Woking church reopens after £5.7m revamp with new youth centre

A new youth and community centre has opened in the heart of Woking following a £5.7 million redevelopment of one of the town's best-known churches.

Christ Church Woking has completed its ambitious Gateway Building Project after more than a decade of planning, prayer and fundraising.

The redevelopment has transformed the church building with a new glass frontage, upgraded infrastructure and additional space for worship, youth activities and community events.

The Church Café and Sanctuary Bookshop have also been expanded and refurbished, while a more open design aims to make the building more welcoming and accessible to the wider community.

The completion of the project was celebrated with a service of thanksgiving and rededication led by the Acting Bishop of Guildford, the Rt Revd Paul Davies.

The service brought together past and present members of the congregation, supporters and representatives of organisations involved in the project.

Among those attending were Woking MP Will Forster, Mayor of Woking Cllr Rob Leach and Surrey County Council chairman Cllr Tim Hall.

Before formally rededicating the church, Bishop Paul praised the congregation and the wider community for making the project possible.

He said: “I want to say, as Bishop, how proud I am of this community for achieving this remarkable project. I am also proud of our community in Surrey.

“The partnerships we have in this town and this county are utterly remarkable. So many have donated generously and supported the project from the beginning.”

The Revd Adrian Beavis, vicar of Christ Church, said the completion of the redevelopment marked a major milestone after years of work.

He said: “After such a long adventure - involving many years of praying and planning, faith and fundraising - it is so exciting to see the building complete and the vision from over a decade ago become a reality.

“But even more important is that we are now fully reopened and can use the renovated building for its purpose.

“To show care, compassion and welcome to the town community and for us to live out our vision to ‘share God's heart in the heart of Woking.’”

Construction took 18 months and required the church building to close completely for a year.

Steve Roberts, secretary of Christ Church's Parochial Church Council and the main client contact for the redevelopment, said: “It’s been a pleasure to work with Fathom, our architects, and Ridge, the project managers, over the past few years, first on getting the required planning and faculty permissions and then with Ash Construction during the construction phase of the project”.

During the closure, Sunday morning services moved to Woking's Nova cinema, while evening worship was held at St Andrew's Church in Goldsworth Park.

Midweek meetings were also hosted at venues across the town, including St Mary of Bethany and Woking United Reformed Church.

The redevelopment was supported by a combination of grants and donations from members of the congregation.

Funding partners included Your Fund Surrey, Woking Borough Council, Benefact Trust, the Garfield Weston Foundation, the Laing Family Trusts, Marshalls and Common Ground.

The completed project provides new facilities for the church's youth and community work, alongside improvements to its existing spaces.

Christ Church, which has been a place of Christian worship in Woking town centre since 1889, has now fully reopened.

Visitors can once again use the Church Café and Sanctuary Bookshop, while the new youth and community centre will provide additional space for activities and events.