Our story

A church was first started at Alder Road in 1925. This was a Baptist Church started by members sent from Westcliff and Loch Road Baptist churches as the Alder Hills were developed for housing. During the 1980s Alder Road Baptist Church (as it was then known) was increasingly caught up in the ‘charismatic renewal’ - a fresh move of God’s Spirit during which people were rediscovering spiritual gifts and a new freedom in worship. In the early 1990s, while continuing as a member of the Baptist Union, Alder Road became part of the Newfrontiers family of churches. After 2011 Newfrontiers transitioned into a number of different ‘apostolic spheres’ and Gateway is now part of the Advance movement.

 

At Easter 2013 around 25 people were sent out from Alder Road to start a second congregation. At first this met in Harlees fish and chip shop on Poole Quay. The congregation then moved between various venues on the Quay until 2016 when we purchased what had been the Methodist church at 502 Ashley Road.

 

Ashley Road Methodist Church had been opened in 1902 and had once had a thriving congregation. Some members of Gateway had actually been part of this church in their teens and twenties so when we started meeting there it was something of a homecoming for them.

 

In January 2025 what had been Parkstone Church joined Gateway as our third location. This church had originally been started a few years after Alder Road and – as with the Ashley Road congregation – there were many links of friendship and family between the congregations. The elders and congregations of Gateway and Parkstone felt a conviction that partnering together would result in greater gospel fruit.