The Church of Christ the Cornerstone

History

The beginning

The area of north Buckinghamshire which is today Milton Keynes was designated a New Town by the British Government in 1967. Shortly afterwards, Harry Carpenter - then Anglican Bishop of Oxford - wrote to the leaders of the main Christian denominations in the area inviting them to meet to discuss how best religious provision might be made for the new town. At the meeting, it was agreed the churches would work together and, in July 1968, an ecumenical committee was set up to plan how this might best be achieved.

Because the majority of the church buildings at this time were in the existing three towns and thirteen villages within the designated area and would be on the periphery of Milton Keynes when it was finally built, the churches faced the problem of providing buildings and ministry to serve these new churches. However, if the denominations could share the same buildings then the cost of providing one building for every two or three estates might at least be feasible. Fortuitously, the decision to work ecumenically was made easier by the passing of the Sharing of Church Buildings Act in 1969.

1970's

From 1973 an ecumenical committee worked intermittently on a City Centre Church project, but it was not until the late 1970s when the shopping centre was nearing completion that it was finally agreed to go ahead. Milton Keynes Christian Council [MKCC] (successor to the original committee) designated the boundaries of the new ecumenical parish in September 1979. Later that month, a Harvest Festival was held in Middleton Hall, a large open space in the shopping building, and three local ministers were commissioned by the MKCC Presidency to work together in the city centre.

1980

The new ministerial team and its supporting project committee had much groundwork to do before a congregation could meet regularly in the city centre. The Christian Council had entered into an agreement with Buckinghamshire County Council to use a space in Milton Keynes Library for the fledgling church, but in early 1980 the library building was still a long way from completion. The Team therefore arranged for the use of a room in the city centre community meeting place for Sunday morning services. An inaugural service for the new parish was held there on Easter Day (Sunday 6 April) 1980. The congregation were to meet in the community centre for a year while the library building was completed.

1981

On Good Friday, 17 April 1981, the congregation moved into the church space in the county library building - its home for the next eleven years. The interior decoration of the church was undertaken by Mr Remo Granelli, an architect from Birmingham, who had been responsible for refurbishing two other churches in Milton Keynes. The Church of Christ the Cornerstone was dedicated on 3 June 1981 by the Presidents of Milton Keynes Christian Council - the Anglican Bishop of Buckingham, the Moderator of the East Midlands Province of the United Reformed Church, the Chairman of the North London Methodist District and the Area Superintendent of the Baptist Church in the presence of the Mayor of Milton Keynes.

1982

In 1982 MKCC took the decision to move on to the next phase of planning the City Centre Church. Building any new church is an expensive undertaking, building what would be the equivalent of an ecumenical cathedral was mind boggling. The cost would run into millions of pounds and funding would involve a national appeal.

From the earliest days of planning it was intended that the church would be firmly rooted in the community; it would be there for both those who worked in the city and those who lived there. To this end, a Chaplaincy to the city centre shops and offices was established in 1982. In addition, when the new building was being planned a large meeting hall (the Guildhall) was included to be used for civic lectures, meetings, exhibitions, concerts, social occasions and public meetings. There would also be a café/coffee shop and bookshop/kiosk which were to be open to the public.

1983

Over the next few years a number of threads gradually came together. In 1983 the Development Corporation offered the churches a plot for a church building on City Square opposite the main shopping building.

1985

In January 1985 the Cornerstone Trust (the Trustees of which are the Presidency of the Christian Council), which would officially own the building, came into being and the Working Party became the Project Committee of the Trustees.

1987

The involvement of the roman Catholics in the project began four years before the move. A Roman Catholic Mass began to be said weekly on Saturdays at the Cornerstone from Advent Sunday 1987 and this marked the beginning of a closer working relationship with the Roman Catholic community.

1988

On 5 July 1988 a National Appeal was set up to raise £2 million and slightly later a local firm of architects, PDD (Planning, Design Development Ltd), were invited to draw up plans for the church.

1989

In 1989 the Catholic congregation set up a Catholic Pastoral Council with the object of working together with the ecumenical congregation and supporting fund raising events.

1990

At a special service on 16 September 1990 a Covenant was signed between the Ecumenical and Roman Catholic congregations. The preacher was Bishop Leo McCartie, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Northampton.

By early 1990 sufficient funds had been raised or promised to allow contracts to be awarded for the building of the new church and the two office blocks that would flank it. Construction work began on 4 June and by 19 December was sufficiently far advanced for the dome skeleton, which had been prefabricated on the ground at the rear of the church, to be raised into position.

1991

The other major feature of the building, a giant cross, was placed in position during a special service (held in the car park in front of the church) on Good Friday, 29 March 1991. By the end of the year, the building was complete and was handed over to the Trustees at a ceremony on 20 December.

1992

The Saturday and Sunday congregations met for the last time in the Library at 10am on Sunday 12 January 1992 for a special service during which they progressed from the old building to the new.

The new building was dedicated at a special service on Friday 13 March 1992 in the presence of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The event was particularly moving for those members of the congregation who had first worshipped together in the community meeting place on North Row. There was a tremendous feeling amongst those present that they were not only seeing history being made - they were actually a part of it. They saw the coming together of the four Presidents of Churches Together in England and also saw them dedicate the first city centre ecumenical church in Britain. But more than this, they saw a Roman Catholic Cardinal preach before the reigning monarch - the first time this had happened in over 400 years.

The Dedication was performed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend and Right Honourable George Carey (Anglican); His Eminence Cardinal Basil Hume, Archbishop of Westminster (Roman Catholic); the Reverend Desmond Pemberton, Assistant National Superintendent, Wesleyan Holiness Church; and the Reverend Dr John Newton, Chairman, Liverpool District Methodist Church (the Presidents of Churches Together in England).

Now

But there is more. Accommodation is provided within the building for a number ofvoluntary organisations and there is a Centre for Integrated Living run by the Council for the Disabled and the Area Health Authority. This Centre emphasises the very positive policy towards housing development for the disabled in Milton Keynes. Its aim is to encourage and enable the disabled to live independently and to make their own decisions.