Our History and Our Values

HAEBEA is a joint Methodist, United Reformed Church and Anglican Ecumenical Area.

Our History

In 1989, the West Essex United Area was established made up of four Methodist Churches, four United Reformed Churches, plus the joint Anglican/Methodist work that had begun at churches in Great Parndon. The Area included churches in Harlow, Roydon, Epping and North Weald.

In September 2006, a new and larger Ecumenical Area was formed from the merger of the West Essex United Area with the Lee Valley North Methodist Circuit to form the Herts And Essex Border Ecumenical Area (HAEBEA), adding churches in Waltham Cross, Hoddesdon, Hertford, Ware and Watton-on-Stone. United Reformed Churches in Ongar and Hatfield Heath also joined the new Area, bringing the total number of member churches to 16.

Over the years, partnerships have been dissolved seeing the loss of three LEP's (Local Ecumenical Partnerships) in Great  Parndon, Staple Tye and Waltham Cross. 

The corona virus lockdowns coupled with aging and diminishing congregation has seen the closure of several churches – David Livingstone URC, Trinity URC, Epping Methodist Church and North Weald Methodist Church have all closed.  Sadly, Watton-at-Stone Methodist Church has just announced its closure in November 2023. 

Against this backdrop of church closures, new growth emerged as in September 2023 the Bishop's Stortford Circuit joined HAEBEA and we welcomed Bishop's Stortford Methodist Church and Stansted Free Church to our family of churches.

Our Belief & Ecumenical Commitment

We confess our Faith in One God,
The Father, Creator,
The Son, Jesus the Christ, our Lord and Saviour,
The Holy Spirit, at work in our lives and the world.

• We rejoice in the riches of the traditions we have inherited and seek to share them more fully with one another in the unity, which is the will and gift of God.
• We seek a deepening of our communion with Christ and with one another and repent of all that is sinful in our past histories and present attitudes.
• We covenant to seek visible and organic unity, even though in our pilgrimage together we cannot foresee the form it will eventually take.
• We believe that all are loved and have the opportunity to have a living relationship with God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Our Calling

• We are called to live out our lives in faith and worship and to share the love of God with all who live in or visit the area.

Our Vision

• Our vision is for each of our churches to be the heart of their community and that in we will see both a growth in church attendance and greater depth in our discipleship.

Our Values

• We value our Christian heritage and respective denominational traditions as a movement for mission.
• We seek to be honest, transparent and welcoming in all our activities, serving all to whom we are called.
• We are committed to honouring the dignity of all people we meet and through our safeguarding practices provide a 'safe place' for children and vulnerable adults.