Our History

Our elders, leadership team and staff recognise that we really are standing on the shoulders of those who established EBC all those years ago (too many to mention them all here!) and everyone who has developed things, each in and for their season, along the way. It is important to remember our roots and stay centred on the foundation built by our God.

We are both proud and humbled to pick up the torch and look forward with confidence to what God does in the next season of life at EBC, this little branch of His mighty, holy and eternal Church.

Where our story begins...

The estate of Easthampstead as part of Bracknell New Town was under construction and there was a rumour that a site for a Baptist Church was being planned for the estate.
Hilda and David Wells felt God had led them here for this new church and with a few faithful Christians, worship began wherever a place could be found to meet.
People from Bracknell and Wokingham churches assisted in the house-to-house meetings.

1958

Our first service in Wimpey Builder's Hut, Haversham Drive with nine attendees

The builders hut is removed and worshippers met in various houses weekly to develop their faith while looking for a new location

1960

Allan Cox inducted to become the minister of the new church to be built on South Hill Road

1961

Services began in the new site on South Hill Road

1962

26th May 1962 - The official opening ceremony of EBC!

1966

EBC became independant from Wokingham Baptist Church

1972

Rev. John Stevens was inducted to the EBC pastorate

1979

Rev. Frank Boyd was inducted as EBC's minister

1989

Rev. Dane Baker was appointed Senior Minister

1991

Steph Littlejohn was appointed as Pastoral Assistant

1997

The building was redeveloped and a new congregation was planted at Crown Wood Primary School

Songs of Praise for older people was established at South Hill Road

2001

Rev. Chris Porter was appointed Assistant Minister

A new congregation, Explore, was planted at the sports centre

2003

Dr. Abs Dumbuya, a member at EBC establishes the Dorothy Springer Trust (DST) charity in his home country, Sierra Leone, to support people with disabilities

2008

Rev. Chris Porter was appointed Senior Minister and the church agreed that God is calling us to a new set of values, mission and vision.

South Hill Road, Crown Wood and Explore congregations all merge into one church family

2009

EBC extends the building at South Hill Road!

2010

Rev. Steph Littlejohn is ordained

Rev. Chris Porter leads several overseas trips to North Point Community Church in America that inspired EBC to fous more intentionally on an outward looking vision of EBC as a "church that 'unchurched' people love to attend"

Messy Church and Songs of Praise PLUS congregations were introduced

Our community cafe, Refresh, opened and ran until 2020

Our Storehouse ministry was launched to help deliver household goods to those in need

2017

Simon Lace was appointed Team Leader

2020

With the coronavirus pandemic, we open our 'digital front doors' with EBC Online, pre-recording talks for everyone to access on YouTube

Lockdown gave a perfect opportunity to revamp our lobby, main hall and toilets while people were out of the building!

2021

We started taking steps to become more 'inter-generational' with the start of our All-Sorts services once a month!

2022

We investigated live-streaming our services for those at home to feel more included

2023

Ablaze, a new evening service starts for those who want to engage in an extended time of creative worship! Runs on every second Sunday of the month

2024

Rev. Simon Lace is ordained

Hello and welcome to our church. If you are a new visitor, we have a page for you to get to know us and learn more about planning a visit.
Click to see more

Visitors click here

Planning your Visit

I am New

Welcome from all of us at Easthampstead Baptist Church!

Thank you for taking the time to learn a little more about us. As you explore our website, we hope that you catch a broader glimpse of what EBC is all about. It's about people - people just like you - who want to embark on a journey to discover more of God and his will for our lives.

What should I expect on a Sunday Morning?

Sometimes going to a church for the first time can be a little daunting. I promise we won't bite! To help ease any uncertainties below are the answers to some common questions people have before attending a Sunday morning.

What do I have to wear?

We are a 'come as you are' sort of people and have no formal dress-code for our Sunday services.
We can assure you that we don't have bouncers on the door vetting your attire!
If you are still not sure, feel free to check out our services on YouTube to have an idea.

What time do I need to be there?
At the moment we have one Sunday morning service which starts at 10.00am.

On the 4th Sunday of the month we run our All-sorts service which starts at 10:00am.

Check out our other services below!

Services

We would recommend you turn up 10 minutes before the service starts so you have a chance to say hi!
If you have children that need signing in to the children and youth work, they need to be signed in from 9:50am.

Parking

There is plenty of parking both out the front and at the back of the building. Just follow the signs!

How safe is my child in your care?

We run separate children and youth work during our 10:00am service, which is run by a group of volunteers who have all been DBS checked.

Children ages 11 and under must be signed in and out by their parent/carer. The youth can sign themselves in and out.

More information

For information about our safeguarding policy click here