Our Ministry Teams - Lymington Baptist Church

Volunteer in one of our Teams

We’re passionate about people feeling like they’re a part of our church family and one of the best places to do that is as part of a team. No matter your age or experience, there’s a team that you can join, serving alongside others and getting to make new friends in the church. On this page you can read about our teams. Hopefully you will be inspired to join one. To indicate interest, you can click or tap on the button below.

Community Teams

Socials Planning Team

Do you love a quiz night, or a ceilidh, or a bit of skittles? Are you a visionary administrator with a bit of a genius for marketing. We need you in our Socials planning team. We plan regular social events throughout the year as a safe space to bring friends and families too. Some of these have a spiritual element to them, some are just a bit of fun. We praise God for our current small group who plan our socials, and we are sure they would welcome another pair of hands.

Pastoral Team

Our primary means of delivering pastoral care to our church community and their families is through our Small Groups. These community groups are our modus operandi for making sure that everyone in church has a group of friends that know their struggles and hopes.

However, some people are not part of our small groups, and sometimes needs become very specialist and require another level of care. In these circumstances our pastoral team step in. This can be a high-intensity and time-consuming role, as well as requiring a certain amount of emotional and spiritual resilience as you discreetly carry the burdens of those in need. These are a very special group of people.

Wider Missions Team

Just as Jesus sent his disciples into Jerusalem, Judea and the ends of the earth, so we long to see God’s kingdom increase across the globe. We partner with Baptist Mission Society to support where the need is greatest, and also stand alongside families with personal connects with our church. This team helps to distribute our missions budget, collates and sends out prayer letters from our partners, and spends time in prayer for those who are serving in some of the most challenging places in the world.

Christians Against Poverty Team

LBC is proud to be a partner church with CAP UK. This amazing organisation has helped literally thousands of people out of debt and into a new and abundant life with Christ. We are blessed to have a couple of LBC members working for CAP out of our church. Together they run a Community Cafe, Debt Counselling, Job Club and much much more. They also organise a team of volunteers, with different levels of skills, to come alongside residents of Lymington and Pennington who are struggling with debt issues. There are always spaces for coaches and befrienders. Please write directly to abigailbarry@capjobclubs.org

Hospitality Teams

Warm Hub and Community Cafe

Ever since that awful winter where fuel prices sky-rocketed, our award-winning Warm Hub team have been providing once-a-week hot meals and a special welcome over the winter months and in the summer holidays. Fi leads this team, but you would be an asset if you were to join her with your own smiles and cheer. No special skills are required, just a willingness to muck in.

Tea and Coffee Team

Every Sunday, we finish our service with “Stay behind for tea and coffee and a chat.” It’s not as if we have ‘tea and coffee genies’ that magically make this appear. We have a small but dedicated group of volunteers who turn up before church to put the urn on, lay out the cups and carry them upstairs. This is something you could probably do too. Willing hands are very welcome.

Sunday Lunch Bunch

No one asked, so we just gave this team of volunteers this name. Every other Sunday we invite EVERYONE to stay behind for a small lunch. Someone has to cook this, and clear up afterwards. Why not you!

Messy Breakfast Band

The second Sunday of the month is spectacular. It’s almost bedlam, but not quite. Families from around the town gather in our sanctuay to share breakfast together. But someone has to make it! We are so grateful to the band of brilliant volunteers who do the making! This is not a closed group, however. You could join in. Whether it’s popping toast, pouring juice or preparing fruit, your hands and your heart could take our service to the next level.

The Occasional Cooking Crew

Every now and then we have a special event: a social gathering, Christianity Explored, even a baptism or a wedding party. When this happens, and we have guests in the building, we want to serve them more than our best biscuits, but go to town with a banquet of various delights: homemade cakes and quiches. Why not put your name on the Occasional Cooking Crew List: make food in the comfort of your own kitchen and bring it in to share with old and new friends.

Leadership Team

James Beer

James and his wife Zoë have been attending LBC since 2013 when they moved to Lymington. They have 3 children – Caleb, Bea and Toby. James is a part time GP and GP trainer. He is passionate about the Gospel and everything we have in Christ.

Email James

Darren Cooke – Pastor

Our Pastor Darren is an experienced and dedicated educator who has made it his life’s mission to support individuals in their personal growth and development. Darren is happily married to Emily and together, they have been blessed with three beautiful children – Joshua, Elizabeth, and Hannah. Above all, Darren is deeply committed to empowering people to live out the values of Jesus in their everyday lives. He firmly believes that every individual has the power to spread the message of hope and love to the world, and he is dedicated to helping others discover their unique purpose and calling in life. Email Darren

Nick Tsoulli

Email Nick

John Hilbourne

Email John

Tony Lowman (Treasurer)

Email Tony

Mark Corcoran – Chair of Trustees

Mark comes from a family of musicians and can still be heard many Sundays playing his double bass at church. He is also part of a local accordion, guitar, bass trio that tours throughout the local community.
Professionally, Mark is both a doctor and a lawyer. He no longer practices either, but continues to have a role as a GP appraiser and chairs a BMA committee. He is also a trustee of the Bulgarian Partners Trust.
He is also father to two sons and a daughter, and grandfather to four children who are delight to Mark and his wife, Barbara.
Mark is the Chair of the Leadership Team. Email Mark

Jim Anderson

Email Jim

Sarah Mason

Sarah has studied 3 years at Bible College and lived abroad serving in Europe and Lebanon where she lived with her 3 children and husband; now sadly not together. She is passionate about applying God’s truth to the injustice of this world. She loves to spend time with family and friends, even more so when it involves eating and exploring. Email Sarah

Andy Stevens

Andy and his wife Jenni havve spent most of their working life with OMF International serving in Missionary Mobilisation across Europe and Africa. He now works for London City Mission as their Church Engagement Manager and is delighted to help them in their vision He has two teenage children in and around that busy examination stage. They have been attending Lymington Baptist since 2019. Email Andy

Office Teams

Finance Team

Our Finance Team is led by Tony Lowman, the church treasurer.

This team is responsible for ensuring that we keep our books well balanced, that we pay our invoices, and our people on time, that we plan well in terms of budgeting and that we honour the Lord in all that we do when it comes to our financial and fiscal responsibilities

Administration Team

There is an awful lot of behind-the-scenes work to help us run effectively, communicate with the church while respecting GDPR restraints. The admin team also makes sure that our offices are well supplied.

Buildings Team

Jules and his super-crew work tirelessly to keep our buildings spick and span, warm in the winter and cool in the summer. They oversee three properties, our main church building and its neighbour Lillington House as well as the manse where our pastor and his family live. Half of what they do is mysterious to the rest of us, but would be utterly missed if they didn’t do it.

Sunday Morning Teams

Welcome Team

This is one of the most important teams in the life of our church. These wonderful people greet everyone as they join our church meetings on Sunday morning. They will try to make your feel at home and, if it is your first time, direct you to a seat in the church with someone who will make you feel comfortable and welcome. It’s more than a friendly “hello” and a smile, it’s giving the kind of welcome that Jesus gave; welcoming the friend and the stranger alike.

Flightdeck Team

On their best days this team really does help us take off – in worship. They get the words of the songs on the screen, make sure our musicians are miked and levels are balanced, ensure that our streaming content is delivered to YouTube and do everything else techy that many of us don’t really understand. It’s an egalitarian community, but the amazing Nick holds them all together and can probably do everything, just not by himself, not all at once, and not all the time. If you like twisting knobs, mixing music or playing with presentations, this could be a great spot for you.

Worship Team

Some churches rely on loops and soundtracks in order that everyone else can sing. LBC has been blessed with a phenomenal group of musicians from the semi-professsional to the just-starting-out. We don’t hold auditions for our music groups, but eventually, a certain amount of competency is required, after all the worship team are the gatekeepers to the presence of God. Their role is to help the rest of us raise our voices in awe and wonder. They are most successful when you forget they are there, but you just see Jesus.

Flowers Team

God’s creation is a thing of beauty, variety, colour and pattern. Every Sunday, there is a beautiful floral display that decorates our platform. These do not descend from the heavenly throne room and onto New Street. They are lovingly selected and displayed as an act of worship to our God. If you know what an oasis is (and not the kind in the desert) then maybe this is a place you can contribute.

Leading and Preaching Team

OK. So this is probably not a team you can readily volunteer on. When we deliver God’s word, or consider the running order of a service, there is a particular giftedness that is required. This is not to say that our leaders and preachers have finished their training and don’t need mentoring and coaching. We try to deliver that. If you feel God nudging you to get involved in this area, speak to one of the current leaders and preachers and they will be happy to consider this with you.

Youth and Children's Team

Rooted Team

Led by Lizzie our Youth Worker, this team serve alongside our 11-18 year olds to help them discover Jesus through intentional discipleship and Bible teaching, as well as helping them learn their giftedness and how they can serve the Lord. Honestly, this is one of the most rewarding team to be a part of, but you will need to be available on Sunday evenings. Watch your BBC historical drama on catch-up, instead

Alibi Room Team

If you are a regular in church, you will hear our service leaders send their pre-schoolers to the Alibi Room. Mums and dads take their little ones down here to play and learn while the rest of the church listen and learn. If you love the littlest ones, and can also engage with young parents, join Jan’s team.

Children’s Team

“The kids are leaving the building.” But not just the kids, also a wonderful group of teachers and assistants who serve where they are most needed to make sure that our 5-14 year olds have a fantastic experience of church and beg their parents to bring them back next week. This group of teachers are leading the leaders of the future. We cherish our Children’s Team and understand their persistent sacrifice in giving up learning aimed at their own age group to be the teachers of the next generations.

Hullabaloo Team

This is our parents, carers and toddlers group that meets on Monday morning. The guests who come are rarely connected to the church in any other way. This is one of our town-facing ministries. There is lots of play, but also a little bit of story-telling so that the little ones and their adults hear about the truth of Jesus in a way and a context that makes sense to them. Because this is on Monday, we expect that many of our Hullabaloo Team are essentially surrogate grannies and grandpas to the children that come in. But that’s OK. They understand the challenges that the parents are going through, because their adult children are experiencing the same things.

A note about Safeguarding

Although we long to see all children and their parents called to an abundant life with Jesus, we also want to keep them safe. All of our volunteers are DBS-checked before they are given a role in our children’s groups (or with vulnerable adults). We have a thorough Safeguarding Policy and you will be expected to adhere to it if you volunteer in any of these teams.