What's happening at the St Barnabas site?

As you may well know, after much thought and a great deal of prayer, St Barnabas, with the support of All Saints, has asked the Church of England to start consulting about the closure of the church as a place of worship and the creation of a future parish made up of the two communities and based at All Saints.

Why?

It's a really hard decision to have made, because we love St Barnabas and its buildings and it holds special memories for so many people.And it's something the St Barnabas PCC (the Parochial Church Council)  has been thinking very hard about for several years. But St Barnabas is now a very small worshipping community and we are not able to afford the significant costs of maintaining the existing church or of undertaking the significant work required to upgrade our church and halls. We believe that without the burden of maintaining the St Barnabas buildings we will be freed to focus on sharing the good news of God's love in the Purley and Kenley areas.

What will happen to the site?

Firstly, the proposed new parish of All Saints and St Barnabas will continue to own and look after the Memorial Gardens, the oak tree and the area from the church down to Higher Drive, retaining that green space for the community. 

Anyone buying the site will have to provide community space, equivalent to the space currently occupied by the two halls. The provision of this space, either on the same site or locally is of vital importance to the PCC and Church, many of whom use the halls for social and activities  themselves.

When and how will this happen?

There is a formal process of consultation that has to take place if a church is to cease being a parish church or an ongoing place of worship within the Church of England. This will take a minimum of 12 months, but may take longer. This consultation is organised by the Church of England, but it will include conversations with the church and local community as well as our friends and neighbours. 

Charity law means that we also have to consult specialists to ensure that we comply with charity law when the site is sold and before we begin any further thinking about working with developers on the site. No decisions or discussions with developers have taken place or are likely to take place in the very near future.  We will keep you fully informed as things progress. 

What's happening in the meantime?

We are still very much here and worship is continuing as normal, alternating with All Saints Kenley for our 10am service most of the year.  Baptisms, weddings and funerals can all take place in St Barnabas and we can organise the burial of ashes in our beautiful modern Memorial Garden. We would love to welcome you to worship at St Barnabas or All Saints, just browse the website or get in touch for more information. 

 In the meantime, if you have any questions, please  get in touch via our Parish Office by email or call the office on: 02086603251.

Justine announced our plans in her sermon on the 14th of May here, 23 minutes in.