History of Airedale Church

Airedale Church was planted into Keighley in the early 1980’s. This was as a result of the activity in the West Yorkshire area of a company of apostles and prophets, led at that time by Bryn Jones (see affiliation). This activity also resulted in churches being established in Bradford, Leeds, Wakefield, York, Halifax, and Huddersfield.

In the early years of its existence, Airedale Church met in a variety of places including local schools in and close to Keighley. A fairly permanent home was established in 1984 with the acquisition on long lease of first floor premises above B&Q on a site about 1 mile from the town centre. These premises served the church well for several years before they were destroyed by fire in 1995. God used this event to further His purpose for the church by leading it, under the apostolic direction of Bryn Jones, to temporary premises in the centre of Keighley. These premises were part of Churchill House which was the base of the Conservative Party activities in Keighley and the surrounding area. It very quickly became apparent that God wanted the church to adopt a permanent base in the same part of the town as these temporary premises were situated. Various properties in the immediate vicinity of Churchill House were investigated as to the suitability of being a home for the church. None of these materialised, until “out of the blue” the Conservatives indicated to the church their desire to sell part of their premises. Following various negotiations etc, Churchill House was divided into two separate building and the portion purchased by the church became Airedale Church Centre in 1999. It was formally opened as a place of worship on 2 September 2000.

Two years after the formal opening of Airedale Church Centre, the church was able to negotiate with the Conservatives for use of the premises which they had retained as the Keighley Conservative Club, but which had subsequently closed.