Hundreds turn out to celebrate new church

Proud day - Rev Marian Sturrock outside the new church Proud day - Rev Marian Sturrock outside the new church

HUNDREDS of parishioners and dignitaries packed out St Michael’s Church to celebrate the consecration of the new £420,000 building.

The pews were full to bursting as more than 200 people seized the rare opportunity to watch the new church, in St Michael’s Road, Daws Heath, be sanctified by the honourable Bishop of Bradwell.

Clergymen past and present, councillors and churchgoers watched as the venerable John Wraw blessed everything from the church doors to the alter and chalices, before joining in a service of prayer and hymns.

Reverend Marian Sturrock said: “I am absolutely over the moon with the beautiful new building. It’s not very often a congregation gets a lovely new church like this so we are extremely grateful and pleased to worship here.

“It was a lovely service and I would like to thank everyone for coming along to help us celebrate.”

The new building, which also includes a new community hall, was constructed of 150-year-old timber logs especially imported from Finland.

The congregation spent two years raising the cash to demolish and rebuild their old building after it fell into disrepair.

The rotten timber Army Hut, which dated back to the First World War, had lasted more than 80 years longer than expected but was demolished in April.

Castle Point mayor Peter Burch, who attended the ceremony, said: “There were so many people there they needed to bring in extra chairs. It was lovely to see so much support, and it was a very enjoyable, very interesting ceremony to watch.

“The new building is very well designed and well built, and I am sure it will serve the community well, hopefully for generations to come.”

The congregation will be also holding a special service of thanks and prayers for everyone who was unable to attend the consecration this Saturday at 4pm.

Comments(15)

Brunning999 says...
2:50pm Tue 4 Dec 12

Lets hope the burglars and vandals keep away.

Eric Whim says...
5:36pm Tue 4 Dec 12

wonder how many of those will be turning up every Sunday?

Nebs says...
7:18pm Tue 4 Dec 12

Well done, nice to read a bit of good news for a change.

Nebs says...
8:51pm Tue 4 Dec 12

Aint it just the truth wrote:
It's not good news, it's a complete waste of time and money for people who waste their time praying to a non existent fantasy figure. If I'm wrong, prove it.
They raised the money, and they pray based their beliefs. Good luck to them. You have nothing to fear, as when the time comes God will forgive you.

Antonius says...
10:38pm Tue 4 Dec 12

Had a close up look today, it's a very nice building. Good luck to them.

sav25 says...
11:48pm Tue 4 Dec 12

Religion cannot be proven. However war, famine, disease, suffering, rape, murder, burglary, disabilities, extinctions and plenty others are very much real and proven. If this god is oh so powerful, where the fluff has he been over the last 2000 years? WW1 and WW2 would have been a good time to step in and 'sort it out' no?

Eric Whim says...
5:12pm Wed 5 Dec 12

sav25 wrote:
Religion cannot be proven. However war, famine, disease, suffering, rape, murder, burglary, disabilities, extinctions and plenty others are very much real and proven. If this god is oh so powerful, where the fluff has he been over the last 2000 years? WW1 and WW2 would have been a good time to step in and 'sort it out' no?
maybe it was another of those 'seventh day' things at those times....

Aint it just the truth says...
8:10pm Wed 5 Dec 12

You believers are pathetic, you have complained about my postings, not because I have been using bad language or insulting you but because YOU DON'T LIKE THE TRUTH!!!.
.
Just for your benefit I shall repeat my previous comments. There is not a single grain of evidence that god exists. Likewise there have been plenty of studies in the US on prayer and they have found that prayer does not work. That is a fact. It is also a fact that there is a mountain of evidence that people fool themselves into believing all sorts of nonsense, which includes your fairy tale gods.
.
So come on, be men not sneaky rats, try and justify your faith with real facts and verifiable arguments, instead of complaing to the Echo staff. Btw I shall be complaining about you too.

Aint it just the truth says...
8:20pm Wed 5 Dec 12

Forgot to add that the bible is actually quite a good interpretation of how the world works for bronze age middle eastern tribesmen with no knowledge whatsoever of the objective sciences and a long, deeply held belief in religion. But we are not bronze age middle eastern tribesmen with no knowledge whatsoever of the objective sciences although some people haven't progressed much beyond that, have they Nebs & co?

Diannah says...
8:45pm Wed 5 Dec 12

Aint it just the truth wrote:
You believers are pathetic, you have complained about my postings, not because I have been using bad language or insulting you but because YOU DON'T LIKE THE TRUTH!!!.
.
Just for your benefit I shall repeat my previous comments. There is not a single grain of evidence that god exists. Likewise there have been plenty of studies in the US on prayer and they have found that prayer does not work. That is a fact. It is also a fact that there is a mountain of evidence that people fool themselves into believing all sorts of nonsense, which includes your fairy tale gods.
.
So come on, be men not sneaky rats, try and justify your faith with real facts and verifiable arguments, instead of complaing to the Echo staff. Btw I shall be complaining about you too.
Seeing is not believing but believing is seeing.

Nebs says...
11:26pm Wed 5 Dec 12

Diannah wrote:
Aint it just the truth wrote:
You believers are pathetic, you have complained about my postings, not because I have been using bad language or insulting you but because YOU DON'T LIKE THE TRUTH!!!.
.
Just for your benefit I shall repeat my previous comments. There is not a single grain of evidence that god exists. Likewise there have been plenty of studies in the US on prayer and they have found that prayer does not work. That is a fact. It is also a fact that there is a mountain of evidence that people fool themselves into believing all sorts of nonsense, which includes your fairy tale gods.
.
So come on, be men not sneaky rats, try and justify your faith with real facts and verifiable arguments, instead of complaing to the Echo staff. Btw I shall be complaining about you too.
Seeing is not believing but believing is seeing.
Happy Christmas.

Diannah says...
11:10am Thu 6 Dec 12

Nebs wrote:
Diannah wrote:
Aint it just the truth wrote:
You believers are pathetic, you have complained about my postings, not because I have been using bad language or insulting you but because YOU DON'T LIKE THE TRUTH!!!.
.
Just for your benefit I shall repeat my previous comments. There is not a single grain of evidence that god exists. Likewise there have been plenty of studies in the US on prayer and they have found that prayer does not work. That is a fact. It is also a fact that there is a mountain of evidence that people fool themselves into believing all sorts of nonsense, which includes your fairy tale gods.
.
So come on, be men not sneaky rats, try and justify your faith with real facts and verifiable arguments, instead of complaing to the Echo staff. Btw I shall be complaining about you too.
Seeing is not believing but believing is seeing.
Happy Christmas.
You know ;)

Aint it just the truth says...
11:22am Thu 6 Dec 12

Diannah wrote:
Aint it just the truth wrote: You believers are pathetic, you have complained about my postings, not because I have been using bad language or insulting you but because YOU DON'T LIKE THE TRUTH!!!. . Just for your benefit I shall repeat my previous comments. There is not a single grain of evidence that god exists. Likewise there have been plenty of studies in the US on prayer and they have found that prayer does not work. That is a fact. It is also a fact that there is a mountain of evidence that people fool themselves into believing all sorts of nonsense, which includes your fairy tale gods. . So come on, be men not sneaky rats, try and justify your faith with real facts and verifiable arguments, instead of complaing to the Echo staff. Btw I shall be complaining about you too.
Seeing is not believing but believing is seeing.
Do you mean believing in the 6 day creation, talking snakes, global floods, virgin births, people coming back from the dead and a whole series of unbelievable miracles? Are you serious? Even the Catholic church, which is two hundred years behind the times, admits that Noahs flood is probably not true.

Mary Lou says...
3:58pm Wed 12 Dec 12

...........

Aint it just the truth says...
4:36pm Sat 15 Dec 12

Ho ho! If you have nothing to say then it's best to say nothing.

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