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Six years after buying a one hectare block between Woodcocks and Mansel Roads in Warkworth, Mahurangi Presbyterian Church has moved from Pulham Road and succeeded in an ambitious mission to build a vast new church, sports and community centre.
Tucked away behind The Warehouse and invisible from the road, the sheer size and scale of the renamed Hope Church comes as quite a surprise – this is a 3000 square metre, two storey concrete behemoth of a building with a lot more than space for weekly worship.
As well as a function centre that seats 300, there’s a cavernous entrance hall and stairway, a community sports centre (see separate story), a chapel, café, commercial kitchen, foodbank, playground and conference room, plus countless offices and workspaces upstairs and down. A 450-seat auditorium is planned, but that won’t be opening for a year or two at least.
And while every attempt has been made to future-proof the new facility – there is scope to add second and mezzanine floors in the function centre and auditorium in future – some spaces are already filling up fast.
A grassed area outside is being sacrificed to extra carparking, since the planned 114 spaces are already packed to bursting every Sunday, and a portable building from the church’s former Pulham Road site has had to be brought in as extra space for the Warkworth Christian Foodlink operation.
“Six years ago, we thought this room would do us, but in the last three years, demand has gone through the roof – we’ve gone from 20 food parcels a month to 200,” senior pastor Nick McLennan explained.
The first service was held in the function centre in late January and Mahurangi Hope’s team of trust, community, social and youth workers has since been busy settling into their new space and setting up a range of clubs, groups and activities throughout the centre.
As well as the sports hall, various spaces are available to hire at Mahurangi Hope, including the function centre and conference room.
McLennan said the reaction from the congregation had been really positive, as had that of visitors, many of whom hadn’t known it existed and were “blown away” when they first saw the new building.
He said the $12 million project had been a massive undertaking for the church, but everyone felt it was important to create something for the community as well as their own congregation.
“We didn’t see the point of spending money on something that would only be used on a Sunday – that didn’t make any sense,” he said.
“The whole point is for us to connect with people, which was kind of what Jesus did, so we’re just following in his footsteps.
“When the church started 170 years ago, it was very central to the community – it was the start of the church, but also the library and school. So this is re-taking hold of our heritage and becoming a place where people can get together,” he added. “We’re still a church, but we want to be a blessing to the community.”
A public open day is planned for the near future.
Info: Visit https://www.hopehq.nz
Top new sports complex open for hire
Mahurangi Hope is far more than just a church – much of the building is taken up by a huge purpose-built sports centre that’s available for community use and public hire.
With an sprung Indonesian hardwood floor, the hall features a full-size international basketball court that’s already being used regularly by Harbour Basketball and Mahurangi Basketball Club, with Harbour Volleyball and Mahurangi Pickleball Club also making early use of the new space.
Bookings coordinator Brian Dangerfield says there is scope for many more sports as well, with space and facilities for badminton, futsal, netball and fitness groups, among others.
“Whoever wants to use it, can use it – it’s open to the community,” he says.
The sports complex, which includes changing rooms, showers and banked seating, is open from 7am to 10pm every day except Sundays, and can be hired for $50 an hour including GST.
“Our goal is to encourage youth sports participation in particular, but anyone is welcome,” Dangerfield says.
“We’re the only highball sports complex in the area, outside of the college and schools.”
He says the sports complex is already buzzing with activity, with Harbour Basketball running regular training and league sessions before and after school, as well as courses for coaches and referees.
“The evenings are already pretty busy, but there are still plenty of slots during the day and later in the evening.”
Mahurangi Hope is looking to appoint a building manager in the near future, to set up and look after sports bookings, liaise with sports clubs and manage security.
For more information, or to book a court, email bdangerfieldnz@gmail.com
Huge commitment from church, contractors and community
The task of organising and overseeing the Mahurangi Hope project fell to a group of church volunteers who put in 5000 hours of their time to make it happen, with local builder and church elder Kevin Pyle as project manager.
Executive pastor Roger Mackay said they were grateful to all their contractors, many of whom were local. Although covid caused some cost and supply problems, many contractors stuck to their quotes or kept increases to a minimum, meaning the budget only increased by five percent, and borrowings were limited to $1.8million.
The remainder of the budget came from fundraising, as well as grants from Foundation North, Lottery, Auckland Council Sport & Recreation and the NZ Presbyterian Church.
