Author: Laura Thomas

Members of St Michael’s Church, Stoke Gifford have been taking a look at their new church and community centre ahead of its dedication next month.

Archbishop Justin Welby will be visiting the centre on Saturday 13 September during his visit to the Bristol Diocese to bless the church’s ‘audacious’ Heart of the Community project and dedicate the building.

The shell of the building, on the site of old farm barns in North Road, is due to be completed at the end of this month.

Small groups of church members were given a preview of the ground floor of the building and the chance for informal prayer and worship in the 600 seat auditorium after each of the church’s three Sunday services.

The building is the centrepiece of the church’s £5.5m Heart of the Community project, which also includes refurbishing the neighbouring Old School Rooms and renovating the 14th Century church. A tenth of all money donated or raised by the congregation is being used for mission work to combat poverty and spread the gospel in the UK and overseas. 

The new centre will provide much needed facilities for conferences and church services, wedding receptions and other celebrations as well as community rooms. It will also serve as a resource for the wider region as it is within easy access of the M4 and M5 and just minutes away from Parkway Railway Station. 

The Bishop of Bristol, Mike Hill, who has described the project as ‘audacious’ will be accompanying Archbishop Welby.  

The next phase of the project will be to kit out the inside of the building and provide usable space on the ground floor by Easter 2015. 

The Rev. Si Jones, Rector of St Michael’s, said: “The Heart of the Community project will provide a legacy that will speak of God’s generosity for generations to come.” 

 

On Saturday 13^th September, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, will be visiting Stoke Gifford to bless and dedicate the Heart of the Community project and the new St Michael’s Church and Community Centre. 

His visit will last about an hour, between 6.30 and 7.30pm. The church family are all warmly invited to be there.  However due to space and health & safety restrictions, numbers will be limited – and entrance via ticket only, on a first come first served basis.  

Please note that you must pre-register with the church office, and obtain a (free) ticket to attend.  

To register, please email  admin@stmichaelsbristol.org or phone 0117 9692486 during office hours 

 

UPDATE : All tickets have now been allocated, and we have opened a waiting list.

Note for ticket holders: if you have had your place confirmed, please collect your ticket from the office as soon as possible.  If you are no longer able to come along please do advise us so that someone else can attend.  Many Thanks

 

 

 

On Sunday 20th July, a little over a year after the contractors first arrived on the Old Barns Site to start work building a new Church and Community Centre in the heart of Stoke Gifford, the congregation of St Michael’s Church met together in the new auditorium to pray and to worship God.

As we approach the end of the first phase of this project (a secure, watertight and weatherproof shell, due for completion towards the end of August) congregations in three different services stood together to affirm our faith that, despite the challenges, and as we obey and trust in Him, what God has started He will see through to completion. As it says in Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”