Vine Church Senior Pastor Gary Brown addressed councillors in open forum prior to his request for in principle support was considered at the ordinary monthly meeting of council on Wednesday October 28.

In a letter addressed to council, Pastor Brown said the Vine Church – a Pentecostal church community with a contemporary outreach focus which was formed in Yass about ten years ago – purchased 4.5 acres of land on the Wee Jasper Road in December 2007 with the view of constructing a large ministry and community facility.

Plans for the centre encompass a large auditorium, a state of the art indoor/outdoor play group facility for young parents, a chapel, a coffee shop, function centre, live theatre performance space, Christian bookshop and counselling rooms.

The Vine Church is currently preparing a grant proposal under the Federal Government Jobs Fund program. It is envisaged that the centre will provide both short term and long term employment for Yass people across a range of activities, particularly in the social services sector.

In his address to council, Pastor Brown said the mission of the Vine Church is to reach out into the community and build bridges. He said he hopes the new centre will further facilitate this vision and plan.

“We have a heart that is very soft to young people, young mothers and children, the under privileged and those who are generally doing it tough.”

Pastor Brown said the centre would be open to all groups and individuals of the community for use and not just confined to members of his Church.

“We don’t want to sit within our four walls but get out of those four walls so people can use our facility for good purposes.”

Pastor Brown told the meeting he hoped to secure some government funding for the construction of the centre. He believes the centre will be self funded by the time construction begins. A Development Application (DA) has not yet been submitted but Pastor Brown hopes the centre will be up and running by mid-2011.