Talk:Hillhead Baptist Church/version 2

Hillhead Baptist Church is a Baptist church in the west end of Glasgow, Scotland. It was admitted to the Baptist Union of Scotland in 1883. The church building opened in 1883. LINK It has operated for over 125 years, one of 164 active Baptist churches in Scotland in the early twenty-first century. LINK

External features include prominent Greek columns, casement windows, and a triple-doorway front access, with doors by tradition painted sky blue. Internal features include a columned gallery and two levels of seating. It was designed by architect Thomas Lennox Watson (1850-1920), of Glasgow, one of several Baptist churches built in the city during the late nineteenth century.

Historic Scotland designated Hillhead Baptist Church a Category B preserved building in 1970.

Geography
Hillhead Baptist Church is located at 53 Creswell Street, Hillhead, Glasgow, Scotland, KA19 7DN. Reflecting the church’s corner location on Creswell and Cranworth streets the church's address sometimes shows as '53 Creswell Street and 30 Cranworth Street.'

The church's National Grid Reference (NGR) is NS 56742 67139, Canmore ID is 203792 and Site ID is NS20NE 60. Its coordinates are 256742, 667139. The church is marked on Google maps and UK streetmap.

The church is 1km from the Kelvingrove Art Museum. Other active Baptist churches to the south of Glasgow include Ayr Baptist Church, Thomas Coates Memorial Baptist Church and Maybole Baptist Church in Ayrshire.

History
19th century It is estimated new Christian congregations in Scotland increased from a handful mid-nineteenth century to 184 assemblies in southern Scotland by 1900. Hillhead was part of this trend. The setting for Hillhead Baptist Church further benefited from the new Baptist Union for Scotland, formed in 1869, fourteen years before the church opened and flourishing missionary work in the expanding British Empire.

By 1891 the church already had an established congregation including commercially active and prosperous merchants. The River Clyde was an active commercial and shipbuilding area in the nineteenth century. This was significant because Baptist churches in Scotland attracted commercially active and middle class congregations.

Early 20th century XXX

Great War (1914-18) The church response to the outbreak of war was significant. Within 1914-15 period, over a hundred male members of the congregation volunteered for military service, including most of the church's Sunday School teachers.

Interwar era (1918-1939) XXX Post World War 2 (1945 - ) During the 1950s, members of Hillhead Baptist Church were prominent in hosting visiting New Zealand clergyman Lloyd Crawford, a visiting New Zealand clergyman. During this visit the church facilitated contact between Crawford and the American evangelist Billy Graham, leading to Billy Graham's visit to New Zealand later in the 1950s.

Although congregations declined from the 1930s peak some modest increase in attendance at Baptist churches within Scotland happened in the late 20th century.

Current use
Hillhead Baptist Church remains active in the early twenty-fist century. Activities include regular Christian services and community use of the church building, LINK registered charity status with the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (number SC021239), LINK participating in Remembrance Sunday services held each November 11, and participating in XXX.

Hillhead Baptist Church was featured in 'The Mystery Worshipper' website in 2008, which noted Hillhead's services included “...hymns ranging from traditional to the Celtic folk style of the Iona community.”

In 2011, the Church secured planning permission to convert some of the Church's peripheral buildings into residential apartments. The church was also using a smaller part of the building, referred to as the Tryst, pending repairs to the main church. In 2016, Hillhead Baptist Church was used for meetings by the Scottish Baptist history project.