragement from the growing relationship between them as they meet to worship, pray, share the word, and fellowship.

The B1 group meets at 7:00am every Wednesday morning and includes leaders from the following churches: Taunton Vineyard, Taunton Baptist, Taunton Family Church, Bathpool Chapel, Creech St. Michael Baptist Church, St. James, All Saints Trull, St. Mary Magdalene, and Living Light Christian Church.

Being part of the B1 group of churches is outworked in the following ways:

• Weekly leaders’ meetings for building relationship, prayer and encouragement
• Occasional joint Sunday meetings
• Regular town-wide prayer meetings
• Outreach and service to the community
• Providing musicians and worship leaders for town-wide events
• Helping to finance initiatives in the region

 

On 16 February 2024 Riverside Church Limited converted to a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO)
The Charity number remains unchanged at 1097758