wellspring project re-ordering

The Wellspring Project

In the heart of Wellswood, St Matthias witnesses to the Wellspring – Jesus – the source of ‘living water’ who invites us into life in all its fullness.   We aim to do that first and foremost by being the church, the people Jesus calls us to be – demonstrating His love and care for one another, seeking to love and serve our families, friends, community and networks

But the church as a building plays an important part of that witness too.  .Over the last 160 years, it has evolved and adapted to meet the needs of the church and wider community including the Church centre complex which many local clubs, schools and groups currently enjoy.

Wellspring has been the next stage of this evolution, making the 19th century church building more suitable for 21st century needs.

Building work commenced in the church in April 2019 after 4 years of planning – finding an architect* who fully understood our vision, drawing up plans which could be accepted by the PCC and obtaining the faculties.   Building work involved:

  • Addition of glass doors to the West entrance taking away the ‘closed’ impression and creating a bright, welcoming view into the church   
  • Removing the pews in order to replace with wooden chairs which would meet the needs of our more informal worship and be a welcome space for use by the community
  • Moving the marble font from the back of the church to the front enabling the whole congregation to take part in baptismal services
  • Creating a small café and freeing up the back of the church to have a comfortable sofa seating area to accommodate small gatherings and socialising 
  • A new large piazza area was created leading up to the west doors with two tv screens either side of the west doors advertising upcoming services and events.

                           

A CHURCH RE-OPENING WEEKEND took place 14/15 December 2019 which proved to be a very special time as we were able to gather together again to worship God in the church.   Over the next few weeks, we discovered different ways of holding worship within the new space of the church to accommodate our diverse services.

 

Covid-19 struck in March 2020 with lockdowns and limited numbers of people being able to use the church but the new design in seating has been extremely helpful in being able to position the chairs to enable social distancing.   The ministry of the church has expanded to services being live-streamed or recorded onto YouTube with occasional services on zoom and no doubt even when we have moved on from this pandemic, and we are able to gather together again to worship in church, we imagine that we will also be live-streaming services to include those who are not able to attend and as a means of spreading the Good News of the Gospel

 

FINANCIALLY, God has been good!   The project was estimated to cost £843k.   This has been covered by a few grants from charitable bodies and donations from the Friends of St Matthias, but the vast majority of this expense has been met by the sacrificial giving of individuals and families within the church for which we are exceedingly grateful. 

 

God has been with us directing us throughout this whole project and assuring us that as we stepped out in faith, He would meet our every need.  Now as we look to the future, we continue to pray that St. Matthias will remain a ‘beacon of light’ in years to come where many will find Christ as their Saviour.