£400k Inverness church upgrade 'has been a big faith step'
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AN Inverness church has officially opened its refurbished building after investing more than £400,000 – with over half coming from the congregation.
The Junction Church Inverness's premises are in Bank Street and Fraser Street. The former St Columba High Church building was purchased from the Church of Scotland in 2011, at a time when the Junction Church had only 20 adult members.
Major construction works were carried out internally by contractors WGC in 2017.
The ground floor has been subdivided to create a modern auditorium, a room for children's work, new toilets and a kitchen. The central heating system has also been upgraded.
The project has cost more than £400,000 so far, with more than half of this contributed by the congregation. A further £25,000 was donated by the Junction Church Aberdeen and the church also has a mortgage with Stewardship Services.
The building was officially opened by Pastor Julian Melfi, UK chairman of the International Network of Churches, and around 100 people gathered for the celebration.
Pastor Owen Morris, of the Junction Church Inverness, said: “This project has been a big faith step for the church and it is exciting for everyone to see the vision become reality. It’s great that this building will continue to be used for its intended purpose and we look forward to being able to serve the local community more effectively now that we have a permanent location in the city centre.”
The Junction Church will be using the building not only for Sunday services but also for youth work, children’s activities and community events.
There are longer-term plans to develop a much larger auditorium on the upper floor of the building.
