Church leaders have been working for the past six years to bring to life their vision for a new building in River Road.

Ministry team leader Simon Risson said the church’s congregation had outgrown the church’s former home in Baillie Street, and the building was put on the market in 2010.

Church services have continued at Horsham’s Holy Trinity Lutheran School’s hall since.

Mr Risson said the new building would seat 380 on the floor level of its chapel, and would also have a mezzanine level that could seat another 120 to 150 people.

“It’s about being able to still have an intimacy when we gather, but also creating some flexibility if we need to host a larger community event,” he said.

“It’s not just about doing everything the same as we’ve always done – we want to be flexible and think differently about we can do things.

“We do that now, but this is designed to give us even greater flexibility.”

Mr Risson said discussions about renovations or a new church building dated back 40 years.

“A number of people said we needed to move off that land in Baillie Street, and for a long time it was about finding the right space,” he said.

“A number of people looked around and saw opportunities, and they looked at the River Road block – which was four blocks at the time – and decided to pursue it. That was about five or six years ago.

“From then on it’s been a really positive process of planting ourselves in a part of the community that doesn’t have this type of facility, in a visible place, and re-imagining what church and ministry and community looks like.

“It is about facilitating who we were and how we function, and also about wanting to be a significant part of the community and be a facility that the community can use, and having a place where we can have ongoing conversations about life, faith, hope, meaning and purpose.”

Mr Risson said the church involved people of all generations.

“That’s a great strength of who we are,” he said.

“It’s not without its struggles, and there have been people who have been a bit unsettled about the move, but we get the bigger vision about existing in the community for a long period of time.”

Mr Risson said services at the Lutheran school allowed the congregation to envisage what a larger space could provide.

“The Lutheran school has been great to us, as have other churches in allowing us to use their facilities,” he said.

“The school hall allowed people to see the space you can create and what that does for the community.”

Project manager Ivan Sherriff said construction was due to be completed by January 15.

“That date has been adjusted because of wet weather that occurred around Anzac Day,” he said.

“The roof is going on now.

“The community interest in the project is so high. The amount of traffic going past is amazing.”

Mr Risson hopes the first service in the church will be in February or March.