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.  From the start of October 2026 we are in a Pastoral vacancy situation - that is we don't have a minister, our former minister Rev'd Andrew Marshall having recently been called to a new church.  Our services and activities all continue , and will be led in the coming months by various visiting speakers, to whom we are very grateful  We have a leadership team of deacons who are elected by the members.  They meet regularly to discuss the spiritual and practical needs of the church but the final decision making body of the church is the church meeting, usually held bi-monthly.  Everyone is welcome to attend, although if any issue requires a formal vote, this is open to  those who have been baptised and welcomed into membership by the church. It is not necessary to be a church member to attend church, or the meeting. 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 gather together from 9.30am for prayers and reflection .  ( please check our Calendar )

From 10.30am we have refreshments and a time to catch up with each other and at 11am we have our main morning gathering.

We love to praise God so we do through prayer and worship.  We love to sing and 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 we are inspired, challenged and encouraged as speakers open Gods word to us , showing us how it applies to our everyday lives.

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

We share communion together once a  month. We aim 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 praying for others, 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.

Twice a month there are activities for children and young people in their own space, with Bible teaching, discussion and crafts .  We also explore worship through having Creative Church  - more interactive, exploring faith through creative participation and enriching conversations  - come and see for yourselves !  ( details of specific services in the calendar) 

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, Fair Havens and Little Havens Hospices, Southend Against Modern Slavery charity, and  the local Christian’s Against Poverty (CAP) group  Through the church finances we support many charities.

From time to time we offer social activities, often involving food - walks, picnics, BBQs, anything that’s easy to come to ourselves and easy to invite our friends along to.  We  have a  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 ( see the Calendar for details) .  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 that meet throughout the month, these are informal, friendly gatherings in someone’s lounge/garden or at the church ,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.

Every Thursday morning between 10.00am and 12 noon we host our Renew Wellbeing cafe - a space to come and relax, drink tea and eat cake, do puzzles and craft, or simply just be. Somewhere it's OK not to be OK.  Open and free to anyone. 

Occasionally we have a Day /Week of Prayer using various more creative styles of prayer, such as prayer walks or prayer stations, on various themes.

We also have occasional Church Away Day,  some of which have been held at Barnards Farm and The Othona Community at Bradwell-on-Sea, most recently at St Michael's church in Dawes Heath Road.  They have provided an opportunity for us to be together, to worship, relax, chill, chat, eat, have fun and take time to discuss the important and the mundane 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!