Community Church conversion gets underway in Mintlaw
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Work has started to convert the former Garret bar in Mintlaw into the new spiritual home of a north-east church.
The vacant building has been taken over by Mintlaw Community Church after lying empty for two years.
Pastor Stuart Watt is a local lad, and admits he used to enjoy a drink at the village pub in his “pre-Christian years”.
However, he never expected to find himself in his current position.
Stuart established Mintlaw Community Church in April 2012 after returning to the north-east with his family, following a four-year stay in Rotherham.
He explained: “I had a long-held calling to pioneer amongst the villages where there is a lot going on in these communities, but not so much of an evangelical footprint.”
Once complete, the new facility will host Sunday Services along with other activities.
The church is looking to set up a community larder and hopes to run a regular soup and sweet on a donation basis.
Stuart explained: “It will aim to set aside stigma, making food and meals accessible to those who need it.”
The building will also create a warm space, giving people the opportunity to reach out and talk to someone when needed.
“Our desire is to address folk’s wellbeing at every level,” Stuart said.
“From the spiritual right through to their physical, mental and emotional.”
As part of the refurbishment works, a partition wall will be installed that will enable the space to be split in two.
Stuart explained: “It gives the best of both worlds, we’ve got the play of the whole space if we need it whatever the occasion.
“Then we’ve got the split spaces which is great in our time of crazy utility costs.
“The small room will be the perfect size for youth work and other things that we will be doing.”
The church will also benefit from having a kitchen, however it will lose some of its space to install a new fully accessible lift.
Plans to change the pub into a place of worship were lodged with Aberdeenshire Council earlier this year.
Local authority chiefs approved the planning application earlier this month, to the delight of Stuart and the congregation.
He said: “I’m really thrilled to have acquired the building and I’m hugely excited about the whole project.
“I’m really appreciative of the support from Aberdeenshire Council and the community as well.”
However, he noted that one objection had been submitted raising worries over a lack of parking.
Stuart explained: “That is a justified concern for everyone nowadays because there is so much traffic on the road and parking on the streets.
“But we are fortunate to have parking at the rear of the property which will adequately serve our purposes.”
Stuart noted that the loss of the Garret would be hard for some locals, but hoped the new church facility would be a good substitute.
He said: “Whilst many were disappointed to lose a place that they’d had association with over the years, the business had been closed with no signs of it being resurrected.
“The timing was right for us to step in.
“We hope that what was maybe a loss for the community, we can address that with what will in due season prove to be a great gain and blessing to the wider community.”
Stuart also confessed that the congregation is looking forward to getting involved and running some of the projects that are currently in mind.
At the moment, the church’s fellowship is made up of around 70 people of all ages.
It is hoped that number will grow once the new Mintlaw facility is open.
Four different opportunities to find a new home for the church in Mintlaw were explored over the last ten years – all to no avail.
Attempts were made to lease a building, buy ground and purchase another building but all efforts had no luck.
However, this all changed when the Garret site was found.
Stuart said: “When we acquired this building it was clear that being right in the heart of the village where our main focus is, this needed to be our priority.”
Its Sunday services were initially held at Mintlaw Academy, however these were forced to stop due to the pandemic.
But once face-to-face meetings were permitted again, the church found a new temporary base at the Macbi Community Hub.
However, the hunt for a more permanent location began a year and a half later.
Mintlaw Community Church took over the running of Fetterangus Church in 2019.
The congregation met in the building for a brief spell, but services were eventually halted as the building was in need of refurbishment.
Unfortunately, Stuart’s plan to move to the Buchan village full-time was stalled due to rising material costs.
He said: “The rise in amenities was also a huge factor because of the nature of that building.
“Electric heating in a big, old classic church building was going to be an issue.”
But Stuart still has a desire to refurbish the building “for the good of the community”.
The Fetterangus Church project will be revisited after the Mintlaw works are complete.
Refurbishment work at The Garret started in early April and is expected to be finished by the end of October.
