Our Story
Emmanuel Baptist Church began in September 2024, when a small group of us arrived in Exeter to plant a new church. It was a city most of us barely knew — some of our core team had called it home for only a matter of months — and we came with no building, no congregation, and no great plan beyond a simple conviction: a city can never have too many churches that open the Bible and preach the good news of Jesus, week in, week out.
In those early days we were a little huddle. On Sunday evenings we squeezed into a lounge to pray. By the spring of 2025 we were twenty-two; by that summer, nearly thirty-five. By January 2025 we celebrated our second baptism — a first-year university student, baptised outdoors on a bitterly cold and blustery morning, glad to take a public stand for Christ whatever the weather. There have been more baptisms since, in rather kinder conditions.
Before our first year was out we had a happy problem: we kept running out of space. So in September 2025 we moved to Thomas Hall School, a mile up the road, where we still meet.
Today, by God's kindness alone, we are a church family of over fifty members. We span every generation, from university students to those in their ninth decade, and increasingly we span the globe too. Our membership now includes brothers and sisters from South Africa, Brazil, Hong Kong, and beyond. We have even begun, for the first time, to send people out to postgraduate study, to new jobs, to other cities; we do so gladly trusting that the Lord who is building his church in Exeter is building it everywhere else as well.
None of this is our doing. As Paul puts it, "neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth" (1 Corinthians 3:7). Our story, honestly told, is the story of God being kind to a small group of very ordinary people.
And we hope the story is only beginning. In time, we long to see more gospel-preaching churches planted across Devon, Cornwall, and the South West. And we'd love you to be part of it. If you're in Exeter, come and visit us on a Sunday. If you're further afield and want to pray for us or partner with us, we'd love to hear from you.
