We were challenged a few years ago to review our Church's Mission:
Our Church Strategy Team looked at four strengths of our church:
Oakworth Methodist Church has always been keenly involved with work amongst children and young people. Sadly, it has not been possible to re-open Sunday School since the Covid Pandemic struck but more recent initiatives during the week, such as Messy Church and events involving Drama & Dance, balance Christian input with fun activities and these are proving more popular.
We have hosted the annual village children’s pantomime for many years and several of the key members of the pantomime team are church members. The cast of 30-40 enthusiastic young people aged 8-18 present the pantomime to up to 1300 people from the village and surrounding area during eight performances and the response is always brilliant!
The KYDZ Keighley Youth Theatre group also rehearses weekly in our Hall and they put on three smaller shows each year on our new stage at the front of Church. Pre-School, Rainbows, Brownies & Guides and various Dance groups are just some of the other community groups who regularly use our premises. In fact, over 300 children and young people come through our doors each week.
We are seeking to encourage all these activities even more as a way of developing the Church’s Mission. However, our facilities were in urgent need of expansion to enable the Vision we hold for this work to flourish and reach its full potential.
Mission Possible was our response to this.
Initial plans were drawn up for a project to extend the building, which addressed all the identified needs. A feasibility study was undertaken which confirmed it was physically possible. Extensive discussions with Church Council, local community groups and representatives from the Methodist Circuit and District, helped us to put together a package to address our Mission needs, bring practical benefits to the Church and enable us to meet our legal and community obligations.
The process seemed like “Mission Impossible” at times but the package received enthusiastic, unanimous support from church and community alike ... and Mission Possible was born!
This is the Mission Possible package we adopted:
Our aim was to add a two-storey annexe to the rear of the Church and remodel the Sanctuary area to create more space and flexibility for All Age Worship and drama productions - and to provide much improved drama facilities in the process. The self-contained annexe provides additional toilets and a new Meeting Room with its own tea-making facilities, which enables more church and community groups to use the premises concurrently. Safe storage areas have been provided for scenery, costumes and all the other equipment we need for our drama work, as well as for church and other user groups. A new Front Entrance and Foyer facing the road have made the Church more visible and welcoming and other improvements have enhanced the premises.
Church Council and Circuit Meeting responded enthusiastically and unanimously to the package and the District Property Panel gave their approval.
Jo Dolman was appointed Circuit Youth, Children & Family Worker in September 2016 and she worked on various projects across the Airedale Circuit until she moved on at Easter 2021.
Detailed plans were drawn up for the building work. Local Authority Planning Approval and Building Control approval were given.
The project went out to tender in September 2016 but the tenders came back much higher than anticipated. A long and complex value-engineering exercise followed, to reduce the cost of the project to a more acceptable level without compromising what we set out to achieve. This was finally completed in June 2017 when a new budget was set at £425,000 - a cost saving on the whole project of over 30%.
Meanwhile, a 48 page business plan was completed to support grant applications to various charities and other bodies. Building work could not commence until at least 80% of the budget had been secured. This was finally achieved in April 2018.
The project then went out for re-tendering in May and the revised tenders were received and value-engineered in June, confirming that the work could still be completed within our £425,000 budget figure.
Teams of Church and Community volunteers completed a tremendous amount of preparation work - converting the church into a huge store and re-housing everything from the construction area in it. A temporary Pre-School play area was paved and fenced and new uPVC doors were installed in the Hall and Kitchen.
The Together Group Construction Ltd of Wetherby were appointed as main contractors and the building work commenced on site on 16th July 2018. The contract was due to be completed in 16 weeks. Preparing the foundations for the new Annexe took longer than expected as the cellars from the previous church on the site had to be excavated and refilled first. The foundations were finally completed at the end of August and work commenced on the Annexe walls. Internal refurbishment works were progressing well and it was still hoped that everything would be finished well before Christmas. Our Mission Possible photo gallery was regularly updated on our church facebook page so that progress could be followed.
Sadly, Christmas came and went and there was still no sign of the ontract being completed. Work never stopped but everything took far longer than expected. Because of this, as rooms were finished, we were allowed to start decorating and moving things into them. In this way, we managed to clear the Church of most of the equipment stored in there so that we could construct the new modular stage over the Christmas holidays and begin work on the pantomime scenery.
External work on rendering walls and laying out gardens, paths and car park began in earnest after Christmas and the contractors finally vacated the site on 15th February 2019, the day before the first pantomime performance - just 15 weeks behind schedule!
The first pantomime on our new modular stage was a great success and we are now looking forward to seeing the rest of the drama facilities coming in to use as funding permits.
The contractors returned to complete the remainder of the outstanding building works in March. The church floor was then stripped and re-sealed and decorating was completed prior to the new Sanctuary carpet being laid.
Meanwhile, Caryl Hallett designed four stained glass panels for our Sanctuary based on the themes of Peace, Love, Faith and Hope. Several members of the congregation gave feedback as the designs were developed and the outcome looks stunning! The actual panels were installed at the end of March at a total cost of £7,900 and a separate appeal was made to anyone who would like to offer a donation towards this, perhaps in memory of a loved one or as a special thanksgiving offering. This appeal covered the cost in full just before Christmas 2019. Thank you again.
Well - we finally made it - Mission seemingly Impossible finally became Mission Possible! It was time to celebrate and what better time to choose than our Church Anniversary Weekend at the beginning of April 2019? There was a wonderful turnout for the big event on the Saturday morning when people had the opportunity to look round the new Annexe and refurbished church and all were amazed at what has been achieved. The stunning stained glass panels have lifted the whole ambience of the worship space. Rev Ruth Crompton led a lovely dedication service and some of the Panto Team took part in it too. It was great to welcome back Rev John Hudson and Gail to lead our Church Anniversary Service the following day and he involved all ages in the worship!
We really are delighted with the outcome of the Mission Possible building works - they have given us everything we wished for and more! The benefits will not be fully seen until all the local works are completed and we manage to move everything into its new home - but we have received lots of enthusiastic comments and we pray now that this will be the launch pad for our Mission work going forward.
The response to our Mission Possible Appeal was tremendous:
The project has received enthusiastic support from church and community alike from start to finish. Thank you to everyone for your support!
We are now looking forward excitedly to see where God is leading us next with our Mission Possible vision.
February 2023