New owners have plans for former church in Dunfermline

The Redeemed Christian Church of God, Covenant Restoration Assembly in Dunfermline have confirmed they bought the building at auction earlier this year.

Currently based at Abbot Hall in Wilson's Close, the Dunfermline parish of the church hope to have the building fully operating by the end of the year with assessments currently ongoing as to the extent of repairs required to bring the old place of worship back into full use.

The church has been in existence in Dunfermline for 14 years with the old Dunfermline High School building, Duloch and Carnegie Leisure Centres and the Dell Farquharson Centre all previously used for its worship.

Pastor Dr Oluseye Ogunbayo with members of the church's congregation at their new Erskine Building site. (Image: Contributed)

Pastor Dr Oluseye Ogunbayo said their congregation is continuing to grow and currently boasts around 150 members.

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"We grew and grew and recently we have discovered that we are outgrowing this place and we thought it may be time to move," he said.

They had looked to buy the building last year but the £230,000 asking price was too high. Months later, they found the old church was back on the market with an auction asking price of £99,000.

"No-one could believe this," he said. "We put in again and it was transferred to the auction house. We went and it started from £99,000 and when it was £111,000, they said the hammer is going down. We said £112,000 and the hammer went down. I was so happy.

"Then it was the time to raise money. We had 28 days to raise £112,000. We depend on the community and our members and voluntary donations and our sister parishes over the country."

Having raised the money, Dr Ogunbayo, who also works as a senior lecturer in Clinical Surgery at the University of Edinburgh, collected the keys in April this year.

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They are planning to use the building as their church and as a base to grow the community work which they already carry out.

The Erskine Building in Pilmuir Street. (Image: Newsquest)

"While we have been in Abbot Hall, we have been engaging in some community projects, for example, we do a food hub and also we are trying to preserve food waste," he said.

"We thought what is the way to extend our reach."

As well as using the building for their place of worship, they are hoping to create a permanent food hub where people can come and pick what they need as part of their continuing efforts to help tackle poverty in the local community.

It is also hoped to run free music lessons/sessions for primary school children from the Erskine building as well as coffee mornings to help combat loneliness.

Church members are currently working with surveyors and architects to assess the work required before they can begin to ascertain what funding is required.

"We are already here. We had a Sunday service there so it is usable" added Dr Ogunbayo.  "The major thing is the roof is leaking.

READ MORE: No deal for Erskine Building on Dunfermline's Pilmuir Street

"We know it is going to be expensive to fix but it has great potential.

"We feel we are well up to it. The task is being helped by God. We have no fear. We are thinking it may be possible (to move in fully) by the end of the year.

"We have Abbot Hall for five years and this is our fourth year so it is good timing. We have left time to put things together."