About Us
Our Beliefs
THE ESSENTIAL DOCTRINE WE BELIEVE IS IDENTIFIED IN ANGLICAN CANON A 5:
“The doctrine of the Church of England is grounded in the Holy Scriptures, and in such teachings of the ancient Fathers and Councils of the Church as are agreeable to the said Scriptures. In particular such doctrine is to be found in the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, the Book of Common Prayer, and the Ordinal.”
All Saints is an Evangelical church which believes that the Bible is God’s inerrant word (He didn’t make any mistakes when he caused it to be written!) It tells us all about His plan for the world from creation through to new creation. This is a plan that is all about Jesus, God the son. It’s a plan that God is making known to people through the work of the Holy Spirit when the Bible is taught. It’s a plan that involves people being rescued from Hell and freely given the riches of Heaven through Jesus. That’s why it is called the gospel or good news. If you want to find out more about what Christians believe click here to go to a useful site which will explain more.
Through this gospel God is gathering people to know Him through Jesus and gathering people together into His family. At All Saints we believe church is a family and therefore we try to work hard at our relationships with each other and help each other out just like any family should!
Our Aims and Vision
All Saints is an evangelical church which bases it’s life around the Bible. That is where God tells us about His amazing plan to rescue the world through Jesus. Our aim is that we help people to follow Jesus whether they’ve been Christians for a long time or whether they are just looking into the claims of the Christian faith.
Our vision is to see more people from all over Preston, whatever their background, discover the life changing reality of knowing Jesus. There are three ways we try to do this:
• Teaching about Jesus from His word the Bible.
• Showing the love that Jesus has by serving our community and beyond.
• Caring for everyone in our church family and helping them live for Jesus.
A Short History of the Beginnings of the All Saints
All Saints` church was built in the town centre at the end of the 1840`s for the sum of £2000 and was one of the few churches in the country to be built by subscription and set up under Private Patronage. A large number of cotton workers had been taught to read and understand the Bible by a young curate in the town and it was their desire to build a church and call him as their Minister. So collections were made of 1p or 2p per week from their meagre wages until the sum of £1000 had been collected and the foundation stone could be laid; this was done by the mayor in 1846; the money being supplemented by gifts from local business men. This enabled the Trustees to call the Rev. William Walling to be the Minister. The Church was declared open for worship on the 26th September 1848 and consecrated 2 years later on the 13th December 1850. These achievements were even more remarkable as the 1840`s were “lean years” in the town; in 1847 cotton operatives in Preston had to submit to a 10% reduction in their wages until trade improved and needless to say, there was much poverty in the area. Thus the church was given the title “The Poor Man’s Church”.
The church, built in the Grecian / Ionic style with a large gallery and box pews, was designed to seat 1500 people. Neat gas fittings were placed within the building.
A strong emphasis on preaching and teaching the Word of God has been given throughout the church’s 155 year history and many young men and women have gone into full-time Christian work both in this country and overseas, especially to China in the 1900`s.
This pattern continues today drawing church members from all parts of the city including the University of Central Lancashire which is on its doorstep.