New building

The New Saint Paul’s, Penketh

Dear Friends of St Paul’s,

This note aims to help the current 140 members of St Paul’s, former members of St Paul’s who have moved away, members of other churches in Warrington and further afield and people who wish us well in the locality, understand our aim in taking down our current church building and replacing it with a building which will last well into the 2100s.

The building we’ve been using since the late 1960s (a Vic Hallam prefabricated structure with a more solid extension added 27 years ago in 1981) has now more than passed its sell-by date.

There are serious leaks in different parts of the roof and the decision of an independent structural engineer two years ago was that this is a building that has had its day and attempts to “patch things up” for a few more years would be uneconomic in the long run.

We know that “church” is so much more than a building but we do need an area primarily for worship - the Manna House and The Oaks are wonderful buildings where we interact daily with the local community but neither of these buildings is suitable for larger-scale corporate worship.

The building our chosen architect (Snape Cowing and Partners from Ormskirk, who also designed the new St Joseph’s Church in Penketh) has come up with satisfies the various requirements we have listed.

We have capped the cost of the building at £750,000 - this figure would not be enough for a prestigious building but our requirement is a building that fits in with the area at a price that will not take for ever to repay. We are convinced that buildings are a means to an end and not an end in themselves.

Some 23 members have been giving over the last few years into a fund known as the Building for the Future Fund. There is to date some £130,000 in this fund.

Now is the time for us all to make a concerted effort: we are closing what was known as the BFF fund as this has not allowed us to tithe gifts so far received. This was a special fund set up some 12 years ago when some prudent members

wanted to start giving towards a new church building at the time we were concentrating on getting The Oaks up and running.

The new fund is simply St Paul’s PCC New Building and the PCC has agreed unanimously that we send a 10% tithe of all gifts to missionary projects at home and abroad.

If you would like to talk further about any part of the project do get back to me or any member of the Building Group or of the PCC.

May we soon have a new meeting place which will be our training place for the market-place!

As always, this comes with love in His service.

Rev. Paul Hockley, Vicar

Hudson Taylor, the pioneer English missionary who sailed to China in 1853 (when he was just 21 years old), once said there were 3 stages in seeing a vision from God come to pass:

IMPOSSIBLE……….DIFFICULT………DONE!

IMPOSSIBLE, surely, for a medium-sized congregation with quite a number of its members over the age of 65 to raise £750,000 at a time when the global financial situation looks gloomy to say the least?

“God loves a hilarious giver”

2 Corinthians 9:7

Certainly an uphill task!

We financed the buying and renovation of The Oaks 10 years ago through grants from trusts to the tune of £280,000 and additional congregational giving. But outside trusts do not give grants for places of worship.

We will have some “fun-raising” events giving opportunity for non-St Paul’s members to give, but SACRIFICIAL GIVING by members has to be where the majority of the money required will come from.

DIFFICULT

What is a sacrificial gift?

This is hard to say…………it would clearly be different for different people.

Jesus Himself saw the widow’s mite as a real sacrifice.

We’ve already had examples of people with very little giving with great generosity.

But, consider…

If 40 people gave an extra £20 a week (£1040 pa) for 7 years, that would be £291,200. If 40 people gave an extra £10 a week (£520 pa) for 7 years, that would be £145,600.  If 50 people gave an extra £ 5 a week (£260 pa) for 7 years, that would be £91,000

And if outside giving from friends and “fun-raising” came to £50,000 with money back from GIFT AID also coming to £50,000, when added to the amount already given of £130,000 would come to a total of £757.800

Difficult but possible!

“You shall be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendour”

Isaiah 61:3

DONE!

How should it be done?

Despite the previous sums, not by human plans and calculations, for our God tells us that “He will provide”.

So we simply ask you to ask God, “Father, what financial sacrifice from me to this project would delight your heart?”

As you remember to give Him space to answer, we will remember to leave the rest to Him!

And meanwhile St Paul’s pledges to give a 10% tithe of all gifts received into this new fund; gifts will be forwarded at the discretion of the PCC to other places, at home and abroad, where we in our turn can sow into areas of Kingdom Building.

Impossible, difficult, done!

“In ventures achieved by man’s effort, man is glorified; in ventures of faith where God leads us into and through the impossible, He is glorified.”- Rt. Rev Michael Baughen (former Bishop of Chester)

Thank you for reading this……….we would love you to continue to pray with us that in all of this God is glorified.

Donations can be sent to:

The Treasurer, c/o St Paul’s church office, Warrington Rd, Penketh, WARRINGTON WA5 2RX

PS lending us money on an interest-free basis for 3, 5 or 7 years would also be a wonderful gift as we would then need to borrow less to pay the contractor who will not be prepared to wait 7 years for his money!

To download a PDF document of this page, here

To download the architect's view of the new church layout, click here