International Presbyterian Church (IPC), Ealing were delighted to open their new building on 17 November.
Founded in 1969 and grown out of the work of L’Abri, in 1979 it bought St Helena Chapel and this provided a wonderful home for the next 25 years. Redevelopment plans were slow, first mooted in 1990 and the building committee was formed in 2005! Alongside setbacks – English heritage listed the Chapel and so that had to be incorporated into the design – Piercey and Company, the architects, have done a fantastic job with the design.
The total cost of the project is around about £3.2 million, but God has provided remarkably so far. At the opening service Paul Levy, the minister of IPC since 2003, said the church had learned four things during the building project:
1. It’s been twice as difficult as was thought
2. It’s cost twice as much as was hoped
3. It’s taken twice as long as planned
4. It’s infinitely worth it. We have learnt much of our God, that he is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine, and great patience is needed in his work.
Many visitors
Sinclair Ferguson preached encouragingly and powerfully from Matthew 18 on ‘Jesus and the Church’. The opening weekend saw many visitors coming in from the surrounding area and the church received real encouragement from local people coming into the new building. IPC is overwhelmingly thankful to God for all that he has done.
