Who are we?

The earliest known record of a Methodist Society in Upminster is in the year 1848 when Robert Eaglen, a Brentwood Local Preacher, registered a house of worship. This Society was no doubt in the short-lived Brentwood Mission Circuit.
The pioneers of the present Upminster Methodist Church met for worship in a drawing room above The Pharmacy in Station Road, the home of Mr & Mrs Humphreys.

On 7th May 1910 the Rev. Allen Rees called a meeting of interested Methodists to outline a scheme for a place of worship in Upminster. This was held in Woolfs Restaurant, Station Road, when it was decided to build a Methodist Church in Upminster.

The Methodists were looking forward to a better future as they had bought land in Hall Lane for £600 and with a church, a corrugated iron building, given by Methodists at Goodmayes could move from meeting over the shop in Station Road. The church had already become known as the “tin tabernacle”. They had no Minister but they had a lot of faith and it was a start. Just as the Upminster Windmill’s sails could be seen turning to produce flour for the people’s physical needs, so the Methodist Brethren, together with any others who might join them, intended with God’s help to bring the Bread of Life for their spiritual welfare.

Ninety seven years later, with the building of thousand of houses, Upminster has changed from the “village” to the town, and is now a part of Greater London. Whilst the work of the Upminster Windmill finished between the two World Wars, the work of the Methodist Church goes on.

The Minute Books record how this small Society (as Methodist Churches were once called) developed from this handful of people with vision to become a Church touching over five hundred homes as it does today. They record the steps taken of the transition from the room over a shop, to the tin tabernacle in 1910, to the building of the present Tudor-Gothic style church in 1923, The Church Parlour added in 1935 and a range of ancillary buildings for Sunday School, youth and adult activities in 1960, the renovating of the interior of the Church and the provision of the stained-glassed windows from 1961 to 1963, the completion of The Outback Scheme in 1973 to provide a brick built Scout Headquarters, with ample space for Scout and Guide equipment, and a tarmac play area, the replacement Church organ, and building of the new vestry. All on the site purchased with so much faith and foresight by the pioneers.

The story of the building is bound up with the growth of the Church. Today we still have Sunday Services in the morning and evening with a Junior Church and Creche available. Weekly activities feature Holy Communion & Prayer Meeting, Choir Practice, Wesley Guild, Thursday Club for ladies, Brownies, Guides, Rangers, Beavers, CubScouts, Scouts, Explorers, Triune Youth Club, Wesley Players.

This website is another new initiative within the Upminster Methodist Church to spread the message of Our Lord to all people. If you are able to visit us for worship on any Sunday you will always find a friendly welcome.
We pray for the strength and foresight of our forefathers, that in God we too may provide wisely; that we too may enable children not only to come to know Jesus but also to be able to hold on to Christian convictions and attitudes as they mature in what has become a more challenging, articulate, multi-racial and free society.

Upminster Methodist Church