St Thomas and St Luke (Top Church) in Dudley is closing itsdoors for a few months while the church is completely refurbished ahead of thelaunch of the new Resourcing Church in the Autumn. Using some of the moneyawarded to Top Church by the Church Commissioners, the pews will be removedfrom the church to create a more flexible space for both worship and communityuse.
The congregations of Top Church will be moving out while thework is completed, but will still meet regularly hopefully at Provision House,just across the road from the church which is run by a Christian Charity. Therewill be a grand relaunch in November once the work is complete.
Operations Director, Nathan Conway, said: We are so excitedabout the changes taking place at Top Church. Taking out all the pews will giveus a proper multi-purpose space which can be used for a range of communityactivities and in which we can experiment with offering worship in the round.We will also be creating two new spaces a crche area and a tea/ coffeewelcome area, which will be separated from the main space by a wood and glasspartition. At the same time some electrical work will be completed and thechurch will be completely redecorated.
To enable the refurbishment to take place, a specialist hasbeen to cover the organ to prevent any damage. A team is also being puttogether to investigate the heritage work which is necessary on the windows andother historical elements of the church.
Vicar of Top Church, James Treasure, said: We are gratefulto all who have worked so hard to enable this refurbishment to happen. TopChurch celebrated its 200th anniversary last year and this work willmean the building is fit for the next 200 years. We will have an open spacewhich will be much more inclusive to different groups as well as being a placewhere people can discover the beauty of a life in Jesus. Its going to be achallenging three months as our community will be much more dispersed, but itsalso a chance to deepen our relationship with each other and Christ and thefinished result will definitely enable us to participate fully in the life ofDudley town centre and help people to experience life in all its fullness.
The pews coming out of Top Church will be repurposed withsome donated to charity and some going to the Black County Living Museum. It isalso hoped that some will be sold to help raise some funds for the church andgive people the chance to acquire some of Top Churchs heritage. Anyoneinterested in buying one, should contact Nathan on nathan@topchurch.co.uk.
Watch the Express and Star's film as the refurbishment gets started:
