The story so far

Dear Friends, the origins of the Christ Church Centre lie more than three years ago. At that time, as a church, we spent quite some time considering “what kind of church did God want us to be ?” Over a period of time He made it clear that our priorities and our purpose should be, in the words of Jesus himself, “to love God and to love our neighbour.”

We took a long hard look at ourselves and realised that we needed to do better in both departments! Because God has poured out his love into our hearts, we want ourselves to be welcoming, and relevant to the needs of people in Warley.

We could see that our facilities, apart from the church itself, needed improvement. Many people commented favourably about us and main church once they had come in, but the entrance was cramped, dark and draughty. We were short of suitable space for a growing number of mid-week activities and the toilets and kitchen needed upgrading.

We asked our architect to design the Christ Church Centre and the estimate came back that it would cost £400,000 to do the job properly, which was a huge figure for us. On top of that, we needed to gain the support and approval of the whole Christ Church family and a range of county, local and Diocesan authorities. The question was, did we have the faith to start and to see it through ?

We took the decision to go ahead and have found ourselves on a faith-building journey which this month brings us to the opening of the new Centre. As we prayed, God alerted us in a vision that there would be times on the journey when we would not be able to clearly see the way ahead, but we were to ‘stay on the bus’ and he would guide us forward. That has proved to be so true. Already this project has changed us as a church family and it will continue to do so. We have learnt better how to pray, how to trust, how to work together, and how to be generous with our money and ourselves in response to God’s great generosity to us.

In one amazing month of February last year, over £150,000 was given by members of Christ Church. This was on top of more than £70,000 available from our reserves thanks to the generosity of past generations. It was clear that the vision for the Christ Church Centre was capturing everyone’s imagination.

The Boys Brigade made a very substantial donation and we give them our heartfelt thanks. More funds were needed and we are most grateful to those trusts who have made donations: Garfield Weston Foundation, Essex Environment Trust, Beatrice Laing Trust, The Rank Foundation, Fowler Smith & Jones Charitable Trusts and Allchurches Trust.

Just last month, in another Gift Day, the contribution from the current Christ Church family rose to well over £200,000, more than half the total raised. What an incredibly generous response! As it opens, all the bills for the Centre and the new tower entrance are covered.

We have been fortunate to work with a talented and hard working group of professionals, Gerald Barrett our architect, Ian Hawkridge our quantity surveyor, Laurence Smith our contractor and his men. They have worked very well together, with each other and with us.

Many individuals from within the congregation have contributed a great deal of their time and skills. You know who you are. I want to thank them all for making possible this new chapter in the story of Christ Church. I would particularly like to acknowledge the tremendous work of Phillip Smith. He has been a constant presence at all stages of the project for the last 3 years. It simply would not have happened without him. He has been God’s gift to us. Thank you Philip.

Throughout the period of preparation and of construction we have been very conscious that we are building primarily for others and not just for ourselves. The Centre is to be our gift to the community of Warley. Jesus himself showed us that the Christian way is the way of service and we want to put this increasingly into practice.

What an amazing God we serve and what an amazing journey! We give Him our thanks, our praise and our love.

Taste and see that the Lord is good! Psalm 34:8
Rev Chris Goldsmith