About Us

About the church and its founding minister

We have prepared a brief overview of GBCP for you to read. Please follow the three links (above left) to find out about the churches doctrinal position, the Peel fellowship, and how we came to own the old school.

The founding pastor of Grace Baptist Church Peel was the Rev Matthew F Else who passed away on 18 May 2008.

Rev Else was presiding elder and minister of GBCP since it was planted as an outreach of Grace Baptist Church Onchan in 1974. Prior to that Rev Else was the minister of the Onchan church.

He grew up in Morecambe, Lancashire before training at the Irish Baptist College in Ulster in the late 1960s where he met his wife Renee. In 1970 he came to the Isle of Man where he was continuously involved in a mixture of part-time and more latterly full-time Christian ministry until he went to be with the Lord.

The church fellowship is currently without a pastor.

About the Isle of Man

The Isle of Man is a self-governing Crown Dependency within the British Isles as for the Channel Islands.

It is an island state in the Irish Sea roughly equidistant between England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland. It has a "common purse" agreement with the UK exchequer but for most fiscal purposes is independent.

It sets its own taxes and passes its own laws. It boasts the longest-serving continuous elected parliament in the world, the Tynwald.

Thanks to its geographical position, its unique historical and constitutional status, and many years of careful investment and management, it has a very strong and stable economy supporting public services the envy of the UK.

It has also been independently rated as one of the best places to live for quality of life, not surprising bearing in mind the very low crime rate, job opportunities and standard of schooling.

Despite common misconceptions about its climate it has attracted migrants from all parts of the British Isles and beyond to meet the perennial labour shortage.

Notwithstanding a rich evangelical heritage dating back to the Methodist Awakening of the 18th century, the island has for the most part suffered a great turning away from the gospel of John Wesley who visited both the Isle of Man and Peel on a number of occasions.

About Peel

Peel is the 4th largest settlement in the island with 4280 residents as at the 2006 official census.

Whilst Douglas is the capital today and Castletown was 200 years ago, Peel (or Phurt-ny-Hinshey in Manx Gaelic) was probably the most important outpost at the turn of the previous millenium.

The oldest part of Peel Castle (see left image) dates back to the 11th century. During the last few centuries Peel grew as a fishing centre due to its natural sheltered harbour.

Shipbuilding and merchant trading followed and then tourism in the 19th century. (Peel's sandy beach along with that of Port Erin are the two most popular in the island).

There has arguably been a period of decline in the town's fortunes in recent decades with the reduction in fishing and other maritime activity. More recently however both the town and its harbour are experiencing somewhat of a renaissance. (The fortunes of Peel are inevitably tied to those of the broader Manx economy which has mushroomed due to the Offshore Financial Services industry.)

The demand for new and affordable housing has led to the refurbishment of the Commissioner's houses in Boilley Spittal and the construction of the Ballawattleworth Estate. The older parts of the town are also gradually getting an aesthetically favourable facelift.

Spiritually though there is much cause for concern in Peel. As is the case across the island, many well-attended once-evangelical churches have either declined greatly or disappeared altogether. Pray for us, in the spirit of Colossians 4:3, that we might have a door of utterance for the gospel in our town.