Erewash church gets a new lease of life

Christ Church Methodist Church in Derby Road, Long Eaton. Image from Google.

An historic Derbyshire church is eyeing a new future to preserve the “shabby but sacred” building and bring more people inside.

The 150-year-old Christ Church Methodist Church in Derby Road, Long Eaton, a prominent building on the town’s main thoroughfare, is set for a new lease of life.

Christ Church, home to the official Long Eaton town clock, is looking to divide the existing worship space into separate community facilities, alongside the sale of the neighbouring Sunday school.

This will include removing the pews and opening the building for many uses beyond worship.

It says the schoolroom, which is underutilised and in need of “extensive repair” will be sold to the Nottingham Turkish Community for community and educational purposes.

Planning documents filed to Erewash Borough Council by The Methodist Church also detail: “We would love to be able to bring non-church groups who use our premises into the worship area, as many people these days never see the inside of the church apart from very infrequent occasions such as weddings, funerals, etc.”

The documents write that the current membership of the church is 39, with Sunday worship typically bringing in between 18-30 people, aged 40-90.

They write: “We recognise the need to attract more new worshippers of a younger age group, although as a church we recognise and value the work we carry out with our older members which includes warm spaces and afternoon teas.

“We are confident that the changes we are proposing will allow us to widen our existing work, whilst also offering the opportunity to develop new outreach activities as God calls us to further service.

“Whilst worship will always be our most important activity, we are aware that many users of our building are not initially seeking us out for this purpose alone and that the other linked activities can often be an initial signpost to deeper involvement in church activities.”

Church officials hope to continue renting the space for funerals, coffee mornings, Brownies and Rainbows groups, and as a formal warm space in the winter months.

The pews would be replaced with 60 chairs, occupying around half the current space, while the current vestry would be turned into a new toilet block.

New lighting would also be installed throughout the church

Plans from the church also make mention of the “town clock” on the tower facing onto Derby Road.

It says: “It should be noted that the tower of our church building currently houses a clock which is designated as the Town Clock and is maintained by the Borough Council as such. In response to our approach, they were not able to offer us anything in terms of financial support.”

Meanwhile, the church also details that it considered closing entirely, saying: “Overall closure was discussed and it was clear the overriding feeling of the church was that our story was not yet finished and, though we may be smaller in number than we may have historically been, there is still a church community worth nurturing and fighting for.”