“I believe Dawlish URC is poised for its most exciting and rewarding time in a hundred years. Those who founded the congregation had the faith to build a church building for their day—we will do the same for our day by refurbishing the building so that we may witness to God's love and serve the community more effectively”
Jan Adams, elder and member for thirteen years
Guidance
Dawlish URC is superbly situated as the only church in The Strand, the main shopping street of our town. (The only other church in the town centre is the Methodist Church.) Our large building with spacious foyer is well used by the community for social events, meetings, concerts and a host of other activities.
To help us discern our special calling from God, Revd Paul Snell (at the time the Synod Evangelism Enabler) spent a weekend with us in spring 2006 and produced a most helpful and visionary Consultancy Report - Charting a New Course. His detailed recommendations focused round the opportunities provided by our town centre situation; our links with many town organisations; and our developing prayer and healing ministry. For fuller information click on the links at the bottom of this page.
Proposals for implementing the recommendations in Charting a New Course were considered in Prospects for the Future which was adopted by the congregation on 20 April 2008.
We believe that because of our position, God is guiding us to adapt the interior of the church building in order to provide the town with a community resources in the town centre. We will do this by removing the pews, extending our gallery to provide additional meeting rooms upstairs and enlarged foyer with a modern kitchen and toilets, as well as an all-day drop in café, with regular lunches for the elderly. In the past three years attendance at morning service has increased by 25% and offerings have doubled. In addition we have raised over £125,000 in our Refurbishment Appeal so far.
We see these good things as God's blessing and encouragement for our future. The likely cost is £900,000 and we plan to raise the rest through grants.
We are forming a partnership with community organisations by creating The Strand Community Trust (a charitable limited company) to whom we will lease the building so that the church can become a community centre, providing accommodation for organisations and a modern, worshipful space for our congregation. The Trust is already managing the building on behalf of the congregation.
We have detailed our vision in Our Plans for the Future, which is being widely welcomed.
You can get fuller details by clicking on
what the building will look like when finished
The Strand Community Trust (page still under construction)