Church snaps up new building after outgrowing home

A CHURCH which has grown too big for its own building is taking over a landmark city centre venue.

Morningside Baptist Church will move into the historic Methodist Central Hall at Tollcross after buying the premises for more than 1 million.

It's the second move for the congregation in recent years. First, the church outgrew its original 300-capacity home at Holy Corner and transferred its services to the former Braid Church, in Nile Grove, which could accommodate 600.

But the Church of Scotland has now sold that building and developers have been given the go-ahead to turn it into a restaurant and performing arts centre.

The Baptists have decided they need even more space and, after picking up the keys this week, will hold their first services at Central Hall - which has a capacity of 750 - on Sunday.

Senior pastor Karl Martin said they had been negotiating with the Methodists for more than a year.

He said: "Over the last five years we have grown significantly as a church. This move is to provide us with a building which is big enough, but also a base for expansion and to put a marker down that we want to be part of the city.

"The easy thing would have been to get a flat-pack place on an industrial estate and be based out of town, but we feel committed to the city.

"It's brilliant to use an old worship building and reinvigorate it and re-imagine what church could be in that space."

Mr Martin said the money had been raised through the giving of church members. The congregation plans to carry out extensive work once more funds are available.

He said: "We want it to be a much more multi-purpose building. It's fixed seating so that will come out and the floor is raked and that will be flattened so we can have dinners, dances and conferences.

"We see it as a building for the community which we happen to own and use. We want to see it occupied pretty constantly.

"Most of the things we do as a church are not focused on us, but on people who don't come to church."

He said the church's debt counselling programme, counselling service and other work would be based at Central Hall.

The Baptists will retain their Holy Corner building but lease it out to the Rock Elim Church.

The three-storey, B-listed Central Hall dates back to 1901 and has always been a regular venue for concerts as well as church services.

In 2008, four Methodist churches merged to form one worshipping congregation, initially based at Central Hall but now relocated to Nicolson Square. The Methodists will retain ownership of shops underneath the Tollcross site.