The Church Community Centre opened in February 2012, replacing the small church hall and was designed to meet SJC’s ongoing needs and future growth, while complementing the existing church building.
SJC utilised a £325K loan from Chelmsford Diocese (repayable over ten years) to finish paying for the original construction, which cost about £1.2M in total. Alongside this loan, generous giving and fundraising, costs were met through a grant of £287K and personal loans from church members of approximately £120K (of which all have been repaid).
However, due to an unexpected need to replace failing boilers in the church, in October 2019 SJC asked the diocese for a year’s ‘debt holiday’ in order to raise our monthly income levels to cover our expenditure. We currently owe £149,000, which once the loan repayment restarts in October 2020, will take 4 years to repay in full.
The office team have been working hard to maximise the Community Centre income in order to furnish the loan repayments of £37K per year plus interest. The congregation have been regularly informed about the ongoing financial position of the church.