Our History
Christ Church is really the people who worship here or who are committed in other ways. Our prayer is always that everyone we have contact with might experience God for themselves.
But the community of people that are "Christ Church" base themselves at Christ Church Centre . This is our building which hasn't always been in its current location.
Christ Church Centre was opened in 1980 and was seen as a CENTRE for worship on Sundays and for fellowship and service during the week. The original 19th Century romanesque Christ Church in Verulam Road St Albans still exists but has been rebuilt inside and turned to commercial use.
In the early 1970s it was clear that not only was it too costly to maintain the old building but it was also in the wrong place! If you imagine the parish as pear-shaped, Verulam Road is actually the stalk end! The "core" is up here in New Greens. So the old church did not really serve the bulk of the parishioners.
A daughter church, St.Andrews, had for some years held services on the current site in a "temporary" wooden building. This was built when the New Greens Estate was itself a new development. So it made good sense to close Christ Church, Verulam Road and in October 1974 the congregation moved and everyone started worshipping together at St. Andrews. New plans were developed to build a more permanent building.
Once built, the old St Andrews wooden hut remained standing but becoming increasingly run down. It was still used for activities and became known as the LIghthouse but in June 2008 an arson attack rendered it unrepairable. It was swiftly demolished. In October 2010 we were in a position to begin rebuilding the facilities that were lost and to join it to the existing building. Thus the whole building is now to be known as Christ Church Centre.