The history of our church...
One lady with a vision and a borrowed tent
After the First World War Clacton began to spread eastwards towards Holland on Sea as more and more people moved into the area. New houses and bungalows were springing up as empty plots were developed. In 1934 on 27th February Miss C A Henderson, who had moved from Twynholm Baptist Church in Fulham, gathered to talk to and pray about starting a church in up and coming Holland on Sea. Every month they met to pray and plan. Others with the same vision joined them and on Sunday June 10th they held their first service - in a borrowed tent on land opposite Kenilworth Road.
The vision rapidly grew after that and on 12th September the group began praying to God to give them an old wooden bungalow and the land it occupied opposite Kenilworth Road on the corner of Norman Road When someone gave them an interest free loan of £250 they decided on 1st October to follow the vision and buy the bungalow called "Hainault" for £850. What excitement! God was moving.
The praying and and planning 'committee' decided to call the new church 'Beulah Church Mission Hall', Beulah being a Hebrew word for the bible that summed up their vision for the church as found in Isaiah:
No longer will you be called "Forsaken," Or your land be called "The Deserted Wife." Your new name will be "God is Pleased with her." Your land will be called "Happily Married," ("Beulah"), because the Lord is pleased with you. And will be like a husband to your land'. (Isaiah 62:4).
That was their vision and longing - for the Lord to be like a husband to all the people in Holland on Sea, and so following the granting of permission from the Council for public Services to be held at 'Hainault', the 14 founder members and their 15 children marked the official grand opening of the church in 1935 with a weekend of services, a dedication prayer meeting on the Saturday, services on the Sunday and a grand Public meeting on the Monday.
All done in just one year when God gave one very determined lady avision who then borrowed a tent!
Words taken from the following publication in 2015: Celebrating A Work in Progress eighty years.
Growing Pains
The little church that had started in 1935 with 14 members meeting in 'Hainault', the wooden bungalow at the corner of Norman Road began to slowly grow although it was touch and go during the Second World War (1939 - 1945) owing to evacuation, war conditions and the death of the insperational Miss Henderson. But this was God at work in Holland, and from little acorns grow...
After the war the members invited Pastor Hubert Bottoms to become their 'honorary' Pastor and a £5 donation was given to start a New Church Fund, as it was obvious to these pioneers that 'Hainault' would soon be a meeting place if the church was to continue to grow, especially as new estates were developing towards the Pickers Ditch and Haven areas. In 1947 they increased the seating area for an extra 24 chairs by moving the outer wall of the bungalow to take in the verandah!
This extention proved to be insufficient with the reopening of the Sunday school the following year, but a request for planning permission to build a hall behind the bungalow was turned down. Meanwhile 'Hainault' was now in a precarious state literally bursting at the seams! In 1953 it was decided to pull it down and to build a new church and a sixteen foot wide hall behind it at a cost of £6000. The church now had £1548 saved in its New Church Building Fund, and lots of faith! The last Service in 'Hainault' was on 10th July 1955, demolition beginning the next day, and Sunday services held in the Red Cross Hall.
What joy when the new church building was opened the following year on 17th March, 1956, two hundred and fifty people packed the place out, and miraculously everything was paid for. The first believer was baptised in the special pool under the floor in that December; the membership had increased from 14 to 44. God's wind was filling the sails of the new church.
Words taken from the following publication in 2015: Celebrating A Work in Progress eighty years.
'One more mountain'.
The church in 2015 at eighty years old is still daring to dream and face the challenge of making the timeless message of the Bible relevant to the modern I.T., high tech, internet, Twitter, Facebook world we now find ourselves in.
Being a church member is not about comfort, it's about saying , 'God, please give me another mountain'. Mountain climbing involves adventure, danger, risk, but also great reward when you finally get there. Please pray for us as we start the next stage on our journey. we don't have a pastor at the moment and are praying that the next leader God gives us will enjoy mountain climbing with us in Holland on Sea.!
Words taken from the following publication in 2015: Celebrating A Work in Progress eighty years.
Ten years on the church, once again finds itself in the same situation as Rev Chris Collict prepares to retire in early 2025. The church are again praying that the next leader God gives us also enjoys climbing mountains!
Church leaders at Holland on Sea from the beginning
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Deaconess C. H. Henderson 1934 -1941
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Pastor Hubert Bottoms 1945 - 1953
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Rev. Kenneth H. Toms 1960 -1967
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Rev. Carlton Hewitt 1968 - 1973
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Rev. Peter Chevill 1975 - 1990
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Rev Ian Evans 1991 - 2006
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Rev. Mark Lawford 2007 - 2013
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Rev. Christopher G. Collict 2016 - 2025
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Who will be the church's ninth leader? Watch this space.
Below are some historical images kindly provided by Lorna Davey
Click here to see more images from the past.
If you have any images from the past please talk to Chris Akehurst
