Ferniehill Evangelical Church: Increasing capacity to serve the community

Ferniehill Evangelical Church is a vibrant local church who have faithfully served the community of Gilmerton, Edinburgh for over 50 years. A church full of activity and life, they were in need of expanding their current building which they have occupied for all that time, by way of an extension so they could continue to make space for the growing number of ministries in their church. The works would enable them to reconfigure the internal layout of the church, increase the size of the main sanctuary, make available a new secondary space and make improvements to the kitchen and toilet facilities.  

Whilst raising funds for the property, Ferniehill approached Stewardship for assistance with financing the works with a loan, which as accepted and drawn; enabling the church to build and complete works that they needed to do.  

Now it has completed, Stewardship’s Natasha Wood chatted to Myra Amner of Ferniehill about the church and how Stewardship has helped them. 

 

Q: Tell us about yourself and the history of Ferniehill Evangelical Church? 

A: Ferniehill Evangelical Church was established in 1972 in a residential area of South-East Edinburgh. 

 

Q: Since you’ve been in your current building, what inspired the re-design of the new building?  

A: God has been very faithful to the church over its first fifty years, but the building was beginning to look very tired and on many Sunday mornings the sanctuary was full. In order to be an effective witness for the next fifty years, a refurbishment of the toilet facilities was required and we believed that community engagement would be enhanced with a secondary space served by a new kitchen. At the same time we wanted to increase the capacity of the sanctuary in anticipation that God would use us to extend His Kingdom in Ferniehill. 

 

 

 

 

 

Q: How has Stewardship supported the church on this project?  

A: In order to be confident that we would be able to complete the project we applied for a loan from Stewardship. The awarding of the secured loan has meant that we could proceed with certainty in all aspects of the project including a rewiring and a new open welcome space. 

 

Q: What impact do you think that the church will have in the wider community and in the wider church? 

A: We returned to the refurbished building in December 2022 and immediately we were able to engage in Christmas activities and started a warm hub for the community and church providing a warm space and lunch. The new space has been used for our community youth activities and fellowship lunches which were previously a real challenge. 

 

Q: What is Ferniehill’s vision for the future?  

A: As a church, our hope is that we will be a light in our community for the gospel of the Lord Jesus. It is our prayer that all who come into the building will see Jesus in the believers meeting there whatever the activity or service. For those who already belong to the fellowship at Ferniehill, our desire is to grow to maturity in Christ. 

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