The Dickenson family were able to obtain £225 for the sale of a disused chapel in Penshurst, With this building began and the first chapel was completed in 1835 at a total cost of £458. A trust was set up - still existing today. Around that time the population in Pembury was probably still under 1000. In the first few years of the chapel's life, services were taken by members of the Countess of Huntingdon's chapel in Tunbridge Wells. But Mr George Cooke became the first settled pastor
In 1885 the Chapel was found to be full of dry rot and just before its jubilee of 50 years the roof fell in. Urgent action was needed and immediately the ever provident John Betts stepped in and enlarged the lecture hall by 15 feet in order to accommodate the congregation for worship while the building of a new chapel took place.
Amongst the newly appointed trustees was Sir Samuel Morton Peto. He had been involved in prestigious London building, including the Houses of Parliament. Later he was involved in railway construction on a massive scale across the British Empire. He was an MP, a keen Baptist, supporting the Baptist Missionary Society, and building several London chapels including Bloomsbury and Regents Park. The local firm of Penns was commissioned to build the new Chapel for £1,500, finished and opened in 1887. When Samuel Peto died in 1889 a brass plaque was placed in the chapel in his memory.
In 1934 the slates on the south side of the church were replaced, a full central heating system was installed, electric light replaced gas and an organ was purchased.
Post-war, things began to move again. In 1950 the field was sold for housing for the grand sum of £250 and in 1951 there were 74 members and 108 in the Sunday school with 18 teachers. The Manse had to be pulled down due to dry rot and a new Manse was built, financed partly by a Baptist Union loan of £1500. In 1956 the basic stipend for a minister of an aided church of the Baptist Union minister was £450. To complete the picture, the north side of the roof was slated in 1959 with a £250 loan from the Kent & Sussex Baptist Association.
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