Hi Dave and all who are interested in church records around the area of
Hannover,
Heithoefen is a part of the town Bad Essen.
The church records of Bad Essen are available as films (fiches)
from 1690 to 1851 (births, marriages and deaths) in the
Kirchenbuchamt in Hannover
Hildesheimer Strasse
In case of searching the records from 1852 to the present time
you have to contact the church in Bad Essen itself.
But this case seems to be unlikely.
For all who are interested in the complete stock of the
Kirchenbuchamt Hannover please use the Internet address
http://www.kirche-hannover.de/kirchenbuchamt/archivbestand.html
On the top of the picture with the old books you will find
Liste komplett (654,30 KB)
which should be selected and clicked.
Then you will have access on the places and their church records
of the Kirchenkreis Hannover. There you can find
whether church records and what kind of records are available.
Good success
Bernd
PS: I'm residing 500 km from Hannover but I visited the
Kirchenbuchamt in Hannover in September last year. A lady was searching in
the records on behalf
of American clients. She is a professional genealogist, born in Germany and
married
with an American. Therefore she is able to read the old German handwriting.
Unfortunately, I forgot her name!