About Us | St. James in the City ... a new Liverpool church

Values

We have 5 values which run through everything we are and do: Love, Live, Grow, Serve, Build

1. Loving God:
Our central focus is meeting together to worship and glorify God. It’s what energises us to live for him.

2. Living as community:
Build strong supportive networks. Provide friendship, family and home to people from many backgrounds and nations.

3. Growing more like Jesus:
Know more about Him. Live/Become more like Him.

4. Serving our community:
Work to make a real difference in Liverpool and beyond, especially for those in need.

5. Building Gods kingdom:
Locally, nationally and globally for those yet to know Jesus. Train, equip, send and resource.

We are on a mission to bring St James Church building, back to life.

St James is a building of significant historic, architectural and cultural importance. The Grade 2* listed building, derelict for 36 years, was a place of worship for an eclectic mix of Liverpudlians and slaves.

The project will address multi-stranded problems in an imaginative way. Our focus is on building community, overcoming isolation and encouraging inclusion and integration.

By bringing the building back to life we will develop a community facility, a slavery exhibition, a place of worship and outdoor space as well as providing employment and volunteering opportunities.

History:

In May 2010 St James was officially handed over from The Churches Conservation Trust to Liverpool Diocese. The Grade 2* listed church has been closed for 30 years, is on the 'buildings at risk' register and remains in a semi-derelict state of repair. St James congregation have erected a marquee inside the church to enable regular worship and have a vision to renovate the building and connect with the growing residential population and the huge transient population who work, socialise or attend university in the city.

St James Church, was opened for its first service on June 4, 1775. To local historians, it is of huge interest as one of the oldest standing churches in Liverpool and the oldest remaining building in Britain to use cast-iron pillars. With the columns, the architect and builder, Cuthbert Bisbrowne, had pioneered prefabricated construction, now standard in the industry world-wide.

St James is a much-loved treasure and a link to history with a long-standing association as ‘the slave church’. Of the nineteen monuments inside the church, many are to the memory of people connected with the slave trade. The registers of St James feature the names and origins of people from all over the world, many of whom were either slaves or slave masters.

Safeguarding repairs:

In December 2010 essential safeguarding works were carried out to ensure the building could withstand the 10/11 winter. At this time we carried out futher investigations into the condition of the building and prepared a 'Findings Report' document.

These investigations informed the scope of the next phase of most urgent repairs which are focused upon structural repairs to the Nave and Chancel roof including trusses, complete renewal of slate roofing, parapet gutters, rainwater goods and asociated flashings.

Work on the roof started Monday 19th March and is expected to last 33 weeks

During this period our weekly 4pm service is being held in the Concert Room in the Cathedral.

Who we are

We are about helping you find out what God has created you for and equipping you to engage with his word and transform his world.

If you are looking to get stuck into building a pioneering church then we may be what you are looking for.

St James in the City began in January 2009, so we are still pretty young, we have a focus on action, moving forward and making a difference. Our core values are:

We are an Anglican church but we do not function in the same traditional way you may be familiar with. We are trying to develop a modern model of church in response to a modern city culture.