The Welcome Centre Time Line

The progress of our project - From Iron Hall to Welcome Centre
(Phase 1)

1999	The Fellowship considers how it might celebrate and commemorate the Church’s Centenary in 2002
2000	The Church approves the ‘Centenary Project’ in three phases. Pledges are requested to support Phase 1 of the project.
2001	Finance Committee is formed & has its first meeting.
2002 Centenary Year	We are Essex ‘Church of the Year’ and are pleased to be recipients of the ‘President’s Purse’ from the Essex Baptist Association. Sunday 8^th December is ‘Pledge Sunday’. We are invited to make a cash gift, an interest free loan and make or renew our earlier pledges for a period of 10 years. Fundraising Committee is formed. We are greatly encouraged by our first grant from The Tabeel Trust. Planning permission is approved. The Bricks Appeal is launched.
2003	Loans are sought & approved from the Baptist Union & Baptist Building Fund and The Eastern Baptist Association honours the loan offer made by Essex Baptist Association in previous year. We place over 50 grant bids and are delighted to receive five. Fundraising begins with many & varied events. The Architect begins to seek tenders. The project is expected to cost £253K. Work begins to demolish the Iron Hall.
2004	The Iron Hall caught fire. The remains subsequently blow down in a gale. Two tender exercises have taken place with large building companies, but the costs are far higher than expected. We cannot proceed with any of them. A small, preferred, local building company could not quote due to ill health.
2005	A third tender exercise puts us in touch with one major building company who are interested in the work and quote a price that is getting closer to what we can afford. Discussion begins to try to make savings on the new tender. The Centenary Project is re-named 'The Welcome Centre', and we appoint H & R Strood as our Contractor. Further grant bids are made and we are delighted to receive five. The fellowship continue fundraising and making their very generous donations.
2006	Easter – We dedicate the land to the project two days before building starts. The project starts in appalling weather and the site is very wet. September – The main structure is completed. Further grant bids are made to support internal works & paving. Four are received. In total, we have been supported by 15 grants from charitable trusts as well as the major gift from Essex Baptist Churches.
2007	Kitchen tiled & fitted, hall painted, blinds fitted and paving laid. Furniture bought. Phase 1 has cost around £410K. Easter – One year on from dedicating the land, we now dedicate the building. May – We welcome the National Blood Service as our first public hirer. 7th July 2007 – Service of Thanksgiving and Official Opening Ceremony.
2008	We are given the generous gift of a house from a Church member, which kick starts our plans to progress with constructing Phase 3, the Atrium, within the next two years. Applications are sent out to many charitable trusts inviting them to support us in the project. At a time of recession, we find that grants are difficult to secure, but nevertheless our devotion to the project is successful as we are rewarded by a significant number of grants totalling £ ....
2009	A tendering exercise takes place which culminates in Phelan Construction submitting the lowest tender. Negotiations take place with Phelans to try to make further savings on the tender. A price/specification is eventually agreed that the Church can afford without recourse to loans or debt (the Church members are still committed to a further 5 years loan repayments on the Phase 1 Welcome Hall so no further loans or debt can be considered.) At a Special Church Meeting on Sunday 4th October, the membership agree that the project should go ahead and the site of the new Atrium is dedicated after the morning worship on Sunday 25th October. Construction on the site is due to begin early in November 2009.


The ‘Welcome Centre’ is the biggest project to take place since the building of the main Church sanctuary in 1928. Though now Phase 1 is finally built, it and the other two phases remain an exciting, yet still daunting task for the size of our membership. We all seek to follow and be upheld by God; yet we are human too, and at difficult times many of us will admit to having had moments of doubt. But we remain faithful and most importantly, due to our prayer, God has remained faithful to us. While we continue to look to Him for our guidance—we will be upheld in the task that He has set.