Building for Community

Our church is at an exciting time of growth. Our village population has already increased in the last five years, and with more housing currently being built, we foresee further growth and opportunities for us to serve our local community. As a church, we seek to share the love of Christ, and are known for our practical care in the local community. We do this is various ways and in different venues, but we would like to use our church building to serve our community more. The church remains the largest meeting space in the village, and the only one open to the public with any historical features. The building is in regular use by the church and the community throughout the week, but many of the facilities within it are now in poor condition and the space is not well apportioned for our present needs. Both these factors are to the detriment of its historic features.

The need

We are a church that loves to offer hospitality on a regular basis; more than once a month we cater a meal for 30-100 people (men and women's evenings, Family Fridays, church lunches, Passover meals) and several times a week the kitchen was used to provide lighter refreshments (after Sunday services, for Tiddlypeeps, for funerals or meetings etc). The old kitchen was too small, and had very limited space for appliances and cupboards, all of which were in poor condition. Just serving tea and coffee to the regular Sunday morning congregation was difficult. Both toilets were also in poor condition and needed updating.

The vision

The vision for our facilities at All Saints Church is to provide inspiring, welcoming and flexible meeting spaces for worship and community engagement to serve the needs of our present and future parish, whilst enhancing and recapturing the historical character of the whole church building, all to the glory of God. We have a vision for a building where the space is better apportioned so that groups of varying sizes can be accommodated more efficiently and comfortably, and for the facilities to be of a standard that enriches the experience of worship and hospitality for all those that come to church.

There are two ways we believe this can be achieved:

a) Improvement of the kitchen and toilet facilities.

b) Making better use of the space in church for our variety of activities (especially when activities happen concurrently).

We have started by refurbishing the current toilets and kitchen.

refurb impression

The plans

We are planning a kitchen of a size and specification to cater for a meal for at least 50 people, as we have a growing outreach ministry of men’s and women’s supper events where we regularly cater for up to this number. We will have a servery that allows a full congregation to be served light refreshments in reasonable time.

We are planning modern and easily cleanable toilet facilities that can provide for a full church congregation with accessibility for all. One toilet will be universally accessible and have space for baby changing facilities. The other toilet will be located on the first floor to better provide for people using the space upstairs (eg. a children’s group during services).

All Saints’ is a Grade 2* listed building and any work will require DAC faculty approval, but we are already in communication with the team at the diocese and we are confident that our proposals for the west end refurbishment of the kitchen and toilets will be well received. Our architect has drawn up a number of drawings to help us visualise the changes which can be found below.

We also have a vision to improve the use of space at the east end of the church so we have more break-out space, but we have decided to do the west end refurbishment first as this project will be quicker and simpler to achieve than some of our ideas for the east end and in conversation with many people, the toilets and kitchen are a greater priority at present.

	Building for Community (362.3KB)
	204 Proposed Plans and Elevation (506.0KB)
	200E Proposed Internal Alterations GA (170.9KB)

Costs

The west end refurbishment of the kitchen and toilets is likely to cost in the region of £150,000. We believe that we can find this money through a combination of using some reserves, fundraising and grant applications. We hope to raise £50,000 from church and community and have already secured £55000 in grants.

How to give

If you would like to find out more about making a donation towards the cost of this project, please contact our treasurer on treasurer@allsaintsmarcham.org or you can print off, complete and return the pledge form below either to the church office or by email to the treasurer.

Pledge form 2024 Revised JS (217.1KB)

Donations should be made to:
Marcham PCC
Sort code 60-01-01
Account number 61591963

Please use reference 'BFC' and your surname so our treasurer can account for it.
Note that sometimes the account name will come up as 'PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF TH' - this is the long name of the PCC!

Hello and welcome to our church. If you are a new visitor, we have a page for you to get to know us and learn more about planning a visit.
Click here to see more.

Visitors click here.

Planning your Visit

A Warm Hello

The following information is specifically for those planning a visit, so that you know, beforehand, what to expect on a Sunday morning.

Where and When

We meet at All Saints Church (details here) for our Sunday Service starting at 10.30am. For your first visit, we recommend arriving 10 minutes early to find somewhere to sit before the service begins. When you arrive, you should be greeted by someone on our Welcome Team. We do move our pews around, so don't be surprised if the church is laid out a bit differently. Right now we have builders in refurbishing our kitchen and toilets so things are a little different, but we are still meeting as per usual.

We serve tea, coffee and biscuits when the service finishes. It is a great way to meet people, or simply take time to find your bearings. All refreshments are free.

Accessibility: There is wheelchair access to the main part of the building, and a sound loop for anyone who needs it. Please let one of the Welcome Team know on your arrival and they will help you to get set up. Currently we are having to use portaloos outside which are not easy for disabled access and we apologise.

Our Service

The main service begins at 10.30am with a warm welcome from one of our service leaders and we will often share news and notices. We have different service styles which can be found on our Sunday services page, but each one consists of some sung worship, Bible readings, prayers and a talk about the Bible and how to apply it to our everyday lives. Sometimes there is an opportunity to receive prayer at the end of the service. We have a team of service leaders and preachers who help Nick, the vicar, deliver these services.

Sunday service 375593028 627721296208709 8856

What about my kids?

We have a great programme lined up for kids of all ages. Our age groups are flexible depending on which children are around on any one Sunday.

Tiddlychurch (0-3).
Sunday Kids (School years R-6)
Sunday morning Youth (School years 7-13)

Children and young people stay with their parent or grown-up at the start of the service for the welcome, songs and notices. We really value worshipping God all together as a family. At the end of the notices someone will announce that it’s time for the younger members to go to their various groups. Whilst you are dropping your kids off at their groups, we pause to take time to chat to someone sitting near or next to us, giving folk a chance to come back before the sermon begins.

The kids group activities vary from week to week but usually there is a friendly welcome, bible stories, testimonies, praying, music, craft, drama, fun games and free play. Please pick your children up as soon as the service finishes.

OC4

Getting Connected

Home Groups

While Sundays are a great way to meet new people, it is often in smaller gatherings that you can really get to know someone. Being part of one of our small groups allows you to make new friends, share together and support each other. We have a variety of groups that meet throughout the week, some afternoons and some evenings. Check out Home Groups and see if there’s one that you could join, or we can put you in touch with a small group leader who will be more than happy to invite you along to their group.

Serving and Volunteering

If you want to get involved in the life of the church and help us make Sundays run smoothly, you can sign up to serve on a team. We suggest you take a few months to consider where you might best serve.

Other Ministries

We also run the following ministries:

Men's Ministries
Women's Ministries

Get in touch with us to plan your visit

If you would like to come and visit the church beforehand you are more than welcome! Get in touch and we can arrange a time that suits you.

Name:

Telephone:

Email Address:
Comments / Questions or anything you would like to say?

Next, we will contact you by email to say hello and help arrange anything necessary for your visit.


Nick Weldon		Tamsin Gilbert
Vicar		Parish Administrator

We hope that whoever you are, you will feel at home at our church.

Best Wishes