Glasgow church makes move after congregation outgrows building

Members of the congregation at Yoker Evangelical Church (YEC) have been attending services at Clyde Court Care Home every Sunday for the past month.

Greig Ferguson, minister at YEC, explained that this is due to the number of weekly church-goers almost surpassing the building’s capacity of 90 seats.

Inside of YEC prior to work being carried out (Image: Greig Ferguson)As such the Dumbarton Road church – which is an independent church - shut around three weeks ago to allow for renovation work to be carried out to expand its indoor space.

Greig Ferguson, minister at YEC (Image: Greig Ferguson)Greig said: “So it’s [the congregation] been growing for a while, probably around six or seven years. I  said to the church in 2019 ‘I can see this trajectory and if we keep going like this we’re going to be full in a few years’ time. I think we need to plan for that’.

“At that point, we started looking into what we could do and we were ready to do it in 2020 but then Covid hit.

“We didn’t know what life was going to look like after the pandemic so we backed out of it at that point and when we came back to it, it was twice the price.

“So we revised the plan so that it was less costly and split it into two phases. The initial one would cost the least and then the second was more expensive but we still couldn’t afford the first one.”

Greig told our reporter that this had been disheartening news.

However, a gift from a generous local would go on to make the project – which will see the building’s capacity raised from 90 to 150 seats - possible.

Greig added: “We were given a huge legacy out of the blue from someone who used to live in Clydebank and came to the church.

“It was enough to cover phase one and phase two. Before work started our capacity was 90 seats on a Sunday.

“About 85 people come each week and if there was someone in nearly every one of the seats it felt rammed.

“We actually had one week where somebody came for the first time and left without coming in. There had been seats down the front but they couldn’t see them and it must’ve spooked them.

“The ongoing work will essentially double our space.”

YEC is more than 100 years old and was originally set up as a mission hall. It went on to become a formalised church during the 1970s/80s.

It is part of a group of churches called the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (FIEC) which have reportedly seen growth across its 600 locations in the UK.

YEC was previously split into two halls however builders have since knocked down the central dividing wall making them into one. This is expected to allow the church to facilitate around 150 people.

The kitchen is also being moved forward to create a third Sunday school room as Greig explained that there has been an increase in the number of families coming along which is “encouraging”.

He said: “I think the plans that we’ve got are brilliant. I think it should serve the church long into the future.

“There is a mix of excitement and nerves from the congregation. Some people can look at the architect's drawing and can visualise it whereas some people can look at it and think ‘what’s happening?’

“It’s a comfortable place that they’re used to and I think change to something that’s dear to you can be quite scary.”

So how did the idea to move to Clyde Court come about?

Ahead of the closure of the building at the end of March, a member of the congregation who works at the care home suggested relocating and including residents in the sermons.

They explained that there are people living at the South Avenue home who had previously gone to church and would benefit from this decision.

Members of the congregation attending a service at Clyde Court Care Home (Image: Greig Ferguson)

Residents at the South Avenue home have been enjoying the services (Image: Greig Ferguson)

All smiles (Image: Greig Ferguson)

Greig said: “A couple of our members work at the care home. One of them said there are lots of residents who used to go to church and now can’t.

“They asked if we’d consider moving to the home as it would serve both the residents and the church.

“It seemed to be a really good match. It’s been brilliant 25 per cent of residents have come to the services which is class.

“The church members have settled really quickly as well. We do plan to keep something going when we move back.

“I think it would be unfair to do this and then disappear. So I think we’ll probably go to a monthly afternoon service.”

Work is expected to be completed by mid-July 2024. Once the building has reopened there will be an official opening event held in August.