Church History & Who we are

Situated to the south west of Bracknell town centre, the estate of Great Hollands was built in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The area of Home Farm was to be added in the late 1970s. In all some 10,000 people live in this area but in the 1970s there was limited spiritual support. The Church of England had a pastoral centre in the Community Centre complex but only had weekday activities. There was no public Sunday worship on Great Hollands, so generally people had to travel elsewhere, if they wanted to attend a church. In the mid 1970s, a group of Christians worshipping at Bracknell Baptist Church (now Bracknell Family Church who worship at the Kerith Centre) felt burdened for the area. The late Murray Clark, then Church secretary at Bracknell Baptist Church, had a vision initially to start a Sunday School but which grew into a call to plant a church to be a witness to Great Hollands with the Gospel. The deacons of the Church prayed over this and eventually appointed Murray Clark as the deacon in charge of "Great Hollands Baptist Church." It held its first service on Easter Sunday 1975 in Great Hollands Junior School. The Clark, Eden and Cullis families formed the initial core of workers. Over the next few years the Church grew steadily, holding regular Sunday services, and Sunday School and engaged in a number of outreach activities including house to house visitation and holiday Bible clubs for children. In November 1975, the Church became independent of Bracknell Baptist Church and Brian Eden was elected as a second deacon and Treasurer. Early worshippers included Irene Greenwood, Cedric Doyle, Florrie Swan, Wyn and Arthur Vacher and David Warrilow who came to the area in December 1975. Some characteristics of the Church in the first year were that it had built up a large Sunday School, with many of the children coming from non-Christian homes, and that most of the core workers did not live in Great Hollands. It became evident that, because of the mixed background of the membership (e.g. Baptist, bretheren, Church of England and Church of Scotland) it would not be suitable to affiliate to the Baptist Union, which was thought about at the time, although it would remain broadly Baptist in practice.

In 1976 it was renamed Great Hollands Free Church (GHFC). About that time the Giles family joined and Anthony was soon appointed a deacon. At first the Church only held morning services and met for Bible study on Thursday evenings. Sunday evening services were started in October 1976. Communion was to become a key feature of these services, having been moved from being an appendage to the morning service. The aim was also to have a more open form of worship and opportunities for sharing. The Church recognised the importance of being linked to a wider group of Churches and in 1977 joined the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (FIEC) to which we still belong. Although numbers were relatively few the Church began a visitation of Great Hollands in October 1976. . The Church was also very active in youth work, holding Holiday Bible Clubs for children in 1975 and 1979, and initiating some youth work in East Lodge. By the end of the 1970s the Church had become well established and there was a strong desire to reach out with the Gospel and to grow closer to God. Inevitably with a young church we had our share of divergent views and we all had to re-examine why we believed what we did. The membership at that time was 15, but several more worshipped regularly at the Church and played an active role in its activities, including for example Stan and Joan Walters.

But just as things were developing it seemed God had other ideas. Firstly Brian Eden felt called into full time ministry. He and his family left so that he could study at Oakhill Bible College, with the financial support of the Church. He subsequently became Minister of a Datchet Fellowship Church in Suffolk. Then, shortly after Murray Clarke was posted by the Immigration Service to Dover. He and his family left early in 1981. This left Anthony Giles and David Warrilow as the remaining deacons. To misquote Lady Bracknell; "To lose one deacon was unfortunate but to lose two looked like carelessness!"

But that was not all. Anthony got a new job in his company which was at its Stevenage site and the Giles family departed early in 1982. David Warrilow became Church Secretary (after Anthony) and David Parker the second deacon was Treasurer. But by now the Church was badly depleted. The membership had dropped to 9 and there were relatively few wage earners and able workers. Was the Church still viable? The deacons felt that it should continue but sought the views of the whole congregation. An extra-ordinary meeting was called in May to test the resolve of the members of the congregation to continue and to seek God's guidance for the future. We had a positive sign. Jenny Bentley, wife of Michael, came to the meeting, as they had been looking to move to a church in Bracknell. I learned subsequently that Michael had been reluctant to get involved, but we felt he could provide the leadership that the Church needed. God clearly had things in hand. The meeting wholeheartedly agreed that the Church should continue and soon after this the Bentley family began to attend the Church. A new chapter had begun. Although the Church reached a low point in the first half of 1982, it still had an active Sunday School and Ladies Meeting. But the Bentleys brought with them a wealth of experience and contacts. Also in the summer a young graduate, Matthew Page, moved in to Bracknell and started to attend the Church. One consequence of the loss of members was that we had limited musical support for Sunday services. We prayed for a pianist and got two very accomplished musicians: Jenny and Matthew.

In November 1982 Michael became a deacon and Matthew was appointed shortly after. During this period we recognised the importance of becoming more visible and moved Sunday services from the School to the Community Centre. Michael and Jenny also got involved in Community activities. This was clearly a useful strategy as increasingly people from Great Hollands started attending the Church, turning the Church into the local community's Church. Michael had been a pastor before but now worked in a local school as a religious education teacher. The Church felt that it would be right to call Michael to become honorary pastor of Great Hollands Free Church. His induction service was on the 6th June 1984. After two years he arranged, with the school to work one weekday per week for the Church. But as the Church grew and Michael's workload increased so his time with the Church increased and this eventually reached four days per week. These 15 years were marked by stability and the Church grew steadily. Over this period membership of the Church almost doubled from about 30 to about 60. The inevitable movement of people in and out of the area meant that there were many more members in total. Numbers attending Sunday services rose as well reaching over 100. The rise in the congregation led us, in 1991, to return to holding services in the Junior School, where we have remained since. After 18 years dedicated service Michael Bentley stepped down as pastor and was replaced by Mike Walker who joined with his wife Christine in 2000. The church continued to thrive and to be a strong and visible force in the community. In 2005 Mike Walker was called back to serve as pastor at his previous church in London. From that time to the present, Great Hollands Free Church has been earnestly searching for the right man to lead the church, and have been faithfully served throughout by many committed members of the church and led by the two elders, Chris Smith and Dean Felix. The regular congregation numbers around 40, and we have faith that God has a plan and purpose for the church in the community of Great Hollands that will bring many from the community to belief in Christ.