The Church Interior Re-ordering phase one is finished
Our aim is for St Stephen's Church to be 'a home and a blessing with Jesus at the Centre' to the parish and community of Netherthorpe.
For many years we've been aware that the church's potential is being limited considerably by problems with the building. The Worship Area is inflexible, restrictive and contains much unused space; the hall is extremely difficult in terms of heating, acoustics and cleaning; and there is no disabled access to the upper floors.
In December 2000, we received a letter from the Church Architect, informing us that our roof has 'nail sickness' and will need replacing within the next 5-10 years. This has acted as something of a catalyst - being forced to think about the roof has encouraged us to also think about addressing problems with the church interior. This, we believe, is crucial in order to consolidate the progress made since the Social Audit and to facilitate effective Christian ministry in the 21st century.
In June 2001, the PCC appointed a Church Interior Reordering Team (CIRT) to work on plans for a possible building project. Since then the Architect has been commissioned to carry out a Feasibility study for the possible reordering of the church interior.
In order to facilitate effective Christian ministry in the 21st century, our proposal is to re-order the interior of St Stephen's Church. We plan to:
- Create a larger, more flexible space by taking down the dividing wall between Worship Area and Church Hall
- Facilitate worship by removing inflexible articles in the Worship Area and turning the Worship Area around 180 degrees
- Make our facilities more user-friendly by repositioning toilets and storage areas, and creating a welcoming parish office near the ground floor entrance
- Create a dedicated space for crèche and children's work
- Make the building safer and accessible through a new staircase and lift to the upper floor
- Create new space for prayer and meeting rooms by extending the upper floor above the hall (this will also remedy heating and acoustic problems currently experienced by users of the hall)