In St George’s-Tron we are blessed with a living church right in the middle of the city. Our congregation is gathered from all parts of Glasgow and we have strong Biblical teaching, a history of Gospel preaching, many children, students and young people.  

However, there has been no major investment in the internal fabric of the building, apart from decoration, since it was built. The offices are cramped. There is no flexible space for midweek daytime work. Our entrance and sanctuary can reinforce misconceptions that non-Christians have about churches - slightly shabby, old-fashioned, a bit uncomfortable and forbidding.  

If we only wanted to serve our current largely suburban congregation better, we could sell the building and build a new church in a green-field site, close to a motorway and with good parking.

But God has given us the responsibility of this building, in this central location for the sake of the city.

We are surrounded by non-Christian people. Every week, thousands pour past our door, intent on the pursuit of materialism and bargains. How can we reach out to those people and bring them in to hear the Gospel? Is our building telling all these lost people that this is a living church, where the only bargain worth having is available, free, for all who ask?

We are also surrounded by Christians. Our location means that we are very accessible – 80% of the Central Belt is within an hour’s journey of our door. We are in a position to be a hub supporting Biblical ministry in many ways for Scotland.   

It is very tempting to become too comfortable with current circumstances, too complacent with our many blessings. How are we going to use the gifts of our location, our building and our history for our ongoing Gospel Mission?  

Redevelopment will give us more space, greater efficiency and increased effectiveness. But all these benefits will be useless unless they are undertaken and used for God’s Glory and Jesus’ Mission.

Progress update

It seems a long time since the AGM in March, when the proposals for redeveloping the church building were discussed. There are no clear proposals or costings for the work as yet, but the Development Team would like to keep everybody up to date, even if there is nothing definite to report.

However, there has been a lot of work going on behind the scenes – long discussions with architects and engineers, some test drilling under the building and visits to other churches to see how they have handled their redevelopment.  

The Development Team has finalised the brief – what we want the architects to create for us – and have appointed CRGP Architects. The architects will be responsible for the overall project management - structural engineering, all the permissions and approvals we need, etc. CRPG have experience of many church development projects including Sandyford Henderson Church and Chryston Parish Church Hall extension.

CPRG will prepare plans, drawings and costings for the developments, which will be presented to congregation hopefully some time in the autumn. At that point, we will be asking for the support of the congregation to carry out the work. No decisions will be made before then.

Future Updates

The Development Team want to make sure that everyone who is part of the church is kept informed. The Team is planning to do a longer information sheet in the near future, which we would like to use to answer some of your questions directly. If you have specific questions about the redevelopment, please talk to us and we will make sure they are answered in our next information update. You are probably not the only one with these questions.  

Bryan Duncan, Susan Constable and Kate Airlie are drafting the next information sheet, so please speak to them about what you think should be included.

Or you can email them at:-

• Bryan – bryan.duncan (at) donaldsons.co.uk
• Susan – suziecon (at) aol.com
• Kate – kandd (at) dircon.co.uk