New life for a village Gospel Hall

Discovery Church previously known as Wroughton Assemblies of God started a work in the village of Wroughton, near Swindon, in 1996, buying a redundant pub and making extensive changes to use it as a church building. They soon outgrew it and sold the pub with planning permission for housing in 2005 thinking that it would not take long to find another suitable building or plot of land in the village.

That was 17 years ago during which time they have met in a local school and community centre, but have not been able to purchase anything of their own.

They were aware of the Gospel Hall in the village, as one of their members had become a Christian there as a young boy in the 1950s, but it was still being used by a small remnant with a different background and worship style to themselves. Meetings in the hall ceased when the pandemic began, and the trustees of the property decided to gift it to Church Growth Trust (CGT). Although CGT were prepared to work with the remnant of the assembly and encouraged Counties to support an evangelist in the village, these options did not work out. Having already let a building in Swindon to Discovery Church, CGT were happy to agree a letting of the Gospel Hall to Discovery Church Wroughton.

As the Pastor Geoff Naylor says, “Being offered the building by Church Growth Trust enables us to have a new home after all these years and to do some of the things within the community which have been difficult without our own building. They have been very helpful in reducing the rent in recognition of the work we are doing to improve the building and plot. We are so thankful for the advice and encouragement of the Church Growth Trust team”.

Geoff Naylor with the new accessible WC

The church already has a lively Toddlers group that continues to meet in the community centre and have built up good relationships with many of the parents and carers. As the infants’ school is just up the lane from the Gospel Hall their Sunday School (Discovery Club), which is mainly made up of non-church kids will meet there. They are planning to use the side hall as a comfy drop-in coffee and chat space after parents have dropped their children off at school. It will be a great venue for Alpha and other outreaches. There will also be the opportunity to meet the needs of the elderly in various ways and the church hope that other suitable community groups will use the hall as well.

Heating in the hall has been all electric and initially the church looked into getting gas connected, for a gas boiler and radiators. However, this would have been far from cheap and, with rising gas prices and environmental considerations, was not considered the best way to go. Instead, they decided on solar panels and a battery which will initially cost approximately one third more than gas installation, but will be cheaper over the long term. They have also changed the doors and windows, transforming the front of building to make it much more welcoming. They have fitted a fully accessible WC, opened up fire exits and fire exits and created storage space to make the building fully accessible to all. At the rear of the hall is a triangle of land which was chest high in brambles and filled with years of rubbish. This has now been cleared and levelled (mainly by an enthusiastic and fit 80-year-old!) and will become a vegetable patch, flower border and green space for use of the church and others. John Duffield, CGT’s Property Manager, comments after a recent visit, “I am truly amazed by what the church have done in such a short space of time, but they have been successful because they have had substantial funds available and Geoff Naylor has had a semi-professional, very practical hands-on approach. For instance, he reused the WC doors to create a storage cupboard in the worship area. Members of the church are also getting stuck in and are passionate about the use of the building.” The last word from Geoff Naylor: “Although we are a small congregation, we have a heart for our community and want to reach out with the good news of Christ. We believe that having the use of the hall now is God’s timing and we are expectant and prayerful for Him to grow our numbers and make a difference in the lives of families and individuals.”

The freshly cleared grounds to the rear