An Ipswich church is responding to new opportunities with a big vision: it's bought a cinema to convert into its new home.
Hope Church has bought the centrally located Odeon cinema, built in the early 1990s but lying empty for 13 years, as its new centre for worship and outreach.
And as well as creating a facility to host its growing congregation with a large auditorium and rooms for children's work, Hope Church plans to create a community facility that will serve the town well all through the week.
Hope – part of the Newfrontiers network – began as a house church about 25 years ago and over the last four years has increased rapidly in size, from around 175 members to more than 400. Its current building is a renovated former factory building.
Lead pastor Tom Scrivens told Christian Today: ' It felt right to pray for larger premises. We knew about the former Odeon but assumed it had found other uses. Just last year we realised we could purchase it.'
The purchase was completed last week and the church hopes to be able to move into the building this time next year.
'We want it to be a place the community can access,' Scrivens said. 'There'll be a café open on weekdays, we already run a parent and toddler group, facilities for elderly people, youth groups, and lunches for schoolchildren whose families struggle to provide a hot meal during the holidays. We run a night shelter at present and we expect that will continue.'
The church also runs a life skills course developed by Christians Against Poverty.
Of the church's growth, he said: 'Prayer has been a big part of it. We've spend a lot of time praying for people to join us. We've wanted to cultivate a community of welcome. And we've just preached the age-old gospel, though in a way that's contemporary for our time.'
