Leadership and Staff Team

Oakham Baptist Church is a gathering of Christians who have dedicated their lives to mutually supporting and caring for each other; this is known as a church membership. The membership of the church meet together throughout the year to discern Christ's direction for the church in matters of membership, finances, vision and overall mission of the church. Some members also have a calling and responsibility to organisation and oversight of various areas of church life.

From within the membership as a whole, some are further called as Deacons of the church. These Deacons not only act as Charity Trustees, they also oversee core areas of Oakham Baptist Church. The church also has a minister who has overall oversight of the church and is particularly responsible for the vision, teaching and the direction of the church community. The church is also blessed to have several staff members working toward the mission of OBC- to Reconcile Rutland to the Kingdom of God.

Leadership and Staff Team
 

Rev. Tom Bowring - Minister		Sue Smout - Mission and Youth Enabler
Tom joined OBC in 2021 with his wife Jodi and their 4 children. He is a passionate evangelist who loves talking to people about Jesus and hearing about their lives. In his role as minister at OBC, Tom has oversight of all the church with a specific focus on the vision, spiritual health, teaching and pastoral requirements of the church and community around. He heads up the wider leadership team and is the main preacher, teacher and shepherd to the church. Tom became a Christian at 26 and spent 14 years in the RAF before leaving to pursue a call to full-time ministry. He trained with Spurgeon's College and Bristol Baptist College and is a fully accredited minister with the Baptist Union of Great Britain.		Sue joined OBC as the Mission and Youth Enabler in 2024.
Madeleine Gilbert- Children's Young People and Families Coordinator		Ebenezer Kang'ombe - Systems Administrator
Madeleine is amazingly gifted in all areas of young people's ministry. She leads our volunteer teams covering pre-school through to 18 both ensuring our young people have the groups and belonging they need but are also furthering their journey toward knowing Jesus as their personal Lord and Saviour. Madeleine has oversight of all our young person focussed groups both within the life of the church internally and also in the community.		Ebe's role at the church is central to how we operate. He is our point of contact and go-to guy for all day-to-day needs. He organises our interactions and system requirements as well as being the point of call for anybody connecting into the church.

 

Phil Brett- Services and Worship		Gill Day- Church Family
Phil oversees lots of the activity that most people will be familiar with in church life such as communion, Sunday services, music and worship and the audio visual teams. He also leads our ministry groups and works with the minister in making sure we are a Bible centred and Holy Spirit focussed gathering. Phil is called to making sure our gatherings both honour God and give space for people to meet Jesus.		Gill has an amazing calling to all our generations within the church but particularly our young people. We are a vibrant, active family church with a wide range of groups and activities operating for all ages from preschool to older generations. Gill oversees our young people's work, Tiddlers group, Cafe Creative team, LEt's GO build and even our Churches Together work in and around Rutland.
Jon Dyson- Spiritual Life		Neil Kirk- Governance
Jon has one of the most important callings and roles within the life of any church community; he directs and oversees the spiritual life of the church. This involves leading and developing our prayer groups as well as our groups focussed on health and discipleship such as Freedom In Christ and Alpha. Jon also guides our hospitality teams to make sure we are sacrificially serving all who we are in contact with.		Neil's calling is to the day-to-day structures and fabric that enable the church to function. Not only that, a large part of his role involves seeking God's guidance on how we operate lovingly and sacrificially as well as wisely and legally. Neil oversees the financial team, building team and HR team as well as our charity commision and wider Baptist Union connections.
Susanne Johnson- Comms and Outreach		Idy Olotu- Pastoral and Discipleship
Suzanne has oversight of how the church engages with the community that we are part of. She runs the team who are responsible for our social media and web engagement, as well as oversight of our many outreach and support groups such as Christians Against Poverty, Ukrainian Cafe, Community Lunch, Hope Into Action and many more. She also liaises with the County and Town Councils, local schools and other agencies.		Idy has a heart that is perfect for her role, and a calling to facilitate the love and care of all within the church family and out into the community. She oversees our Life Groups, which are the foundation of OBC, and is responsible for both the welfare of the membership and the minister of the church. Idy has an oversight of the membership of the church including the recommendation of new members as well as the removal of those no longer involved in church life.

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