Working towards a new building

The original building

In 1931, the Church of the Good Shepherd was established to serve a planned new community in Rossmore. The church, the first building in the area was a ‘temporary’ wooden building constructed on the corner of Herbert Avenue and Stanfield Road.  Over the decades since then, it has been the heart of the local community, serving the growing local population in the name of Jesus in a wide variety of ways.

 The original church building was supplemented in the 1950s with a hall and rooms, which are used by a large number of church and community groups for a wide range of activities for people of all ages. The church’s founders probably never imagined that the original building would survive as long as it has!  But the ravages of time are affecting both the church and hall, and the buildings are becoming increasingly difficult and expensive to maintain. 

Future development

Initially we considered a single all-new building combining church and community facilities, but planning restrictions and resource limitations prevented that possibility.

Instead we have prepared a master plan in three phases for developing the facilities, as follows:

1: rebuild the timber church building from 1931
2: refurbish the brick church halls of the 1950s
3: link the two with a new coffee shop

This is shown in this drawing:

In addition, the car park will be big enough to accommodate cars currently parking during the church’s ‘busy hour’. Planning permission has been approved by BCP Council.

The first phase

The existing church building will be replaced using brick and other permanent materials and meeting current environmental standards. The height and shape of the building will be retained as shown on the front of this leaflet. The plan of the new building will be:

The cost of the project

The estimated total cost of the Phase 1 new building is about £800,000, and we have already raised £500,000 towards this. Funding the gap is a huge challenge, especially in the disadvantaged area which the church serves. But we believe that this is achievable by a combination of church and community giving and external funding.

‘Unless the Lord builds the house, it's builders labour in vain.' Psalm 127:1