Our Pastor

Rev. Mark Bentham
Mark was brought up in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland in a Christian family where worship of God was modelled and practiced.

Having made a commitment to follow Jesus Christ as Saviour & Lord at an early age, he was subsequently baptised by immersion as a believer and became a member of an evangelical fellowship in Belfast. There he became involved in preaching and teaching and the Christian nurturing of young people.

Having trained as a Civil Engineer, Mark moved to Scotland in 1985 to pursue his career - working in his main interest areas of roads, bridges & sewers! His last ‘Civils’ post was with the Forestry Commission responsible for the management of a Road Building and Maintenance team who provided roads into forest blocks on the West coast of Scotland in order that harvested timber could be transported to the saw mill. He confesses to knowing absolutely nothing about trees!

In the early 1990’s Mark became convinced that God was calling him into full-time Christian ministry. By this time he was linked with Lochgilphead Baptist Church, so he explored ministry options with the Baptist Union of Scotland and, in 1995, resigned from the Forestry Commission to start ministry training at Scottish Baptist College in Glasgow.

Mark was called to Buckie Baptist Church as Pastor in 1997 and subsequently to Ayr Baptist Church in 2005.

At Buckie Mark had a successful ministry leading the church into the heart of the local community. Many links were established and, when Mark announced that he was moving on to Ayr the local Buckie community expressed their gratitude for the input Mark, as a Christian Minister, had had on a community whose economy was falling due to the demise of the fishing industry. He also saw Buckie Baptist Church become stronger and more relevant for ministry in the 21st Century.

Mark is a strong, consistent Bible teacher and preacher. He places emphasis on a personal relationship with Jesus Christ that enables the follower to model what Jesus taught when he called Christians not to just recruit converts, but make a difference in the community in which they live. This he believes will be the emphasis of his ministry in Ayr as he is passionate about encouraging believers to be ‘salt & light’ in their local community.

Mark is married to Sally, a Children’s Nurse by profession, and they have two children. Apart from a busy family life, Mark’s other interests are reading and DIY. He also has a passion for music, not least playing the piano, singing and leading congregations in praise. He led the worship for a number of years at the Bible Convention ‘Keswick in Buckie’ and is involved in our own Baptist Union of Scotland where he currently serves as Chair of the Assembly Planning Task Group.