Up to July 1968, the church met as a daughter church of an evangelical Methodist church in Leeds, in a hut on the same site as today. At that date, the church withdrew from the Methodist Circuit and became an independent church. The hut and half-acre of land was finally purchased in 1977. A Constitution was drawn up and 20 people were brought into membership in June 1978.

A new brick building was erected in 1983, followed by a two-storey extension in the mid 1990’s. In 1990 Glyn Williams became the first full-time Pastor, supported entirely by the church fellowship and continued until the end of March 2011 when he became part-time for 2 years until March 2013. Joe Cresswell became full time Pastor in August 2013 following the completion of his training at London Theological Seminary and was with us for 5 years until July 2018. We have been without a Pastor since then. Martin Sellens is the Elder of the church at present.

The teaching of the church is closest to the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith, without actually taking it as its basis. It is conservative, baptist, Reformed, evangelistic, amillennial and non-charismatic. We also count the Lord’s Day as special. We have good fellowship and links with other like minded churches and Christian organisations in the area and further afield. Our Pastor and Elders have been and are active members of the Yorkshire Reformed Ministers Fraternal. We are active participants in the quarterly prayer meetings for revival. The elders of like-minded evangelical churches in Leeds meet annually and our men support other churches around the city in ministry both on Sundays and mid-week. We have close links with Caring for Life who are also based in Cookridge. Whilst we are not affiliated to FIEC we have good fellowship with other churches who are and attend FIEC events in our area.

We start our worship on the Lord’s Day with corporate prayer – currently from 8 to 8.45am (we are reviewing the timing of this prayer meeting). Our worship Services are at 10.30am and 6.30pm. The ethos could be described as reverent, but joyful. Every Sunday morning, a children’s talk is given, and the children go to their own lessons during the sermon. An expository style of preaching is employed with our own regular preachers usually going through books of the bible, except at special seasons. We also welcome visiting preachers to the pulpit.

We use the new version of ‘Christian Hymns’ as our hymn book, together with our own Supplementary Book. The New King James Version of the bible is the ‘pulpit’ bible. Communion is held after the first morning service, and the third evening service, of each month. It is open to all who have trusted Christ as Saviour and Lord. Musical accompaniment is usually provided by piano but we also have an organ.

Currently we have one Elder and three Deacons. Our church government states that the Pastor is also one of the elders. Elders and Deacons are always male. At present we do not have a Pastor but are in the process of seeking the right man to lead the church forward.

There is a spread of ages in the membership although the majority tend to be older in years. A good number are willingly involved in and committed to the various aspects of church life. We pray that the current peace and unity in the church will continue.

The Membership currently numbers 38. The Lord has blessed over the years with a number of conversions and baptisms. We are known for being a warm and friendly fellowship with a caring ethos and ministry to needy souls.

This takes place each Wednesday evening, 7.45pm to 9.15pm. The first part is a bible study given by the Elders , or somebody nominated by them. Sometimes a missionary society deputation meeting takes place. The second part is a prayer meeting, which is preceded by points for prayer where any person attending may contribute.

The church is firmly evangelistic using various methods to reach out to the neighbourhood in which we live. We produce a Contact leaflet which we distribute around the area twice a year and other tracts are distributed through people’s doors during the year in the wider area. The last door-knocking phase took place some years ago. We have held Spring and/or Autumn Suppers with gospel talks most years with special events taking place at Christmas. We last ran a “Christianity Explored” course over 7 weeks in October / November 2016. Three of the people on the course were subsequently converted and two of these have since been baptised.

Most of the other regular events of the church include an outreach element:-

‘Second Tuesday’ takes a seminar approach – 6 months in the year in a morning. This is an in-depth Christian talk including questions and answers.

‘Men’s Fellowship’ meets on the third Tuesday evening of most months with a couple of mens breakfasts a year on a Saturday morning with an outside speaker.

‘Tots Club’ is very popular. It meets on Wednesdays 1.15 – 2.45 pm during term time.

‘Thursday at Two’ reaches out to Senior Citizens every fortnight, 2pm-3.30pm and has a good number attending of which a good number are not Christians. Meals and “soup and sweet specials” take place regularly at 1pm.

‘Ketchup’ for primary age children on Friday nights 6pm-7.15pm

‘Girls Group’ for secondary school age meets fortnightly on Monday evenings from 7.30pm in homes.

‘Making and Thinking for Ladies’ meets monthly on a Tuesday evening either at church for a craft session with speaker or a bible study in a home ‘Missionary Prayer Group’ meets monthly in a home praying for missionaries we support or are connected with.

We are also now taking monthly services at two local Care Homes on a Sunday afternoon ( visiting each one bimonthly). We have had a long established link at the local Asda store where we provided a chaplaincy service and bookstall each month but this has ceased in recent months due to restrictions imposed by the store and lack of interest from contacts.

We run an annual Bible Exhibition in June in conjunction with the Open Air Mission. 2021 will be our seventeenth year, and we welcome children from several local primary schools. A retired senior teacher, who is also a member of the church, takes assemblies at local schools. We also invite year groups to church to consider questions such as “What is Easter all about?” and “What is Christmas all about?” We have held Children’s Holiday Clubs, connected with Good News Club, for a number of years in the past – the last one being in May 2018.

We publish a church magazine 6 times a year. This is available on our website as are sermons and more general information which is regularly updated. The church website is at www.tinshillfreechurch.org.uk

The church is in a reasonable position financially with some reserves. We support a number of missionaries/mission organisations at home and abroad. The amount given to external missions/charities is around 30% of our income.

The church is situated 6 miles North West of Leeds city centre, in a suburban position. There are private and council estates in the immediate vicinity. The congregation is mostly local, but some come from a number of miles away.

We are a Registered Charity (No. 511933) and further information can be obtained by going to the Charity Commission website - www.charity-commission.gov.uk We are currently in the process of becoming a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) which will involve the establishment of a new charity.