The Emmanuel Centre is (nearly!) here

We are excited to announce the Grand Opening of The Emmanuel Centre, our new home, on Sunday 21st May!

God has given us a vision to be a growing, charismatic, family church with a world vision, and grow to become a worshipping community of 400 and beyond… and for that we need more space!

£1 million-plus investment

The Emmanuel Centre (TEC), a £1 million-plus investment, offers a 500-seat auditorium which, like our current home The Durham Centre (TDC), will be used for church and conference business purposes.

Its opening comes 14 years after that of TDC, which has a 300-seat auditorium plus other smaller rooms.

Since we opened TDC, God has blessed us with growth in numbers, diversity and faith.

Both The Durham Centre and The Emmanuel Centre are on Belmont Industrial Estate, in adjacent units. On Sundays our main church meeting will from Sunday 21st May take place in TEC.

Meanwhile TDC, which until now has hosted our services, will be entirely devoted to activities for children and young people, of which there are over 100 regularly attending the church.

Grateful to God

Alan Bell, our lead pastor, said: “We are extremely grateful to God for how He has blessed us, growing us in numbers, diversity and faith, so that we reached the point where The Durham Centre was no longer big enough for us.

“Creating The Emmanuel Centre is a step of faith. We believe that God’s will for us is to be a worshipping community of 400 and beyond, reaching the nations and our local communities for Jesus. We are very pleased to soon be worshipping in The Emmanuel Centre. We would warmly encourage people to come to visit us, and are excited to see what God will do in the days ahead.”

Our story

Emmanuel Church was founded in 1980 and is part of the Regions Beyond family of churches. We met in various locations around Durham until moving into our first permanent home, TDC, in 2009.

David Campbell, who founded the church, will return to speak at TEC’s Grand Opening Celebration.

We have has links across the globe and are also active locally, in social action projects and supporting local communities. As well as over 100 children and young people, we have thriving community groups, known as Emmanuel Communities, and over 50 student members.

You’re invited!

We would warmly invite you to join us for TEC’s Grand Opening Celebration on Sunday 21st May from 10.30am.

Car park extension completed

We’re excited about the growth that God is blessing us with, and as a church community we’re in the middle of a project to develop our Durham base with the creation of The Emmanuel Centre.

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The first phase of the project was to expand our car park - so that The Durham Centre can welcome more business guests, and more finance can be brought in for the overall project.

We’re very pleased to say the car park extension is now complete - as the happy photos show!

Vision 400: pursuing God

As a community of believers, we want to be faithful to the promises God has spoken over us, and pursue them wholeheartedly.

Among the promises we treasure are:

‘Go to the nations and I will give you Durham’
This was spoken over us many years ago now, and we have seen God move in incredible ways; both in sending people from Durham to the nations, and in bringing people from across the world to join us here. At the same time, we are seeing God increase our impact and reach in our local communities in the North East.

‘You will be a Kingdom resource centre’
A few years back our friend and regular visitor Marc Dupont delivered this word, and we have seen it become a reality through The Durham Centre, our children’s and youth work, and other ministry areas. We have been able to bless other believers and communities, through our experiences; and in doing so be blessed in return.  

Ten years of God’s faithfulness

It’s now ten years since we moved into The Durham Centre, the first permanent home we could call our own. This was in response to clear direction, and miraculous provision, from God; and since then we’ve seen God grow us as a church in Durham, and planted out into Chester-le-Street.

We’re so thankful to God for everything He has done.

But we don’t want to stop there…

God has spoken clearly to us about further growth and, as part of this, we have purchased the industrial unit opposite The Durham Centre. We plan to convert this unit into The Emmanuel Centre, a new church and conference venue, with an auditorium seating up to 500, a small kitchen and toilet facilities.

Creating The Emmanuel Centre

As with The Durham Centre, during the week this would have a commercial purpose as a conference and business venue.

On Sundays, it would host our Durham congregation allowing The Durham Centre to be used for children and youth provision, which is growing rapidly – beyond the space currently available.

The next step in this project is to turn the grassed area next to The Emmanuel Centre into additional car parking space. We want to do this first because it will allow The Durham Centre to take extra bookings, in turn creating extra resource for The Emmanuel Centre project.

Funding the future

This project requires significant finances.

Church members and friends have already contributed to the purchase of The Emmanuel Centre by one-off donations, and increasing their regular giving. We are now looking for a further £1 million.

We are currently receiving monies from our recent Gift Day, and these will be dedicated to the project. On the Gift Day, Alan spoke about how we can see this £1 million as “One Hundred Steps” of £10,000 each. What step of faith is God calling you to take in this area?

It’s really important to remember that we’re not embarked upon this project because we want a bigger building. Rather, because God has spoken to us about growth, and we want to pursue His promises.

Currently, we gather around 250 people at The Durham Centre on Sundays. In faith, we are praying for God to increase this, initially to 400, and then beyond!

How can I give?

If you’d like to support this project, that’s great. For more information on how you can give, please visit our Giving page.

Questions?

We’d love to chat. Email us: info@emmanuel.org.uk and we’ll get back in touch.