Our History
How we got started...
A group of nine people of mixed ages and backgrounds, and from various churches in Hertford started meeting in the River Rooms at Castle Hall in Hertford in the late summer of 1997.
These meetings were small and relaxed. An openness to pray with each other and to listen to God through worship and the Word characterized the meetings. It was out of these informal meetings that Hertford Community Church was born. As a group of believers, it was our heart to do something for the people of our community, and we wanted the name to speak of the community we were building in the church and the style of sharing and Christ-centred openness we longed for in our lives.
During 1999, a few members felt that God was leading us to meet together and serve the community somewhere else in Hertford. With this in mind, we started to explore venues on the Pinehurst estate.
We decided that Christmas 1999 would be a good time to ask people from the estate to join us for a Sunday morning service in the Pinehurst Community Centre. We had about a dozen visitors and kids for a simple Christmas celebration, mulled wine and minced pies.
After a few months, we made the decision to meet at the Pines Junior and Infant School, as opportunities were opening up there. The school was keen for us to use their hall, so we finally left the River Room and started weekly Sunday morning meetings there in May 2000.
In September 2001, HCC started the Pines Preschool on the Pinehurst estate following the closure of the existing preschool. During Easter 2004, the Pines Preschool moved from the site of the former Pines JMI School to the Community Centre.
When the Pines School closed after the 2003 school year, HCC provided a minibus for community use. The primary use of the minibus was to transport students from Pinehurst to Hertford Heath JMI School. It was also used for various other functions, including youth events and day-trips for the older people on Pinehurst.
During the time HCC met at the Pinehurst, we started running a holiday club for primary aged children for a week in the Summer holidays. We also ran an after school club which met once a week during term time The HCC Children's Worker and other members of HCC had great fun over the years getting to know the children who attended these events.
In 2009 we started holding our Sunday meetings at Cowbridge Halls in the centre of Hertford. The move was prompted by the need for more space for our Sunday School groups. However, we still had a Breakfast Church gathering at the Pinehurst Community Centre every so often. The United Reformed Church kindly allowed us to hire the Cowbridge Halls on a Sunday morning and also to store all of our equipment at this venue.
Where we are now...
In 2022, we started exploring possible venues on the Sele Farm estate. It seemed to make sense to meet there on a Sunday morning, as many of our church members live in this part of Hertford.
We are blessed to be able to hire out both the Sele Community Centre and the Wellbeing Hub for our gatherings and social events.