Our group has been active for around 6 years and during this time we have studied the main tenets and practices of a number of religions.
These encompass the three main Eastern beliefs – Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism, and the three Abrahamic religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

We have been very fortunate in how members of each faith have responded to our request to discover more.

As an example, at the start of 2025 a single email request to Thundersley Evangelical Church re attending a Sunday service led to a full year of studies. We met with Jon Taylor, one of the Church Elders and following on from chatting to him about his faith we were invited to join the congregation at a service and later in the year for their Harvest Festival meal. During the summer Jon accompanied us on a visit to the British Museum where he gave us an enlightening (if tiring!) tour entitled Archaeology of the Bible Lands. Jon happened to mention the Peculiar People, a Christian sect which began in Daws Heath and was mainly confined to our local area. They are now part of the Union of Evangelical Churches and we had interesting meetings with ministers from both Southend and Daws Heath.

We aim to balance our self-study and discussions with visits, and to this end we have had very enjoyable and informative excursions to three mosques, two Hindu Temples and two Buddhist Temples and a Sikh Gurdwara. Also a local Synagogue, an Eastern Orthodox Church and our local churches, St Mary’s, St Georges, St Peters and Holy Family.

Our next topic is to expand our knowledge of Judaism by looking at Orthodox Judaism and how this is practiced within the modern society in the UK.

Cheryl Kirby