LFEC Building Project
With great blessing from our Lord, we completed the purchase of the former police station on Old Castle Road, Llanelli, in February 2024.
Since then, we have consulted with many builders and architects and prayed for God to lead us to a path for developing the property to our new church.
In August, we decided to work with Benham Architects to develop the site and build our new church. In the Lord's goodness, He directed us to Dan Benham, an architect from Cardiff who is currently President of the Royal Institute of British Architects in Wales. He has a great reputation in his field, and how the Lord has put us in touch with him is clearly a further expression of His blessing on this project.
The first stage will be to undertake a feasibility study. This means we will be in line with the standard building industry approach for developments as large as ours and will allow us to approach planning considerations and funding applications correctly and with confidence.
A major part of the feasibility study is community consultation, which will involve listening to our community as we work towards a final plan. This, of course, refers to the LFEC community itself; both our members and those who join with us to worship. Ultimately, it is we who will have the final say, always remembering that it is the Lord's will we are seeking to discern. However, this is also a process where listening to the needs and opportunities of the community around us is important, be that the community of Llanelli or indeed the wider Christian community that we may now be in a position to help. Within this process, there is the opportunity to look for possible connections between these communities and where we are as a church. It's not about compromise but about connection. We had a sense of what this looks like with the work we did with Ysgol Penrhos on the mural project, something that confirmed to those involved the significance of community connection.
As noted above, from the beginning of this journey with the Lord the issue of connecting with our community has been a regular theme, one that has been expressed by many as being of importance. The needs of Llanelli as a town are obvious and seemingly grow day by day. So we feel a strong sense of privilege and responsibility when we consider that the site might be developed into something that is positive both for us and the town. Ideally, we are seeking an outcome that meets our needs as a growing church, but one that bridges into some of the opportunities and needs in our town as well. Ultimately, it is about developing these bridges for the good of the gospel and the Lord's work in Llanelli and beyond.
In July 2025, our architect and his team led a spatial review, inviting every ministry and group in the church to share what they would need from the new building for their specific areas of service. This was a rich and unifying process that helped us identify what is required both now and in the years ahead, and it sharpened our thinking on how the new space can better serve and connect with our wider community by involving the whole church family in shaping the vision.
From December 2025, we have also been visiting a variety of churches across South Wales to learn from their buildings in practice: how their spaces are laid out, what works well, and what they might do differently. These visits have been invaluable in refining key decisions about things like the size and location of the café, the design of the auditorium, flexible multi-purpose rooms, and dedicated areas for children’s activities, so that our future building is both welcoming and practical for gospel ministry.
From February 2026, we are moving into the next stages of planning, working with our architect to shape initial designs, explore options with the local authorities, and prepare for the formal approvals and detailed work that will follow. This is an exciting step as ideas gathered from the church family and our building visits begin to take clearer shape, and we continue to pray for wisdom and provision as the project progresses.
In April 2026, we received initial plans for the new church building. This is the first draft of a developing document that will involve a series of discussions between the church and the architect until an agreed design is reached. Later in April, our architect and his team visited LFEC with updated plans and to discuss the feedback of the church members for the plans.
In May 2026, our architect, Dan Benham and his team visited LFEC again for another community consultation event. The back room at LFEC was very busy with people from the community, eager to find out the latest news on the project. There was a definate feeling that the community has now accepted the project not only as a church project but as part of the community itself. It was very encouraging to engage with the local community in this way and proved very beneficial to Dan and his team too. We invited two local artists to come along to the event. They brought a weave frame where everyone could weave in a colourful material that had been gathered earlier that day. The finished weave will be on display at the new building when completed. We also took tours at the former police station and this was also popular.
More detailed project information and images can be seen in the links below or at our dedicated project website (link below).
Giving
Please consider giving financially towards this project, either regularly or with a one-off donation. As a church we are very aware that this project is so much bigger than anything we can hope to resource on our own – but we’ve already been shown that when God is involved anything is possible.
You can dontate to our Stewardship account or via bank transfer:
Lloyds Bank
Account No. 00466432
Sort Code 30-95-14
If you have any questions relating to giving please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and let us know how you would prefer to be contacted. All enquiries will be dealt with in the strictest confidence.
