For many years, going back at least as far as the minister John Henry Jowett, in the 1920s, people at Westminster Chapel have wanted to transform our premises.
At one point, Reverend Glyn Owen wrote to the church seeking agreement to knock the building down and put a new one up better suited to the church’s needs.
Thankfully they didn’t go as far as that, and we continue to be blessed by the wonderful heritage asset that the Chapel is. But there is a big problem. We look closed throughout the week to thousands of passersby.* Some people even think our church has closed down.
This is why we began a building project several years ago: to put a welcoming, reaching out, drawing in, visible, accessible, hospitable missional space, open throughout the week. Right. At. The. Front. Of. Our. Building. Some people said it couldn’t happen. They said you’ll never get planning permission, being Grade II listed and all that. But we did because God was with us! There wasn’t even a single objection. We have raised money – people have already given generously. We have sold flats the Chapel owned. We are now in a position to get building but to really make it a great space, we will need another £250,000. So this Sunday we’re having a big give day.
Why do we give?
We give to grow in Christ.
We give to kill greed in us.
We give to grasp hold of Christ (to trust and know him more).
We give to sow the gospel.
We give to greatly expand the church.
We give in response to his grace – the Rich One became poor so we could become rich (receive every spiritual blessing).
We give to glorify God.
We get the privilege to invest in this once in a lifetime opportunity to put some massive, good, gospel guns at the front of our building, sowing life-saving seed throughout the week – getting our battleship building fit for purpose for the spiritual fight ahead of us.
Here’s a one minute trailer of what we will share in the service on Sunday. You can watch the service here: westminsterchapel.church.online.
If you’re not able to give, but are in a position to give an interest-free loan, that would be welcome. Below are the preferred parameters:
– Minimum of £5,000
– Interest-free for the term of the agreement
– No payments for at least the first 24 months
– 12, 24, or 36 equal monthly payments starting in 1st month following the no payment period
– Subject to agreement to terms from both Chapel and the loaner
– Total funds offered must be available by 28th March 2021
*Pre-covid numbers. But we are confident that people will return, toward the end of 2021 into 2022, perhaps 80% of the volume we knew before.
