Kings Church Uckfield acquire premises with congregation funding

Kings Church Uckfield was created 40 years ago by small group of local people. Now the church has a membership of over 100 and has just purchased its first premises, Tribune House on the Bellbrook industrial estate.

The church has never had its own place to meet of sufficient size for a Sunday gathering.  Services have always been held at rented premises around the town and until recently the Sunday service was at the civic centre.  Despite this the church has managed to develop a range of services that aim to help the local community, from toddler groups to open lunches and other community activities.

The leadership of the church realised some time ago that they could better serve the needs of the local community better with multipurpose premises and so 7 years ago, the Kings Church began a project to accumulate funds via a series of gift days and started the search for a permanent home in Uckfield.  Having looked at several site over the years, they found Tribune House on the Bellbrook industrial estate.

Following various visits and consultations, it was decided that the downstairs part of the building could be adapted to meet the needs of the membership, while the first floor had a large open plan area which would lend itself to many uses.

With the purchase price provisionally agreed, the church asked the congregation to donate or pledge funds so to enable the purchase of the building.

Elder Steven May-Miller said, ‘we still needed quite a lot more and amazingly the church membership pledged nearly the exact amount that was needed.’

Following a difficult process to achieve planning permission for community and religious activities, the premises was acquired in March 2024. The first Sunday congregation gathering was held on 1 of July. The Ark toddler group meets every Friday morning and a large range of other community minded activities are on offer alongside commercial letting.

Swindells have been the Kings Church’s accountants and auditors for a long time and were able to walk the church through the purchase process with Jon Scott (Elder) and specifically have helped with the various complexities around VAT.

If you’d like to see what’s on offer in the church’s new space, visit their site