What is a ‘Free’ Church?

This is probably the question we get asked most often!

Most of the churches in the UK are free churches even if they don’t use the word in their name. ‘Free’ church just means that the church is not part of the Church of England.

Blenheim Free Church is also an independent church. This means we don’t have bishops or a committee of people elsewhere telling us what to do. Instead the church (i.e. the church members) itself decides things like who its leaders are going to be and what to do with its money. We believe that independent churches are most similar to the churches we read about in the Bible.

However, although we’re independent and not part of a denomination we’re not loners! We think it’s good for churches to work together. To do this we’re a member of the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (FIEC) which is a group of around 600 churches like this one. We meet up with one another, organise conferences together, pray for one another and share practical support.

We also have great relationships with other churches in Maidenhead who believe the central truths of Christianity found in the Bible, as we do.

What about ‘Evangelical’?

Evangelical means we believe that the Bible is the word of God and that every person is sinful but will be forgiven by God if they repent and trust in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is what Christians everywhere have believed ever since Jesus ascended to heaven.

Watch a short video about what we believe or read our Statement of Faith.