Founded 1995 — over 30 years of praise and worship Leader of record (2015): Sister Marilyn Lynch [Current leader — to confirm]

The Rejoice Group has grown into HBC’s leading Praise and Worship ministry. As Sister Marilyn Lynch wrote in the 2015 booklet: “The Rejoice group first started out as a prayer and share group in 1995 and gradually developed into the leading Praise and Worship group of Harlesden Baptist Church.”

The group’s responsibilities extend well beyond worship leading. They produce the annual Good Friday sketch (HBC has a long tradition of dramatised worship at the major festivals). They lead both morning and evening services on every fifth Sunday quarterly. Some of the group’s members have grown to be confident expositors of Scripture and now share at morning or evening services in their own right. The group is also strongly active in the church’s wider mission: the Rejoice Prayer Breakfast is one of HBC’s main community-facing social events, alongside the Men’s Fellowship Barbecue and the Christmas Community Lunch.

The Rejoice Group has its own adopted charity: Mercy Ships, the international hospital ship ministry. They donate to Mercy Ships regularly and actively support the fund-raising efforts of other groups within HBC.

Sister Lynch’s chapter closes with a quiet statement of the group’s place in the life of the church: “In the Rejoice group you will see the realisation of the Harlesden Baptist Church’s mission statement. We are being equipped and developed through Bible study to serve wisely and effectively. We thank God for choosing and using us, and that He continues to mould us and shape us according to His will.”

Sources: [125th] p. 50; [Web History] (Rejoice listed among the new ministries grown up alongside the older ones).