It was a difficult week ……

City Gates Christian Centre had its topping out ceremony less than a week before it fell.  Plans for re-building is now more than a year behind schedule.

“Not so long ago we were celebrating the topping off service,  and looking forward to a new building ready for Autumn 2012 and today I am talking to you about the demolishing of our church.” The Senior Pastor went on to say that to the Recorder, “the fact that there were no casualties was the best news; praise God. I fully believe that the Master was in the midst when the building fell to a crashing halt. I believe that when the builders left an hour early because lighting visibility turned dark and also surprisingly llford town centre was  very quiet for that time of the day, He was orchestrating so that there would be no fatalities. How we as a church respond to this is the key element. We will not suffer financially and we pray for investigations to be over quickly. As a membership our foundation is strong and we have a church to build.” Senior Pastor, Stephen Derbyshire

The building collapsed at around 4.30pm on Tuesday 31 January 2012

Remarkable the only injury was a twisted ankle.  It would be inappropriate to speculate on what caused the collapse.  Eyewitnesses have said it was a “miracle” no one was killed following the collapse of the building. All 22 workers on site were quickly accounted for following the collapse and no one was found inside the wreckage.

(Pictures by Paul Bennett: Newham Recorder)

4 years on…

(Picture: City Gates Christian Centre)