Revd Wayne Dulson is facing opposition to his application to exhume bodies to make way for a four-bedroom house at Loughton Baptist Church.
The Sunday Mirror newspaper has spoken to residents who live nearby.
Underwriter Colin Hart, 50, said: "I'm disgusted that a supposed man of the cloth is happy to go around digging up bodies from their final place of rest.
"Local people have entrusted their loved ones to this church and this is how they behave.
"Whenever I mention the matter to friends, family, local residents and business acquaintances, they are all as equally appalled and not one person has felt that these actions are justifiable in anyway, especially as the project is to build himself a home.
"They had a perfectly acceptable property no more than 200 yards from the church."
Officials are now deciding whether to let the church exhume the bodies so it can continue building the new house.
In a statement Loughton Baptist Church said: "Loughton Baptist Church has recently undergone a redevelopment of over £550,000 in order to continue to serve the community, including the opening of a preschool and playground.
"Despite considerable research by professional contractors and looking at church archives, when digging out the footings for a new manse some historic human remains were discovered.
"These human remains were found in what was a disused burial ground within the grounds of the church and also they would have been under the previous church building which was built in 1860 and so all of these human remains are at least 150 years old.
"As these human remains are in unmarked graves the church had no way of knowing they were there.
"In the light of this we have worked with the Ministry of Justice Department and the local Environmental Health Officer and followed their guidelines to the letter.
"Loughton Baptist Church is committed to work for and with the local community and are saddened by any offence cause by this unforeseen event."