Graham Wadley has a life-long connection with the church and has been playing the organ there every Thursday night for choir practice and Sunday morning for church services.
The Colchester Gazette reported that both of his parents Norman and Edna sung in the choir when Mr Wadley was just seven years.
He began to learn the organ aged 13, and said: "I could play well enough to play a few hymns, but it is complicated, it is a hard instrument to learn.
"You have three keyboards, two for your hands and one for your feet and you have to coordinate everything. You learn gradually.
"I learnt a huge amount from John Tatam at the church. He was a great teacher and an absolutely superb musician.
"When he retired for the second time and moved away, I took over from him." Mr Wadley took over at the age of 18 and has worked in the role for the past 50 years.
In 1968, he began organising the church choir: "I have been doing it pretty much ever since.
"I have worked for four vicars - Douglas Gaye, Stephen Hardie, David Thomas and Erwin Lammens and have played for Sunday services and weddings - hundreds of weddings."
Mr Wadley's wife Hilary also sang in the choir, and their three children followed suit.
The family lives less than a mile from the church, and Mr Wadley said: "The church means a lot. It is really the heart of a community. The years have passed at a pace."
He wouldn't have found out that he had been there 50 years if it had not been for his mother's diary: "When my mum died she left a comprehensive set of diaries which my wife went through and found when I had started playing the organ.
"Things have changed quite a bit over the years.
"We used to have two services on every Sunday, but now only have the morning service and an afternoon service once a month."
Mr Wadley has been involved in the Society for Church Music for 40 years.
A celebration was held at the church to mark his 50th anniversary, with 120 guests attending including the Bishop of Colchester.
He said: "I still enjoy playing. I can't see the music as well as I could, but I know all the hymns by heart."
