Present Facilities at the Westward Ho! Baptist (Free) Church

The church buildings are ideally situated in the centre of the seaside village of Westward Ho! with parking both on site and in the adjacent public car park. We are a growing congregation and the church building is often full on Sunday mornings. There is no space for further expansion in or around the existing church building and we are now considering, before God, how our facilities, as well as our Sunday services, must respond to the needs of the 21st century and beyond.

Our Church Hall is already in use throughout the week for our own activities as well as providing an adaptable and affordable space for community groups. At the same time, we understand from local research and enquiries, and from statutory agencies, that there is a demand for more space of this nature to meet growing needs in this local area.

Westward Ho! is a growing community with over 100 dwellings under construction (November 2006); more are planned within the 2006 Torridge Development Plan.

We are not an affluent church - local wages are some of the lowest in the UK - and those who attend are broadly representative of the area as a whole. The area which was hit very hard by Foot and Mouth Disease in 2001 and more recently, by a considerable reduction in the workforce of a local shipyard, has been designated as an area of Economic Deprivation by the Government.

Our buildings and facilities are clearly insufficient to meet our existing needs. If we are to meet the challenges of the 21st century with the gospel of Jesus Christ, then we now need to take a radical step of faith and look beyond our stone walls and become a church without barriers to bring that good news more into our local community.