History of Living Hope Bible Church
Living Hope Bible Church, St Martin’s Chapel, 124 High Street, Lydd, Kent TN29 9BA
This church was originally a new plant, born out of an unfortunate division of the work and ministry of Grace Fellowship in Ashford, an evangelical church in membership with the FIEC, the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches. That church had been established some dozen or so years prior, but following a leadership change, Grace Fellowship divided into two in 2012.
The new church which was formed by this separation was subsequently named Living Hope Bible Church, and this break-away church began meeting, first of all in a meeting room of a sporting facility in Ashford town in Kent, and shortly afterwards, in 2013 the venue changed, so that the church began using part of a commercial premises on an industrial estate in Ashford, where facilities had been made available temporarily while a new more permanent home was sought, and right from its early beginnings the church was committed to teaching and preaching through Scripture on an expositional verse-by-verse basis.
Following the departure of the original pastor, who was the prime mover in the division of the original church, two dear friends and supporters, Pastor David Webster, and Pastor Barry King, helped out until the following year, and early on in 2013 a Midweek Bible Study was begun in the coastal town of Hythe, some 10 miles south of Ashford, on the edge of the area known as the Romney Marsh, meeting in the home of one of the attendees, and close to where a number of other attendees lived. This was led on behalf of the church by one of the men who was later appointed as one of the joint pastors of Living Hope Bible Church, and during this time also, efforts were put in place to ensure the restoration of good fellowship with the original church Grace Fellowship, in Ashford.
In addition, during 2013, by the providence of God, the church moved completely away from Ashford to begin meeting in a village hall in Hythe on a Sunday and continued meeting in a local home in Hythe on a Wednesday evening. Still, following on from the restoration of fellowship with the founding church, a number of the people who originally were part of the plant, chose rather to remain in the Ashford area, so the congregation of the new church was significantly reduced.
However, during this time also there had been several new people who had begun coming to the church from across the Romney Marsh, one of whom had been baptised and his family had started attending the church, so in the light of these new attendees from the local area, it was decided that Living Hope Bible Church would continue as an independent church within the coastal region of Kent, where it was now settled, and in the following year, 2014, the appointment was confirmed for the two men, Pastor Alan Clark and Pastor Nathan Tarrant to become the joint pastors to lead the church, supported initially by a third man, John Green who stood with them as a third Elder.
The numbers attending the church were very low during this period, and both Pastor Alan, and Pastor Nathan were appointed as joint pastors, on what is often referred to as a tent-making ministry appointment to the church, both having their own income sources, and therefore they were able to lead the church without the small congregation having the costly burden of having to fund paid ministers, and this also enabled the church to become one which was committed to supporting foreign mission work, a commitment which remains important to the church to this day.
After a period of two years from the move to Hythe, during 2015 and following the death of one of the original folk, in whose home the Midweek Bible Study had been held, it became necessary to move that midweek meeting to Greatstone on Romney Marsh, where the majority of the attendees lived, and thus the meeting continued at the home of Pastor Alan and his wife in Greatstone, and this, along with the use of the village hall at Hythe, continued through until 2020.
During these early years, the newly established leadership team prayerfully encouraged the people of the church to seriously consider the origins and theological stance of Living Hope Bible Church, to be able to define the identity of the church more clearly, and over a period the church was established based on being both theologically “Reformed”, and denominationally “Baptist”, as well as becoming a membership-based church with an identified church membership covenant. After that, under the guidance of the Joint Pastors, Alan and Nathan, the church moved steadily towards being identified as a Confessional Baptist Church, adhering to the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith 1689, and having been constituted on that basis, Living Hope Bible Church then became a member of the Association of Grace Baptist Churches South-Eastern in 2018.
In 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns, access to the village hall in Hythe was denied, so the church were forced to continue to meet using the online facilities of Google Meet and Zoom, while alternative accommodation was found, and later in 2020 a possible option became available for the purchase of a redundant Roman Catholic building in the Romney Marsh town of Lydd, in Kent, which had been purchased along with the surrounding grounds by a development company, for potential redevelopment for housing.
Following discussions with the developer, and by the gracious providence of Almighty God, the developer agreed to sell the redundant church building and a small plot of adjacent ground, to Pastor Alan and his wife, who had funds available which they were committed to using for that purpose, and so over the next months, negotiations proceeded until in July 2021 the building was finally handed over to the church for their ownership, and after some internal alterations, Living Hope Bible Church, St Martin’s Chapel, Lydd opened on 12th September 2021.
Since finally moving to Lydd in 2021, the church has remained a very small but faithful church which continues to be committed to the principle of teaching and preaching through Scripture on an expositional verse-by-verse basis, so that we cannot avoid teaching the whole council of God.
In 2023, the church became a founding member of the Association of Confessional Baptist Churches in the UK. Although the church has again hit a period where numbers have fallen, nevertheless, by the grace of God, we have also had a number of baptisms. We have now appointed a church deacon to assist in the work, and so we press on, seeking to honour Our Precious Lord as we serve Him in this situation.
Lydd is a town within 2 miles of the South Kent coast at Greatstone and Dungeness. It is in an area of natural beauty and special scientific interest, and so people tend to visit from all over the UK and Europe. We have visitors come to worship with us at various times from some quite far-flung places.
Lydd is a town which has a local population of approximately 7000. The surrounding areas of the Romney Marsh have further towns and many villages within a short drive from the church at St Martin’s Chapel, and sited on the edge of the community within walking distance of the Chapel, Lydd also has a MOD barracks and training camp. This camp is currently being used predominantly by overseas forces, on six monthly tours of duty, as well as by teams of foreign language interpreters, and we have been pleased to be able to extend a warm welcome to those from the camp who like to come and join with us for our services when they are able.
We currently have a men’s and a ladies’ group meeting, a Christian Book Club, our Sunday Service, and our Wednesday Midweek Meeting. We continue praying for the community of Lydd as we witness to those with whom we have contact, both in the town and across the local area.
In terms of our mission work, among other missionary endeavours both at home and abroad, ever since 2020, we have been supporting the work of a mission family who work and live among the indigenous tribes of Tarahumara in the mountain regions of Mexico. In addition, we support a local indigenous pastor and his wife, who ministered in a church in Serbia in eastern Europe. This connection will be described in much greater detail in a separate report.