This Sunday will see the official opening of King’s Church’s new extension by the Mayor of Beverley, Anne Willis at 2pm.
The new building, on the Jacob’s Well site, just near Aldi, on Swinemoor Lane, has been constructed by church members themselves, with a little help from friends and other skilled volunteers.
The £60 000 project has taken almost a year to complete and will add two new community halls and a small prayer chapel on to the existing church building.
At a time when many churches are closing and selling off their buildings, it is unusual for a church to be expanding its facilities. Rev. John Beynon, the church minister who is also the CEO of Jacob’s Well explains why the church has taken this step.
“It has been a huge step for us to build these new buildings. It has cost us a lot of money, and a huge amount of time and effort. However, we decided that we really wanted to try and do more to reach out to the young people in our community.”
“We plan for half of the new building space to be used as for teenagers & young people. There will be indoor sports tables, such as table football, table tennis & pool, alongside video games & a chill space.”
“We plan to hold special events as well as regular clubs to try and entice teenagers away from their bedroom screens, and to give them a fun and safe space where they can take part in a range of activities with others of their own age.”
“We also recognise that loneliness is a huge factor in today’s society, especially for older people. We plan to provide regular coffee mornings, lunches and other special events with the aim of helping those who would like a bit of company.”
“We all need a bit of support from time to time, a place to go and meet new friends, to have a laugh with others or to just share what’s going on in our lives over a nice cup of coffee.”
The halls will also be available for hiring for community groups. There is a real shortage of affordable space for community groups in Beverley, with some of the guides, cubs and brownies struggling to pay to use school halls as they have done in the past.”
“Already we have a few groups booked in to use our new facilities, including the Beverley Garland dancers, a guide troop, a home education forum and a toddlers music morning. We hope that many more groups will come and benefit from our new facilities.”
At the heart of King’s Church’s new buildings is a beautiful, small prayer chapel, where daily prayer services will be held. This room will be open through the day and will provide an oasis of tranquillity for those who want to come by themselves and spend a moment in quiet prayer or contemplation.
“We wanted to help people experience that prayer and quietness can make a huge difference to people’s every day lives”, says Rev Beynon. “In today’s stressful world, where many demands compete for our attention, if we can learn to take a few moments each day to be quiet and to ask for God’s help, for ourselves and for others, our life will become much richer and we will discover a new strength and poise that will help us get through the challenges of the day.”
For more information, please visit the church web-site www.kingschurchbeverley.org
