NEWBUILD

Exciting times are ahead for all at Bethesda, and the local communities of Allesley Park and Whoberley.

The Lord has shared a vision with the people at Bethesda, that a new building is required to meet the needs of the community and to enable the fellowship at Bethesda to share the good news of Jesus.

January 2012
Update

We have now received our Building regulations approval
and we went out to tender in December 2011. The tenders were returned on 27th of
January and we were really encouraged with the values ranging from £350,000 to £480,000. After an evaluation of the lowest two tender our Architect has made a recommendation that we should enter into detailed discussion with the Contractor submitting the lowest tender to ensure all works are covered.

Our Architect attended a church members meeting on 5 th
January when he went through the designs in detail and explained the contract process. We are very excited about the prospect of having a new building although many are still very concerned about how we will be able to raise the money from such a small fellowship with some very elderly members.

We are currently applying to a number of Trusts who may be willing to support us financially and we are praising the Lord for the small gifts which we have started to received from individuals and other churches.

We are trusting in the Lord to guide us in respect to when we should instruct a contractor to start during the time when we are still looking to the Lord to provide the finance.

Please continue to pray that we will be able to make a start in March / April as planned

Click here to see 3d Pictures of the planned newbuild.

Planning permission has been granted by Coventry City Council on 13 February 2011. The Trustee Directors and the Elders met on 10th May 2011 and agreed to obtain detailed design and costs for the build. Our aim is to have a complete package together to enable us to go out ot tender in September-November 2011. We are looking at starting construction of the new build on early 2012, and we expect the build period to take approximate ten months to complete.

We are looking to raise £450,000 to build a new Church.

Please can you pray with us, and any financial support would be greatly appreciated.

We are trusting the Lord to provide the money, and believe God has a special plan for us in this area. If you can help in any way, or require any further information please contact the following at: contact@bethesdachurch.co.uk

Trustee Directors: Brian Rollason, Andy Holdham, Paul Ferris
Allesley Park Evangelical Church (Bethesda Church)
Charity Reg No: 1142237 Companies Reg No: 7561921

November 2011

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Greetings in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ from Allesley Park Evangelical Church, Coventry.

Background

We are a small fellowship that has been serving the Lord in the Whoberley/Allesley Park area of Coventry for over 44 years. Recently we have received encouragement in the work, and now have people regularly meeting with us who are seeking the Lord. Whoberley is predominately a council estate, whilst Allesley Park Estate is predominantly private housing. This mix in social back grounds can be challenging and the Lord has enabled us to continue our witness for Him to both sectors of our local community.

Activities

We serve the local community by having weekly coffee mornings / bible study groups, Awesome, our weekly youth group on a Wednesday evening, parent and babies craft sessions on a Wednesday afternoon, Parent and tots group on a Thursday morning and a children's group on Friday evening. We have a monthly prayer breakfast on a Saturday to support Bob Telford and Ivor Cooper who are our regional Counties evangelists. Our Sunday morning service each week is a time of worship and bible teaching and on the first Sunday of the month we have an afternoon tea for the elderly and families.

The Building

Our building is currently a limiting factor to what events we are able to offer. It was constructed in 1966 and is a timber sectional building with a design life of 25 years, now some 44 years later it is in desperate need of replacement. The building is poorly insulated and does not comply with the current requirements for level access, disabled toilet facilities or life safety systems. As such the Trustees and Elders have a burden to replace this building with a modern facility which is equipped to meet the current legislation and be significantly more energy efficient, and have catering facilities which would enable us to further our work within the community and hold events where the provision of food is an attraction for inviting people to learn more about the teaching of Jesus.

Over a number of years now we have been working with a Christian Architect with a view of replacing our building. We have already received planning permission and we are currently awaiting the Building regulations approval before we go out to tender in November.

We have saved about £58,000.00 and our anticipated project cost is £450,000.

We have received individual pledges which will take our total to over £100,000, but we still have a long way to go.

We really believe the Lord is able to provide in a way which humanly seems impossible.

Earlier this year one of our visiting speakers spoke from Ephesians Ch3 v 20 and we were encouraged by his message.

We have also been encouraged when talking to leaders from other churches who have taken on a large new build or major refurbishment project where they are able to testify at just how marvellously the Lord provided through his people.

How can you help ?

•  We believe that prayer is at the centre of our ability to realise our vision for a new building and we welcome your prayer support for this on a regular basis.

•  Have you any practical experience of a similar project yourselves and would be willing to share your experiences, good or bad, with us so that we may learn from how the Lord was able to help you through your project?

•  Are you able to offer any encouragement by way of financial or practical advice

•  Have you any knowledge of funding agencies or trusts that may be able to offer financial funding for such a project?

•  Do you have any firsthand experience of raising significant amounts of money for charitable purposes and would be willing to offer our fellowship some advice.

If you are able to help in any way please contact Brian Rollason by telephone on
07920 453805 or Email: contact@bethesdachurch.co.uk

Yours in our Saviours Name

Paul Ferris Andy Holdham Brian Rollason Terry Osborne Alan Blatchford