 Soon after establishing himself in Bloomsbury Square he produced the winning design in the competition for St. John the Evangelist, Hildenborough, in Kent, his first church, completed in 1844.Notably, the church was in Christian's favourite Early English Gothic style, built in stone with tall, pointed lancet windows and was of a preaching church form, very broad, open and spacious inside, centring attention on the sermon during services.This reflected Christian's own preferences and strictly held belief, being a serious and rather forbidding low-church Anglican.