A CHURCH congregation in Whiteley has given up land to focus on their growing community.

Hope Church, Whiteley, was originally created 25 years ago, and was designed to provide a place of worship for thousands of families who would be moving into what was a brand new housing development to the north of the M27.

To start with, the fledgling church community met in people’s homes, as the town of Whiteley began to take shape. The congregation moved to Whiteley Primary School, and then used to meet in Whiteley Community Centre in Gull Coppice. Both venues involved churchgoers packing and unpacking their chairs, musical instruments, children’s activities and so on each Sunday.

Meanwhile, a small piece of land near Whiteley Shopping Centre was earmarked for a potential new church building. Church members have used it for social and outdoor events, and held socially-distanced outdoor services there during the Covid pandemic.

In 2021, the congregation began using their new home at Cornerstone CofE Primary School, in Bluebell Way. They have a purpose-built chapel and the use the hall for worship on a Sunday. The school hall is large enough for the congregation to meet in, with space for a worship group, plenty of seating, refreshments and audio-visual facilities. School class rooms are used for children’s groups.

Since then, worshippers have agreed to change their name to Hope Church, Whiteley, and it has also legally become a separate Church of England parish.

Hope Church has seen a steady growth over the past few years, and now average 60 on a Sunday, with up to 200 joining them for their family events. Out of the chapel space they run Monday Minis toddler group, Open Door coffee morning, and their Bumps and Babies baby group. They have also run the Alpha Course in the chapel, and are going to start a new Alpha course in September.

Now that they have settled in their home, and there is community being built in that new place, a decision has been taken that the land near Whiteley Shopping Centre is no longer needed. Any church building created on that land would simply be too small, as well as in the wrong place for its growing community.

The vicar, the Rev Amy Adeniran, said: “It has been amazing to see the growth at Hope Church over the past couple of years. I really feel we are becoming a church with a great community focus, gathering people from all over Whiteley to worship. I’m so grateful to our local community that they have chosen to support us so much.

“Of course when the land was originally earmarked, we were worshipping in the community centre. Having our own dedicated church building was a dream we had, and the church leadership wanted to make sure there was some land allocated.

“But when Cornerstone Primary was built as a Church of England school, we were asked if we wanted our own dedicated chapel space, and it seemed like too good an opportunity for us to miss. Of course, the school isn’t used for anything else on a Sunday. We can spill out into the school grounds, or into classrooms near the school hall, and we also have a great relationship with school.

“And so many of our families are coming to the place where their children actually go to school Monday to Friday. So there isn’t the same kind of uncertainty people have about crossing the threshold, which you sometimes see in other churches.

“We cannot wait to see more people join us on our journey. We meet at 10.30am each Sunday in Cornerstone school hall, anyone and everyone is welcome.”

Worshippers have now cleared the land next to the shopping centre, as they prepare to hand it back to the leaseholder for alternative use.