The Story So Far 
Bingham Methodist Centre – The Story so far!
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The story begins in
1818 when our forefathers constructed the original Methodist Chapel in Bingham
in the ‘Brunswick style’. Thereafter followed the building of the Primitive,
Independent and Ebenezer Chapels; now a public house, a spiritualist centre and
a dwelling respectively. The Wesleyan Chapel was “modernised” over the years by
an additional schoolroom, parlour, third world shop, lobby and the Dunsmore
room; all of which served us well over the years but became a maintenance
nightmare. Much soul searching went on how to make the centre fit for purpose
as a worship centre and a place for the community of Bingham.
Moving on to year 2000, after a great deal of prayer, thought, discussion and brain storming it was agreed that something must be done. The worship space had a 1 metre fall in floor level back to the front; so pews were to stay, no foundations so the floor was going to be difficult to level, the roof leaked and had been repaired ‘temporarily’ with a table top! The schoolroom had a corner which appeared to be sinking, the Dunsmore room had become attractive to the procurers of lead and leaked in various places, the parlour had one wall that remained damp throughout the year and we can go on.
Plans were prepared and an architect appointed. Fund raising began in earnest and we prayed. The cost of the rebuild was to be about £1.4 million and we reached £200K. We continued to pray and try to raise funds for our wish to provide a modern centre that would serve the worship, outreach and mission to Bingham and the local area as well as providing the community facility that was serving some 1200 people a month already coming through the doors.
After a great deal of prayer and thought there was a “light bulb” moment by one member of the steering group. Why not build on the whole plot, not build a ‘conventional Church’ but something contemporary, impressive, inspirational, multi-functional that would pay for itself initially through the ability to raise a mortgage and provide income in the future for our children to look after the Centre for another 200 years? Allan Joyce, our architect who had been with us from the outset (patiently), came up with the design as illustrated below. In addition, there were to be retail and office space to rent out providing an income to pay off the mortgage and circuit loan in quick time.
We continued praying, discussing, fund raising and appealing to our congregation for continued sacrificial giving. It all came together over the years as Bingham Town Council Community Chest, Circuit Funds and loan, Connexional grant, District support, Joseph Rank Foundation and so many other grant awarding bodies promised funds. The congregation pledged money, cakes and buns were baked, tea parties, bazaars till everything was sold again and again year on year! Then alleluia we had enough to go ‘cap in hand’ with our plans to Methodist Chapel Aid. We had been blessed with enough funds to be confident to begin our, what was now, a £1.9 million project.
Where are we now on the dawn of 2016?
We emptied the old Church early in 2015, demolished it in what seemed an indecent period of time and discovered the usual coal cellar and working well, long forgotten but an explanation for sinking corners and damp walls. We found that the plans drawn in 1818 were not as accurate as those that the planning authority insisted on, so a little sliver of land had to be bought from Nottinghamshire highways. Party walls were negotiated, planning applications aplenty agreed and we kept praying as well as fund raising. The monthly client and site meetings with builders and architects continued so that colour schemes, layouts and finishes were agreed as well as selling bricks to the public, our congregation buying the chairs they would occupy in the worship space. The retail space is now to be 2 shops and have been handed over to the trustees on the 21st of December 2015; occupation will happen early in the new year and income generated to repay MCA. The office space will be complete in 5 weeks and marketed to be occupied, monies used to repay circuit and personal loans. The worship space and the four rooms, 2 kitchens, café foyer, 2 vestries and toilets are scheduled for completion mid-March 2016.
An ‘Open day’ is planned for the 9th of April 2016, when all are welcome, followed by dedication service of the building and worship space in particular, on the 10th conducted by the President and Vice President of Conference.
To build a new church is a means to an end, not an end in itself. We have to use our new building as a springboard for mission. We have already made a start as the building work has become a huge talking point in the town. In an age when many think the church is dying, the fact that the Methodists are building a new one has certainly made people take notice of us. Our Facebook page has enabled many people to follow the building progress in an entertaining way. We will receive many people and groups into our new building and we intend to make it clear that this is a place of Christian worship and the home of a vibrant Christian community. With this in mind we are putting a lot of thought into the Foyer area both as a place of welcome and mingling and as the main entrance into the worship space. We also want to continue building on our ecumenical links. We hope the Roman Catholics will continue to worship in our building as they did in the old one and we will build on the shared services we have been holding with our Anglican friends so that we use all the church buildings in the town to extend our Christian mission. Our strap-line is ‘Church and Community Together’ and that is how we intend to grow.
We will write again later in 2016 with news of the new Centre and reviews of lessons learnt but please remember Prayer conquers all.
BReAD (Bingham Reconstruction And Development) Steering Group team:
Rev’d Richard Tanner Ron Maxwell Peter Broekhuizen Brian Mellors
And all the others over the 15 years who served so well.
