ABOUT

RIVERSIDE IS A CHURCH MADE UP OF PEOPLE FROM A DIVERSITY OF BACKGROUNDS AND EXPERIENCES WHO HAVE ONE THING IN COMMON – OUR DISCOVERY OF GOD’S AMAZING LOVE. IT IS THIS LOVE THAT WE HOPE YOU WILL COME TO KNOW MORE OF BY COMING ALONG TO OUR SERVICES.


Many come to Riverside without any church background and are looking at the Christian faith. Whether online or in-person, we hope you feel at home and that you will find our weekly services, events and groups welcoming and relevant to your life. We are on a journey to help people get to know Jesus and grow as his followers across Birmingham and beyond. We hope you will join us on the journey.

FOUNDATIONS

Riverside Church began in 1984 in Birmingham – founded by Nick and Lois Cuthbert and others with a vision to reach out to people with the Christian gospel. As it impacted the community it grew quickly, bringing people from a diversity of backgrounds into a discovery of God’s amazing love for us. It is on this foundation of worship, fellowship and evangelism that the church is built, and we continue to reach out to our communities and places of work in every way we can. 

THE RIVER

The Bible speaks of a spiritual river in Ezekiel 47:1-12, that starts in the temple (representing the worship of God being our source) and flows out into the world as fresh water, bringing life wherever it flows. There are fishermen along the banks and trees that bear fruit all year long, whose leaves are the healing of the nations. It is from this Biblical picture that Riverside Church gets its name, as we seek to live in the river of God’s Spirit.

VENUES

We love meeting together in different ways and in different places during the week in with our ‘Life Groups’  and ‘Community Groups’. Further information can be obtained from our Groups page. 

Our main Sunday Gatherings take place at 10am and 11:30am each Sunday at our Community Hub: Riverside House (21 Alcester Road, Moseley, B13 8AR), and once a month at 10am we meet at a larger venue (Tally Ho Conference Centre, Pershore Road, B5 7RN). Each Sunday morning, all our services are being livestreamed to our YouTube channel at 10am. Further information, and details about how to book in-person tickets for our in-person services, can be obtained from our Gatherings page.

We welcome everyone to our services, regardless of their background or beliefs, and we hope you will find it a welcoming and friendly church that reflects the true love of God.

BACKGROUNDS

The church attracts people from a wide range of backgrounds and walks of life, many from Moseley, Kings Heath, Stirchley, Selly Park, Bournville, Northfield, Cotteridge, Kings Norton and other surrounding neighbourhoods, but also from across Birmingham  and beyond (including students from the Universities & Colleges in Birmingham). It has been an immense privilege to see people grow up in the church over the years – not only in age, but moreover in their faith, as they take hold of the promises of God offered through faith in Jesus Christ and the purposes God has for them.

GET CONNECTED

Our ‘Life Groups’ (3-8 people) and ‘Community Groups’ (20+ people) provide an important means of helping new and mature believers alike to build relationships and grow in their faith, and to move out in evangelism and ministry within and outside the church family. These groups really provide the heart of what church community is about and we encourage everyone who settles at Riverside to get involved, as it is often difficult to develop strong friendships in a church so large if you only attend the Sunday services.

BIRMINGHAM CHURCH

We maintain strong working relationships with Birmingham churches locally and nationally from across all the main church denominations, and we are members of the Evangelical Alliance and subscribe to their statement of faith. We hope that everyone who comes through the doors of the church will have a life-changing experience of God and will find a place to grow and mature in their faith through prayer, Bible application, worship and service. Finally and foremost we hope that Riverside is a place where God is glorified and Jesus is central in all we do.

There’s much more going on within the church than we can mention here, so we would encourage you to look around the rest of the site, and to keep visiting it regularly to stay up to date and informed, or even better – come and see for yourself what Riverside Church is like. In particular, we recommend that you visit our Events page to stay up-to-date with all that is happening. 

WORD OF HANDS (BSL)

For many years, the Word of Hands community have been a part of Riverside. By providing services and a community with British Sign language (BSL) as the primary – rather than secondary – language, God has done some amazing things. We are so thankful to God for all that he has done through the team, and through the community.

Like all of us, Covid dramatically interrupted this. But, in addition to the natural challenges of Covid, there have been some additional challenges for the team, including around the finances and finding emerging new leadership. In addition to this, over the last year or so Jay – as the leader – has been feeling that now is the time to step down from his leadership role. We are so thankful to Jay for his honesty, and his leadership over the years.

Out of these challenges – and one or two others – the Word of Hands leadership team have therefore felt that this is now the time to draw to close all of the services that Word of Hands holds.

As Jay mentioned: ”The word of Hands team has met and agreed to bring to a close the online and onsite services, and instead focus on community, of bringing people in, nurturing, supporting the fellowship that comes through the community and I’m so excited to see what happens with that. And as that community builds, we don’t know what will happen, what that will form into. But God knows.”

As Jay steps down from leadership, we have explored other leadership but that was not to be. It’s also worth saying, that just because something closes or changes, it is no comment about how fruitful the ministry has been. God has truly done wonderful things. Lives have been utterly changed! 

But, as it says in Ecclesiastes, ‘…there is a time and season for everything…a time to plant and a time to uproot’. Churches generally are often good at starting new things, but not so good at recognising when things may need to change, or when there aren’t the resilient structures or resources needed for ongoing healthy ministry.

As Riverside Church, we want to continue to be as accessible a church as possible – including with providing BSL at these gatherings. And our hope is that as the Word of Hands community that are part of Riverside continue to gather as a community, that new ideas and energy will lead to knew things.

If you have any specific questions, some of the Word of Hands leadership team are here today, or do please get in touch with the Riverside leadership.

WORSHIP

We believe the Bible teaches us that true worship is a response to God, for who he is and all he has done; a response that encompasses our whole lives. Each of our daily activities, with the appropriate focus, can be worship to God.

When we gather on Sundays it’s to worship God together, sharing in a common experience of God’s grace. We encounter our living God, by the power of His Spirit, through what Jesus has done for us and as we worship together we are led out to worship God with the rest of our week, in our homes, communities, schools and workplaces, for the good of the world.

Committed members of Riverside are welcomed to join the worship team, and serve to facilitate our corporate worship through music, creative arts and media. If you would like to actively serve at Riverside by joining the worship team, please contact:

Ben Pearson (Riverside Worship Director)
Phone: 0121 442 4484
e-mail: benp@riverside-church.org.uk

LEADERSHIP TEAM

TIM CHILVERS

Senior Pastor

NATHANAEL BALLEW

Pastor (Gatherings)

JUDY MOORE

Associate Pastor

BEN PEARSON

Worship Director

SARAH AUGER

Pastor (Generations & Groups)

ADO MURONZI

Operations Director

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