Worshippers ‘locked out’ of church building after it was sold at auction

The congregation at Christ Embassy Bolton, also known as Loveworld Church, held their most recent service at Commerce House on Bridgeman Place last Sunday.

But they were dismayed to find that the doors have been padlocked without warning, and they have been unable to return since.

Pastor Godson Ifebueme said: “We’ve made the building very conducive to all the tenants who are there.

“We worked on the toilets, we built a new office upstairs because we were hoping to be there for a long time.”

Christ Embassy Bolton has been based at Commerce House (Image: Newsquest)

He added: “We were trying to make the place conducive for people to stay.”

Pastor Godson said the congregations included elderly worshippers and people with vulnerabilities and that the Church had worked hard to make the building work for them.

He said: “I said we have to get a place that is suitable for us, for the elderly, for the vulnerable people, for all the community.”

The building now has new owners (Image: Newsquest)

But Commerce House, first built as the offices of the Lancashire and Cheshire Miners Federation back in 1913, was put up for sale this autumn.

The building was listed for auction in September this year with a guide price of £275,000.

According to Rightmove the building has now been sold, and the Church held their most recent service on Sunday November 16.

Commerce House was put up for sale this autumn (Image: Newsquest)

But when they returned for a midweek service on Wednesday November 19, they found the doors had been padlocked.

Pastor Godson says he has had no correspondence from the ‘new owners’ and has not even been made aware of who they are.

Cllr Linda Thomas, of Queens Park and Central, said that she has been contacted by worshippers at the Church and appealed for the owners of the building to come forward.

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She said she hoped they could discuss the issue and reach a compromise.

Cllr Thomas said: “I’m very concerned, this is a very established group of parishioners at the Christian Church and for them to be locked out straight away seems very unfair and very unchristian.

“They would just like to know who the new landlord is.

“We would like to appeal to the owners to make contact with the Church and perhaps they can reach some sort of compromise.”

Source – INDIA TV