THE first new parish in the diocese of Guildford for 25 years has been established at the site of the former Deepcut army barracks in Surrey.
The former garrison church, St Barbara’s, built as a tin tabernacle in 1901, is currently being renovated, to house a congregation planted in 2020 by St Paul’s, Camberley. Numbers have already grown from 20 to 100.
The barracks were closed in 2013 and, in 2016, construction began on a new development of 1200 homes, Mindenhurst Village. The army began discussions with the diocese of Guildford about the future of the church, and it was agreed that the Revd Daniel Natnael, Associate Minister at St Paul’s, Camberley, would plant a new congregation. He is now the Vicar of Deepcut.
On Wednesday, he described the challenges that emerged in subsequent years. Six weeks after the launch, the Covid-19 pandemic began and the church building — home to a small congregation — was closed. “It was a big testing time,” he recalled. “When socially distanced meeting was allowed, we thought ‘The car park is available: let’s start with that.’”
As the new school lacked pupils because of the pandemic, the congregation could lease the building for meetings. When a local hotel began to house 170 asylum-seekers from Central America, the Middle East, and Africa, the church worked alongside charities and the council to provide food, clothing, and bicycles, and hosted a “bring-and-share” supper in Holy Week 2022. Dozens have since taken part in Alpha — offered in English, Spanish, and Farsi — and joined the congregation.
The church was inspired by the command to love one’s neighbour, “going to where the people are. . . We want to be visible and accessible,” Mr Natnael said. It holds a baby-and-toddler group in a care home, where a monthly communion service is also held, as well as weekly coffee mornings in a pub, The Frog, where he has an office. A carol service and live tableau have been held in the pub garden.
Houses were being bought rapidly, and young professionals and families with small children were moving into the area, he said. Each new arrival has been welcomed by the church: Mr Natnael, who lives on the estate with his family, visits with a bottle of wine or chocolate. They had told the army from the beginning that they were “not interested in taking on a museum”, he said. “We are a church that is alive, wanting to reach out to our community.”
The church, a Grade II listed building originally known as St Michael and All Angels, was renamed St Barbara’s Garrison Church in 1967, after the patron saint of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC), whose operations and training were moved to Deepcut in the 1940s. In 2014, it was used as a location for the film Kingsman: The Secret Service.
External refurbishment has been completed. Internal work will be carried out this year, a new community hall will be built, attached to the church. Funding has been provided by the developers, as part of a Section 106 agreement, but the church is also raising money for audio-visual equipment, lighting, and furnishings.
This week, Mr Natnael acknowledged that Deepcut had a “difficult history” in its recent past. Four recruits died from gunshot wounds between 1995 and 2002.
As many new arrivals would be working hard to pay their mortgages, he hoped to help people to explore the question “Is there more to life than what I do?” and to offer “a voice of hope”.
The plant was supported by the diocese with £799,000, including the cost of a house. A portion of the funding came from a 2017 Strategic Development Grant of £1.1 million allocated for “new opportunities for growth in housing developments and under resourced areas”. The diocese has already met its goal of developing 100 new worshipping communities by 2027.