Building for the Future in Claremorris

Type:: Church planting
City:: Claremorris, Ireland
Ministry Type:: Church DevelopmentMissional CommunitiesPioneer Church Planting

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Our Story

Ireland is a spiritually needy country. Less than 1% are evangelical, many towns do not have a gospel church. But God is at work in the West of Ireland, with 8 new churches in 25 years. Claremorris, and the surrounding area has a population of around 16,000 people.

Our church began in 2016 and good progress has been made. We have seen people coming to faith, getting baptised, and becoming church members. We have also welcomed believers from many different countries around the world who have settled in the Claremorris area.

Our ministry team is made up of Jonathan & Nicola McCracken (serving with ECM) and Andrew & Rachel Millar (serving with UFM)

Each Sunday we gather to praise God and hear from his Word. We hold various meetings during the week including our Bible study, kids club, ladies fellowship and youth fellowship. We love to be together, with people staying after our meetings to chat over a cup of tea.

Building for the Future

For 7 years we have hired rooms in Claremorris Town Hall Theatre, located in the town centre. As our church has grown, we are beginning to outgrow the available space.

Furthermore, the building has become noticeably busier and is often unavailable, particularly for meetings on weekday evenings. This has resulted in us meeting across three different venues in Claremorris town.

We now have very limited capacity for new people to join us and we are not as visible in the community as we would like. The church members have agreed that we need a new space for growth, to have a visible presence in the town, and to provide a warm welcome to everyone.

Exciting developments...please keep praying!

In mid-January this year, we came upon a very suitable business unit as shown below. The owner has agreed to sell the unit at a good price but this is dependent on planning permission to change the use of the building and on raising enough money to complete the sale. Please have a look at our latest project update for April 2024.

Planning permission has been submitted and we should know the outcome by mid July. Meanwhile, we are trying to work on the finances. Fundraising has been going well, but we still need a considerable amount to achieve our budget for the purchase and renovation costs.

As you can see, the unit is spacious with a similar layout on the floor above. It also fronts onto a busy road that is great for visibility and has plenty of parking space around it. Please continue to pray for God's continued help and direction as we do our part to see the way ahead in this project.

We have now set up a building fund and are actively pursuing internal fundraising and external donations. All donations, large or small, are welcome.

Building