How We Got Here

Once in the building, people had great fun!

Even the helpers had fun!

We gave flowers to show our appreciation to the Deputy Mayor and his wife:

… and to the Chair of CRT and his wife:

Then the official photographer from the Dearne Valley Weekender turned up and we went through re-enactments of cutting the ribbon!

Mark (our pastor), Peter McNestry from CRT, the Deputy Mayor and his wife and Dave (our treasurer):

At 10 a.m., the Deputy Mayor of Barnsley cut the ribbon on the main hall and the Chair of CRT cut the ribbon on the community hall to officially open Goldthorpe Pentecostal Community Church.

We arranged with the Deputy Mayor of Barnsley and the Chair of CRT to attend the Open Day and cut the ceremonial ribbon to open the main door to the church hall and the door to the community building. We actually had visitors coming into the building before the official opening as we were setting things up, but just before 10 a.m., we went outdoors to await the official opening…

By now, all the dignitaries were here, but we were still waiting for the press photographer. Soon, though! Soon it would be open!

The posters below were used to advertise the Open Day beforehand:

In addition to displaying posters in as many different locations as would accept them (shops, schools, churches, libraries, leisure centres, doctor’s surgeries etc.), we distributed about 1000 flyers before the Open Day to let local residents know about the Open Day.

On the day itself, we tried to give the people who visited as much information about this journey as we possibly could:

We had a ‘Suggestions’ Table’ where people could read about the journey to getting the building and could put forward their suggestions for activities to be held in the new building:

We also had a table where people could read about all the different ways in which God has answered prayer over the years, including a photo album tracing the church’s history and the Bible verses which have sustained us on this journey. There was also the opportunity for people to write their own prayer requests for the church to pray over. It’s difficult to see on the photo, but there is actually a cross on the board to which prayer requests could be attached:

We also had notices in the community hall:

Some of the people who visited knew a lot about this journey (some have even followed the blog to find out about it!) But most of the 300 people who visited during the day knew very little about it and were simply excited to see what a new building in Goldthorpe had to offer. We hope they left knowing much more than when they arrived!

Well, there are literally hundreds of photographs to process from the Open Day, so I thought I would start by going through things chronologically. This post is therefore looking at the preparations leading up to the official opening at 10 a.m.

Many of us arrived at about 8 a.m. on Saturday to do all the last-minute jobs that couldn’t be done beforehand…

… such as sorting the balloons which were going on the railings outside:

… arranging balloons artistically:

…putting the last banner in the notice board:

… sorting the flowers:

… getting ready to serve refreshments:

… sorting out activities in the community hall:

… sorting out notices and decorations:

It’s amazing what can be achieved in an hour! Here we are, ready to meet and greet, complete with refreshments:

(Those of you who are keen will notice that before the start, we were still using real mugs. Keep an eye on future photos…!)