From last orders to holy orders (From Warrington Guardian)

From last orders to holy orders

9:20am Monday 26th January 2009 in News

A COMMUNITY church will be replacing booze with bibles as it converts a pub into a new church building.

Birchwood Community Church has made an application to turn The Silver Birch pub, on Dewhurst Road, into part of a new church development that will offer its congregation a permanent place in which to worship.

In its planning application, the church said: “As the church has grown, we’ve moved from one rented premises to another, currently meeting each Sunday at Birchwood High School in the morning and Gorse Covert Primary School in the evening.

“Other rooms are hired out as required to meet the needs of the current church programme.”

Thanks to the help of Modus, which runs Birchwood Shopping Centre, the church – formally known as Birchwood Evangelical Church – were given a vacant unit in the centre that helped them launch 40 Days of Community in 2006.

The idea was to help the church serve the community and it soon became clear that its presence in the shopping centre had a major boost for the church and shopping centre and with support from Modus members extended its lease.

“The Birchwood Resource Centre is now the focal point of our church activity during the week and an interface with the community,” the planning document added.

The church members are footing the bill for the renovation works and during the work to turn the pub, along with two shop units, into the Birchwood Community Church Encounter Centre, sermons and groups will take place at other venues the church has hired out on short-lease.

Along with the new centre the church would also be able to offer a furniture, clothes and emergency food parcels to help those with financial hardship in the community.

An art project called HeART of our Community at the former Red Cross charity shop will also be set up, initially for the transition period, but may be continued if successful. The project would see an artist in residence encouraging the community to get involved in art work.

Warrington Borough Council’s planning department will decide whether to give the planning application approval.

A spokesman for the church said: “We are hoping to meet the needs of residents of Birchwood in a new and exciting way by offering space that can be used for a variety of different purposes.

“This is very evolutionary but we look forward to working with the people of Birchwood.”