Hartley Wintney Baptist Church
Hartley Wintney Hampshire

Welcome. Thank you for visiting the Hartley Wintney Baptist Church. We would love to welcome you to one of our Sunday services or other activities too. We hope that you find all the information you need here, but if you have any further questions please get in touch with us.

We are a small but enthusiastic and friendly congregation meeting every Sunday in the Baptist Church on the main road through Hartley Wintney. Our services are fairly traditional in style and include both well-known hymns and modern worship songs. The Bible is central to us as a church as we seek to serve our Lord Jesus Christ and further the work of his Kingdom in the local community and beyond.

It was great to meet so many people at the Hartley Wintney Christmas Market in December. Now that Christmas is behind us, winter can seem dark and dreary. But God can bring light, joy and new life into the darkest places and into the darkest times. You would be very welcome to join us at one of our regular Sunday morning or evening services. Every Sunday is an opportunity to get to know Jesus as we read the Bible, learn, pray and sing together.

 

https://www.hwbaptist.org.uk/  

The church is on the main A30 through Hartley Wintney. Approaching from Camberley/London it is on the left as you enter the village. Approaching from Hook/Basingstoke it is on the right just before leaving the village.  

There is no car parking at the church but there is free parking on Sundays in the layby opposite the church and parking in the village centre is free on Sundays, just a few minutes’ walk away.  

Hartley Wintney Baptist Church is the oldest Baptist Church in North East Hampshire. Meetings started in 1805 in a room in the village and because this soon became too small, the chapel was built and opened on 8th July 1807. Initially this chapel was run by the Baptist Church in Reading, but on November 7th 1808 it gained independence and became a Baptist Church in its own right. Each November, we hold a Church Anniversary service when we give thanks for what the Lord has done through the church in the past, celebrate what he is doing among us in the present and look forward to how he will continue to be at work in the future.

The church really comprises the members who have committed themselves to serve Jesus Christ together among the local community. However, the building provides a place for us to meet and gives continuity over the years. We continue to be grateful for those who had the foresight over 200 years ago to acquire land and build a chapel so that there could be a continuing witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ among the people of Hartley Wintney.

The building has undergone a number of changes in the past two centuries. Initially in 1808 there were thirty members but within two years the membership had increased to sixty-nine people and by this time a gallery had already been added to accommodate the growing congregation. During the late 1830’s and early 1840’s the church thrived and the building was further extended.

The most recent change to the building was to insert double doors out on to the pavement in the front of the church as a more welcoming entrance than the door at the side which had served as the main entrance for around 200 years.

Much of this information is taken from ‘The Strict Baptist Chapels of England: Volume 1 The Chapels of Surrey and Hampshire’ by Ralph F Chambers which was published in 1952.

The following have served the church as pastors.

1809-1811 James Millard

1816-1818 John Andrew Jones

1819-1821 Richard Lay

1824-1828 Sidney Thompson

1829-1831 James Benjamin Thurling

1836-1846 William James

1860-1862 Isaac Spencer

1894-1896 Frank Fells

1900-1943 J William Gosling

1972-1978 Chris Russell

1979-1983 Trevor Jones

1984-2004 John Briggs

2006-2012 Tony Smith

2014-Present Jim Etherton