Our Story

About West Cliff Baptist Church

West Cliff Baptist Church is a Bible-believing, evangelical church in Westbourne, Bournemouth. We are affiliated to Baptists Together and the Southern Counties Baptist Association, and are a member church of the Evangelical Alliance UK.

A Brief History

The church was founded in 1879 in Seamore Road, accommodating 150 worshipers. The church also opened and supported Westbourne’s British School, the only school in Westbourne under government inspection at this time. Robert Colman was the church’s first Pastor, and the church today retains a memorial tablet and stained-glass window in his memory.

In 1881, the church joined the Southern Baptist Association under its original name Westbourne Baptist Chapel. The original church building was enlarged in 1883 and the church was involved in planting and supporting other local churches. The land for the current church site was acquired in 1889, with the building opening two years later as The West Cliff Tabernacle. The membership in 1891 was 152 people, and the new building was able to seat up to 560 worshipers. The adjoining buildings were used for the school.

In 1908, the church unanimously agreed to change the name to West Cliff Church. The church building saw action in World War I, with the YMCA using the Hall as a recreation space for soldiers in Westbourne, and the Tabernacle roof suffered bomb damage during World War II.

Over the years, the condition of the buildings deteriorated, so major repair works were carried out in 1973, as well as cleaning, restoration and redecoration. For the church’s centenary in 1979, a new baptistry was added with a raised platform. The freehold for the church land was purchased from the Cooper Dean Estate in 1956 and in 1994 the church was listed as a Grade II building.

The church went through a difficult time in 2018. In October of that year, Rev Chris Kelly agreed to a part-time post as pastoral consultant for 12 months. By the grace of God, the church stabilised and united under his leadership while a new full-time pastor was sought. Rev Chris Bishop was inducted as pastor at the end of November 2019, at which time there were 58 members.

Our Leadership

Rev Chris Bishop has been our pastor since late 2019. You can find out more about Chris, as well as the rest of our leadership team on the ‘Our Team’ page.

Meet Our Team

Bournemouth beach viewed from Westbourne

Loving Westbourne

Westbourne is a quirky little place, within a 20 minute walk of Bournemouth Town Centre.

We’re surrounded by beautiful scenery, with the chines providing tree-covered paths down to the beach.

Westbourne itself has a range of vintage shops, as well as lots of places to eat and drink. All in all, it’s a lovely place that we’re happy to call home.

All of this means we’re often joined on Sundays by holiday-makers – so if you’re in the area for a trip, we’d love to see you!

Our Beliefs

West Cliff Baptist Church is a Bible-believing church who truly believe that Jesus changes lives!

In short, we believe in the saving message of Jesus, sometimes referred to as ‘the gospel’ or ‘good news’. We believe that through His death for us on the cross, we have the opportunity of forgiveness from every wrong, a renewed relationship with God, and the promise of eternity with Him. It’s the amazing message we want to share with others!

Our church statement of faith outlines more specifically the key truths we believe in that bring the gospel — the good news — to life.

Read our Statement of Faith

If you have any questions about our beliefs, or about the faith in general, we would be thrilled to talk to you. You can send us a message via our contact page.

Statement of Faith

As a church we believe in…

The one true God who lives eternally in three persons – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
The love, grace and sovereignty of God in creating, sustaining, ruling, redeeming and judging the world.
The divine inspiration and supreme authority of the Old and New Testament Scriptures, which are the written Word of God – fully trustworthy for faith and conduct.
The dignity of all people, made male and female in God’s image to love, be holy and care for creation, yet corrupted by sin, which incurs divine wrath and judgement.
The incarnation of God’s eternal Son, the Lord Jesus Christ – born of the virgin Mary; truly divine and truly human, yet without sin.
The atoning sacrifice of Christ on the cross: dying in our place, paying the price of sin and defeating evil, so reconciling us with God.
The bodily resurrection of Christ, the first fruits of our resurrection; his ascension to the Father, and his reign and mediation as the only Saviour of the world.
The justification of sinners solely by the grace of God through faith in Christ.
The ministry of God the Holy Spirit, who leads us to repentance, unites us with Christ through new birth, empowers our discipleship and enables our witness.
The church, the body of Christ both local and universal, the priesthood of all believers — given life by the Spirit and endowed with the Spirit’s gifts to worship God and proclaim the gospel, promoting justice and love.
The personal and visible return of Jesus Christ to fulfil the purposes of God, who will raise all people to judgement, bring eternal life to the redeemed and eternal condemnation to the lost, and establish a new heaven and new earth. *

These truths hold us together as a church, and form the basis for our mission, and will be what in essence you’ll hear about if you come along on a Sunday!

What do the words mean?

“Sovereignty” = God’s all-powerful, ruling nature
“Incarnation” = God becoming human in the person of Jesus Christ
“Atoning” or “atonement” = The way we are made ‘at one’ again with God
”Justification” = A legal term meaning ‘declared right with God’
“Discipleship” = Learning to live like Christ

*As an Evangelical Alliance UK member church, our beliefs statement is the EAUK basis of faith. “What do the words mean?” words key is our explanatory addition.

We are also a member church of Baptists Together and the Southern Counties Baptist Association.

Hiring Our Facilities

Looking for a venue to hire in Westbourne?

Several of our rooms and halls are available for hire for private functions. This includes the Main Hall, which is served by a fully equipped kitchen, as well as Room 2, which featured a kitchenette for your use. All rooms have Wifi available.

For more details about arranging room hire at the church, get in touch via this link.

Enquire about room hire