Slowly, we are seeing the new developments in Watford’s town centre take shape. After many months of demolition, dust and debris, the architectural structures and frameworks of the intu extension are visible. There is obviously still a long way to go but there is excitement growing at the town’s transformation.
The Watford Observer recently reported that the extension to intu (due to open autumn 2018) will create a 1.4 million square foot retail and leisure destination and Hertfordshire Life states that the rejuvenated shopping centre will bring Watford into ‘the independent CACI UK retail rankings’ top 20, confirming it as a premier shopping destination’. Jonathan Field of Watford BID says that ‘Watford is a town worth investing in’.
In a similar way, Watford Town Centre Chaplaincy is going through its own period of re-building. Just as the physical developments in the town centre are not complete yet, the Chaplaincy itself is still in the process of ‘building works’.
The psalmist wrote ‘Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labour in vain’, The Watford Town Centre Chaplaincy trustees have been through a period of prayerfully seeking God’s will for the direction and vision of the charity. Our deep desire is for the Lord to ‘build the house’.
The secular world is investing in Watford’s town centre. How will we, the people of God, respond to the fresh challenge of town centre mission and ministry?