Christ Church Woking has opened its new Youth and Community Centre following the rededication of its church building by the Acting Bishop of Guildford, Rt Revd Paul Davies.
After more than a decade of prayer, planning and fundraising, the congregation marked the completion of its Gateway Building Project with a Service of Thanksgiving and Rededication on Friday 9 October. The service was attended by congregation members past and present, and representatives of key partners of the project, including Cllr Tim Hall MBE (Chair of Surrey County Council), Cllr Rob Leach (Mayor of Woking), Will Forster (MP for Woking) and Bishop Paul.
The £5.7 million project has added the Youth and Community Centre, upgraded the building’s infrastructure and created a new glass frontage.
The work has provided more space for worship and for youth and community events. It has also expanded and refurbished The Church Café and Sanctuary Bookshop, opened up the building to connect more closely with the town, and modernised its systems for the 21st century.
Steve Roberts, PCC Secretary and the main client contact, said: “It’s been a pleasure to work with Fathom, our architects, and Ridge, the project managers, over the past few years, first on getting the required planning and faculty permissions and then with Ash Construction during the construction phase of the project”.
Construction took 18 months and required the church building to close completely for a year. During that time, the congregation held Sunday morning services at Woking’s Nova cinema and evening worship at St Andrew's Goldsworth Park, with midweek meetings taking place at other venues across the town, including St Mary of Bethany and the Woking United Reformed Church.
Revd Adrian Beavis, vicar of Christ Church, said: "After such a long adventure - involving many years of praying and planning, faith and fundraising - it is so exciting to see the building complete and the vision from over a decade ago become a reality. But even more important is that we are now fully reopened and can use the renovated building for its purpose. To show care, compassion and welcome to the town community and for us to live out our vision to ‘share God's heart in the heart of Woking.’"
The project was made possible through local and national partnerships, including grants from Your Fund Surrey, Woking Borough Council, Benefact Trust, Garfield Weston Foundation, Laing Family Trusts, Marshalls, Common Ground and the Bishop of Guildford. These were all alongside the generous donations from congregation members.
Before formally rededicating the church building, Bishop Paul said: “I want to say, as Bishop, how proud I am of this community for achieving this remarkable project. I am also proud of our community in Surrey. The partnerships we have in this town and this county are utterly remarkable. So many have donated generously and supported the project from the beginning.”
The refurbished church is now open, welcoming visitors to The Church Café, Sanctuary Bookshop and the main worship space.