For commercial reasons, we are still not able to announce the actual venue for this new venture in Swindon. However, we expect to be able to do that within the next few weeks. Setting up the Bristol and the Swindon Resourcing churches has been an enormously ambitious and costly enterprise. It will run into millions over the next five years. The money will come from the Church of England’s Strategic Development Fund. The aim is to create two entirely new churches, using leaders trained at Holy Trinity Brompton.
In Bristol, this means that a redundant building in the heart of the old city will be brought back into operation. They expect to start worship services there during the summer. In Swindon, a brand-new building will be purchased. The aim was always to buy an unmissable iconic building and then to fully resource the work of ministry. There will be ordained clergy and assistants, training curates, paid administrators, salaried youth workers and music leaders. They will be free from deanery or diocesan responsibilities, and will focus only on building the church. The aim is to build a weekly church attendance of around 400 people within five years. It will be a centre for evangelism, worship, teaching and work with young people.
How will that affect us?
We look forward with a mixture of excitement and a little trepidation. If this takes all happens as planned, the Church of England in Swindon will find itself in a different place. We don’t want to let fear hinder us. If the kingdom of God grows, it will benefit all the churches here and raise the spiritual temperature of our town.