Welcome to
Beech Hill Church, Otley
Beech Hill Church meets at our building on Beech Hill / Westgate in Otley on Sunday mornings at 10:30am and Sunday evenings at 5pm.
We also have home groups in Otley, Ilkley & Burley-in-Wharfedale through the week.
We are a Bible-teaching, family-friendly Church based in the wonderful Yorkshire town of Otley. We are committed to preaching Christ, teaching the Bible, and loving others. We want to see Jesus known and loved all across our area of Yorkshire and beyond.
Join Us
Join us at Beech Hill Church in Otley any Sunday morning or Sunday evening. We have songs (contemporary and classic), fellowship (with a variety of age groups), talks for the Bible (Old and New Testament), and groups for children (on Sunday mornings, not Sunday evenings).
Sundays Mornings: 10:30am | Sunday Evenings: 5pm
Finding Out More
On our website you’ll find details about who we are as a Church, who serves in different leadership positions, what organisations we’re affiliated to, and a bit of our history. There’s also more information about what it is that Christians believe, we don’t assume that everybody knows.
There’s also a calendar with up-to-date information about what’s on at church, and a resources section with our church’s policies such as safeguarding. We’ve put together a list of frequently asked questions, but if there’s anything you can’t find then please don’t hesitate to get in touch and we’ll try our best to answer any questions you might have.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are you a new church? No, our congregation has been meeting in Otley since 1916, just in various different places in Otley (see our History page)
How big is your church on a Sunday? At the moment, on an average Sunday Morning we have around 60, but it can range anywhere between 40 and 75. Sunday Evenings we generally get around 25-30.
Do you have any children/young people at your church? Yes, we do. On a Sunday Morning where everyone is there we have around 15-20, ranging from babies to late teens. (Find out a bit more about what’s on for that age group on a Sunday on our ‘Children and Youth‘ page). We also have a stay and play baby and toddler group on Tuesday, a postal craft and Bible story club for 3-6s, we’ve started occasionally running a game and craft morning for primary school aged children, and we recently started running a youth group for 11-14s.
Are you one of those churches where people wave their hands in the air? Some people put their hands in the air at points during the singing, but most don’t. We have a mixture of old hymns and new songs, some lend themselves more to that than others. We leave it up to the individual, but there’s no pressure either way.
How are you different from the Church of England?
- We are an Independent church, which means no denominations, bishops or hierarchy. As a church we make our own decisions, and the leadership are accountable to church members and to God.
- We are a Baptist church, which means we baptise people if/when they are old enough to decide for themselves (no babies).
- We are an Evangelical church, which some Church of England churches are, some are not. (See our ‘What is an Evangelical?‘ page)
Why don’t you livestream your services? We did during the lockdowns, however we believe that church is a gathering of God’s people together, and there’s only so much you can replicate on Zoom or on YouTube. We want to encourage people to be there physically to love, serve, and interact with one another. We do video the Bible talks each week, which should give you a flavour of what the teaching is like (See the Talks section of the website), there are some guest services on YouTube as well from when we were livestreaming, which should give you and idea of the kind of songs we sing.
Can anybody come along to your meetings? Yes, we welcome all people, whatever their background. We often have visitors, especially on Sunday mornings and Sunday evenings.
