The Beacon building
After being in The Beacon building just a few months in 1995 whilst the church was very small, 2 church leaders separately (Grantly Watkins and Billy Kennedy) prophesied:
"This (The Beacon) building will be too small for your Sunday’s meetings, this will be a Ministry and small group base and the church will meet elsewhere in the centre of town on Sundays."
At the time I didn't quite know what to think having just arrived but now nearly 14 years later the prophetic words have come to pass and continue to shape our thinking and faith. God has been good to us.
The plans for the new Beacon building are still progressing. Mark Evans and the Team are diligently conducting many meetings behind the scenes. The main reasons for developing The Beacon site are frankly, that the present building is very tired and inadequate for our needs. Monday to Saturday The Beacon is our base for various ministries including Golden Years, Smarties, Kids Club, Youth, various meetings and courses etc. On Sundays too The Beacon is used for lunches, meetings, rehearsals, parties etc. The building also houses The Beacon staff. We are very blessed to have a building at all and blessed to have one so well used every day of the week.
The plan thus far is for a 2-storey development on the same site which will provide more room for the staff and for the staff to increase whilst providing more space to enable the ministries to be bigger and better than at present. This links with our Mission in the Community strategy for 09\10.
I think it is important to realise too that whilst The Beacon is located on the Old Dean, the ministries, facilities and staff serve more than just the immediate locality.
The present schedule means the new building will begin sometime in the summer 2009. There will be many challenges in terms of where we locate the staff and the ministries during the 40 week build period. There will also be a significant financial challenge. This is a big step of faith for us.
The new Beacon building will house Monday to Saturday ministry (plus some events on Sundays) but will not be large enough for the Sunday meeting. We will continue to meet at Kings International College on Sundays for the foreseeable future having invested £75k in the acoustics, chairs etc.
Some people have asked why should we invest in The Beacon rather than go for the Big One that meets all our needs including Sundays? This is a good question. In truth we have spent 6 years now looking for the Big One - joint venture with Collingwood, Robins Cinema, various warehouses and other potential large sites including the possibility of taking on an existing church building in Camberley. Whilst we have searched long and hard, and continue to do so, none of these have come to fruition as yet. Other sites and ventures have also been much more expensive than The Beacon Building Project. So let's move ahead with faith and make some decisions now to meet our needs and trust God for our future.
The Beacon Church will continue therefore, for the foreseeable future, to be bi-locational: a ministry base at The Beacon building and meeting on Sundays at Kings.
Please feel free to speak to Mark Evans or Peter Wharrad for the latest building news.
After being in The Beacon building just a few months in 1995 whilst the church was very small, 2 church leaders separately (Grantly Watkins and Billy Kennedy) prophesied:
"This (The Beacon) building will be too small for your Sunday’s meetings, this will be a Ministry and small group base and the church will meet elsewhere in the centre of town on Sundays."
At the time I didn't quite know what to think having just arrived but now nearly 14 years later the prophetic words have come to pass and continue to shape our thinking and faith. God has been good to us.
The plans for the new Beacon building are still progressing. Mark Evans and the Team are diligently conducting many meetings behind the scenes. The main reasons for developing The Beacon site are frankly, that the present building is very tired and inadequate for our needs. Monday to Saturday The Beacon is our base for various ministries including Golden Years, Smarties, Kids Club, Youth, various meetings and courses etc. On Sundays too The Beacon is used for lunches, meetings, rehearsals, parties etc. The building also houses The Beacon staff. We are very blessed to have a building at all and blessed to have one so well used every day of the week.
The plan thus far is for a 2-storey development on the same site which will provide more room for the staff and for the staff to increase whilst providing more space to enable the ministries to be bigger and better than at present. This links with our Mission in the Community strategy for 09\10.
I think it is important to realise too that whilst The Beacon is located on the Old Dean, the ministries, facilities and staff serve more than just the immediate locality.
The present schedule means the new building will begin sometime in the summer 2009. There will be many challenges in terms of where we locate the staff and the ministries during the 40 week build period. There will also be a significant financial challenge. This is a big step of faith for us.
The new Beacon building will house Monday to Saturday ministry (plus some events on Sundays) but will not be large enough for the Sunday meeting. We will continue to meet at Kings International College on Sundays for the foreseeable future having invested £75k in the acoustics, chairs etc.
Some people have asked why should we invest in The Beacon rather than go for the Big One that meets all our needs including Sundays? This is a good question. In truth we have spent 6 years now looking for the Big One - joint venture with Collingwood, Robins Cinema, various warehouses and other potential large sites including the possibility of taking on an existing church building in Camberley. Whilst we have searched long and hard, and continue to do so, none of these have come to fruition as yet. Other sites and ventures have also been much more expensive than The Beacon Building Project. So let's move ahead with faith and make some decisions now to meet our needs and trust God for our future.
The Beacon Church will continue therefore, for the foreseeable future, to be bi-locational: a ministry base at The Beacon building and meeting on Sundays at Kings.
Please feel free to speak to Mark Evans or Peter Wharrad for the latest building news.
