Multi-site Church Plan for St. Alban's

Vicar of Christ Church wants to make it London's 'most family friendly' Church

A new possibility of operating a local church community on several sites has arisen with the news that Christ Church Turnham Green is exploring using the redundant St. Alban's Church on Acton Green.

The Rev Richard Moy, vicar of Christ Church, which is currently at the end of its successful stone renovation, has confirmed that he is in talks with a view towards using both St. Alban's on Acton Green, and The Mission Hall on Cunnington Street (site of the Acton Green Church) as a venue for mission and outreach for his church.

He told his congregation recently ;"Multisite or multi campus church is a concept being tried in various places round the world now, and strongly advocated as an alternative to a traditional church when buildings are close to each other, and you want to maintain a coherence of mission and vision, and share resources across the sites."

Reverend Richard Moy

Christ Church Turnham Green recently passed a resolution to welcome the Acton Green Church members of 20 adults and 20 children into its congregation.

Rev Moy has been approached by the Bishop of Willesden (St Albans on Acton Green comes under his jurisdiction) to see whether they might might help to bring the redundant St Albans Church back to life. The move would give more space to Christ Church which recently had to add a 4.30 pm Sunday service to cater for demand. Children's activities within the church are also under pressure for space. Rev Moy said that if they had not introduced the new Sunday afternoon service, they would already be "beyond crisis point".

Christ Church Turnham Green

The new arrangement would see the Acton Green church not as a conventional 'parish' church and Rev. Moy says he hopes to make St Alban's the "most family friendly church in London".

The London diocese is now entering into a period of consultancy regarding the use of St Albans. Any members of the community who wish inquire about the use of the church for their group are welcome to contact Rev Richard Moy or to attend a meeting to be held on Wednesday Feb 12th) at the Duke of Sussex pub, Acton Lane at 8.30 pm.

St Alban's church was at the centre of controversy in recent years as local groups campaigned against a proposal for residential development. The Planning Inspector last year dismissed an appeal by the developer, on the basis that residential development would result in the loss of a local community facility for which there was "a continued demand."

A spokesman for the London Diocese of the Church of England had recently told chiswickw4.com that they were considering whether the building was required as an Anglican place of worship which might present "new opportunities for worship and mission".

The next move would be to draw up and publish a draft Pastoral Scheme under Section 70 of the Mission and Pastoral Measure 2011.

Chris Chauncy, secretary of St Alban’s (W4) Community Association ( SACA) , said: “We are all pleased at the progress now being made and look forward to St Alban’s coming back to life for the whole community.”

It is thought that the site could be put into use at a manageable cost but development would require a six figure sum over a number of years and that funding has yet to be worked out.

Rev Moy said that the 5,000 people who signed the petition stopping St Alban's being changed into residential use, should see this as a triumph for their activism and he looked forward to working with many of them.

To get things up and running, on Sat, March 1st from 9- 11am Christ Church invites all those men willing to help with physical labour to come along as part of a "Lets Get Ready to Rubble" event at St. Alban's on Acton Green. This will involve clearing out the church. Anyone who wants to have a look can come along from 11-12 when the building will be open to the public

And on 9th March in the afternoon at 4.30pm the The Singing Men of South Carolina choir will perform a concert- the first public hymn singing event in the church for some time.

February 10, 2014