Christ Church History

1959-1994

Below is a reproduction of a brochure which was produced when the new church building was completed in 1994

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Christ Church, Blackburn

The Lord's provision

of a

New church Building

1990-1994

The Story

In the autumn of 1970 the Christ Church Building which had been erected in 1859, had to be demolished, in spite of spending over £30,000 on the eradication of dry rot, due to the dry rot having spread to almost all of the building.

Prior to the building being demolished, all services had been transferred to the Parish Halls, which had been completely refurbished in 1960/1961. The building was duly licensed as a place of worship and a parish church.

Almost immediately following the demolition of the church the congregation began looking to the erection of a replacement church on the same site as the original building. A building fund was opened and efforts were organised to swell the fund, in preparation for the building.

Under the leadership of the then vicar, Rev. J Stanley Fell, the church family realised that our first priority needed to be the erection of a place of worship in the east of the parish, in the area around Queens Park especially as the Local Authority were indicating that the redevelopment of the Grimshaw Park/Mosley Street area was likely to be industrial rather than dwellings.

So a vacant pre-fabricated shop (owned by the local authority) was rented as the centre for the out-reach to that area. It soon became apparent that the centre was fulfilling a need and within 5 years of the opening of the 'shop' the foundation stone was laid (in June 1975) for a permanent church in the same area, and at a cost of approximately £30,000 Church of the Redeemer was built.

A number of the Christ Church congregation were encouraged to transfer to the new church in order to consolidate the work there. This left the Christ Church congregation, not only depleted in numbers but with a depleted building fund, and new houses being built in the area which was supposedly for industry.

Once again the congregation set about raising money for the building fund and when Rev Stanley Fell left the parish in 1979 he was distressed that he had not been able to oversee the erection of the new Christ Church, but unbeknown to the congregation he and his wife, Doris, had been given the assurance from the Lord that a new Christ Church would be built in due course.

During the late 1980's the Church Council had decided that the Parish Halls (which had been originally built in 1850, as a charity school) were becoming very dilapidated in spite of a lot of money having being spent on renovations and we would, in future, spend only sufficient money to keep the building safe and waterproof and any remaining money would be put into the building fund.

By 1990, the church, now under the leadership of Rev. John Riley was facing a new challenge. With pastoral reorganisation in the area would Christ Church continue to be a parish or would it be linked to one of the neighbouring parishes?

Following a Parish Mission in the early part of 1990 when many contacts were made with families and children from the area, and an influx of several Christian families as a result of prayers of many people, the church began to reconsider its out-reach to the young people of the area. The congregation and PCC prayed much about this out-reach and it was finally decided that a Campaigner Group should be started, initially for the younger ages. A number of the congregation were approached to become leaders and an 'open night' was arranged for January 1991. 24 children (between 3 & 12 years of age) attended that evening. That was only the start, within 10 weeks the numbers doubled, and some children (who had very difficult home backgrounds) could only come if they brought their very young brothers and sisters with them.

The welcome increase in children brought along other problems - space and the state of the buildings, not only for the mid-week groups but also for Sunday School who had met in the upstairs rooms which were all badly affected with dry rot.

The PCC realised that due to inflation the Building Fund was not growing in real terms, so plans were drawn up for a new refurbishment of the Parish Halls. The cost of such schemes seemed to be excessive and almost as much as building a small church with just the basic requirements. We discovered at this time that the Diocesan authorities were within a few weeks of selling the old Christ Church site which we had jealously guarded for many years but we were able to stop that sale.

After much prayer, meetings and heart ache the PCC decided that a new Church should be erected and if the Lord required that building He would provide the necessary finance. The Diocesan Pastoral Committee were asked for their agreement for the erection of a new church building on the available 'old Church site'. With pressure from the Archdeacon of Blackburn they paid a visit to the Parish Halls during a Campaigner clan night, and realised that this church had a mission to the difficult area of Grimshaw Park (the first vicar in 1857 had also had to deal with problems of deprivation in Grimshaw Park). The Pastoral Committee eventually agreed with the concept of a new church project, but it was pointed out that there was no money available in diocesan funds and all the money would have to be found by the parish.

Plans were commissioned from different architects with a target of £200,000. We chose one, selected a builder and put the plans to the congregation for a decision. In November 1991 a Gift Day was organised with a target of £10,000 (our previous Gift Day totals were usually of the order of £1,500 - £2,000). The Lord chose to give us £16,000 that day with a further £3,000 coming in from the Tax repayments. The Lord was obviously telling us to build.

The Gift Day totals for two years, along with the money in the building fund (which had been well invested), a grant of £40,000 from the diocese (inspite of being told that they had no money to offer us) and the promise of an interest free loan from the diocese, allowed us to put in hand the erection of a watertight shell.

The first turf was cut on the site of the new church by Mrs Doris Fell, during morning service of Sunday 27 September 1992 and the Foundation Stone was laid by Mrs Doris E Fell (wife of the Rev. J Stanley Fell, who was the vicar when the old church was demolished) in the presence of the Bishop of Blackburn, Rt Rev. Alan D Chesters, at a special service on Sunday afternoon 8 November 1992.

During the building process accounts, from the builder, were presented at fairly regular intervals, often the treasurer was concerned that there would not be enough money for the next account, but each time an account was presented the Lord ensured there was sufficient money in the fund to meet the account in full. The Lord continued to provide money and the shell was erected without us having to take up the interest free loan.

In the early autumn of 1993 following receipt of £9,000 from Charitable Trusts, further grants from the diocese and Central Church Funds and over £7,000 from a sponsored cycle ride from John O'Groats to Lands End by the vicar, Rev. John G Riley, we had sufficient money (or promises of money) to give the builder instruction to start work on the interior of the building, the work to be carried out in stages as money became available. Each time we were about to tell the builder that there was insufficient money for the next stage the Lord miraculously provided more, and so the work proceeded.

About the same time that we told the builder to start work on 'fitting out' we also made application to the Church Urban Fund for a grant towards the project and on Christmas day 1993 we were able to announce to the congregation that a grant of £30,000 had been made to the project. We told the builder to complete the work and asked when it could be finished. A date in the middle of February 1994 was given, so we suggested that the Dedication and Consecration of the building should be the first week in March. The Bishop of Blackburn (who had been so helpful during the building process) said he would be away for the whole of March but would be available on Saturday 26 February, so having got the agreement of the builder we set the date. Then it was a race against time to order chairs, carpets, kitchen equipment, a font, pulpit and many other things, but once again the Lord proved that he is able and his timing is perfect. The day before the opening many of us had doubts that all would be ready but through the sterling work of so many people everything was ready for Saturday 26 February 1994 even though the varnish on the front door was still wet as the bishop arrived for the opening service.

After more than twenty years without a proper Parish Church the day had arrived and more than 350 people were squeezed into a building designed to seat 180. It was a great day of celebration.

Following the euphoria or the opening and the first weeks of use of the building the time of reckoning came when the accounts were promised. The Church Treasurer began to realise that we were not going to have enough money to pay the bills (and for some reason they had been delayed, for which we thank our Great God), and at a meeting of the PCC he informed us that with all the extra we had spent, the amount still due to the builders and the repayment of the interest free loan we were going to be about £40,000 short. It was decided to hold a day of prayer for the provision of this money on Sunday 10 days later. During the week prior to that Day of Prayer we received the promise of a Donation for £50,000, once again the Lord showed us that:-

1.    His timing is perfect

2.    He is no man's debtor, and

3.    that 'before you call I will answer'

But even that is not the end of the story, for some 9 months later we received another £3,400 from the sale of church furniture from the old All Saints (which is now in our parish) which allowed us to purchase other semi-essential items of furniture and fittings.

"To God be the Glory, Great things He has done"

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Accounts

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