Westcliff Baptist Church

About Us...

We are Westcliff Baptist Church in the seaside town of Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex.

We are a warm and friendly family church reflecting the diverse population of the area.  We aim to follow God the Father, His Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit and to worship, build our faith, share our faith and serve in this place and community for this time.

We are a Baptist Church affiliated to the Baptist Union of Great Britain.  The church is led by our minister in training, Andrew Marshall, and a team of deacons who are elected by the members.  The minister and deacons meet monthly to discuss the spiritual and practical needs of the church but the final decision making body of the church is the monthly church members' meeting.  The members are those who have been baptised and welcomed into membership by the church meeting. It is not necessary to be a church member to attend church, everyone is welcome to come and join us in worship and any of our activities.  We welcome all to come and express or explore faith with us.

What are our Sunday gatherings like?

We start at 10.30am and normally aim to finish at about 12 noon.  Our church has a wide variety of ages so we try to have an ‘all age’ feel to the start of the morning.  There Sunday School and Youth Group every Sunday too.  All our children’s workers have enhanced CRBs.

We love to praise God so we do through prayer and we sing choruses and hymns with a good music group to lead us.  We believe prayer makes a difference so we pray together every week interceding for local, national and international issues.

The Bible is really important to us and currently we're enjoying a preaching program led predominately by our minister; however some Sundays are led by different speakers who, together with Andrew, bring the Bible alive by teaching us, inspiring us, challenging us and showing us how it applies to our everyday lives. (Listen to some of the talks we've had on our Listen Again page).

We use multimedia and have a good sound and viewing system plus an induction hearing loop.

We take communion together every other week,  and we try to be a caring and supportive community; we share each other’s cares and concerns and enjoy each other’s celebrations.  We laugh a lot and are known to hang about for ages after church drinking tea/coffee, chatting and sharing news, pastoral needs and other concerns.  We welcome anyone who seeks to love and follow the Lord Jesus Christ to join in.

What else goes on at WBC?

We try to be a church that reaches out to our local community so we keep links with the local foodbank, the local hospice, the local group for ending Modern Slavery, the local Christian’s Against Poverty group and we hold a Winter Night Shelter for the homeless during the winter months.  We have a Small Steps project which aims to address issues of poverty and justice in small ways by making donations or becoming activists in social justice campaigns.  Through the church finances we support many charities.

From time to time we offer walks, picnics, meals, BBQs, anything that’s easy to come to ourselves and easy to invite our friends along to.  We have a Men’s Breakfast Group at a local pub one Saturday morning a month, a thriving ‘CAMEO’ ('Come And Meet Each Other') weekly group for those who would like to get out of the house and have a bit of company, play some games or do some puzzles and sometimes listen to an outside speaker.  We  have a weekly Discipleship group for those who want to ask questions and find out more about what it means to be a Christian, a follower or Disciple, of Jesus Christ.  All of these events aim to be crossroads or bridging places where we hope to provide a way of connecting the local church with the community and sharing our interests and concerns with each other.

We have midweek Homegroups once a month which are small, informal, friendly gatherings in someone’s lounge/garden to share fellowship and might suit someone who wants a gentle introduction to church life or the chance to make closer ties with a small group of people.

From time to time we have a Week of Prayer using various more creative styles of prayer, such as prayer walks or prayer stations, on various themes.

We also have an annual Church Away Day some of which have been held at Barnards Farm and The Othona Community at Bradwell-on-Sea among other places.  They have provided an opportunity for us to be together for a whole day, to worship, relax, chill, chat, eat, have fun and take time to discuss important items together in a fresh environment.

Of course the best way to see what we're really like is to come and find out for yourself - we look forward to seeing you!