Rain couldn't dampen the spirits of the congregation who walked to the new St Barnabas’ Broadway six years after the original 1859 building was destroyed by fire.

Photo: The night of the fire in 2006

There was a symbolic walk from the temporary site at Moore College down to the new building, but not an elaborate ceremony.

“Sixty per cent of the local population tick no religion – they wouldn’t understand ceremony,” says Barneys’ rector the Rev Michael Paget.

“In fact, the old church was never consecrated. It is a point of pride that, in the words of one former warden, ‘It was consecrated by 150 years preaching of the word of God’. That’s a tradition that we hold.”

Photo: Two of the congregation take part in the walk to the new building

Regulars road-tested the building on Sunday, 3rd June and an evangelistic service on June 17 will be the first time the public will be invited through the doors. 

“The very best way we can commission the building is by using it for the purpose for which it was built, which is to proclaim the pure word of God,” Mr Paget says.

It is decades since a new city church was built and this one certainly has a 21st century stamp.

A landscaped courtyard and entranceway lead to an auditorium with a wave roof and a space that invites visitors from the street.

Photo: Walkers arrive at the new building on Sunday June 3rd

“It’s a building where someone can walk past on Broadway and they can see the word of God being read in Sunday night church, looking all the way through straight to the front,” Mr Paget says. “That’s what we were after. A building that expresses both a tangible sense of open invitation…that somehow articulates an echo of the beauty of God in the way in which it is designed... and which, by its spaces, fosters the kind of interactions which only good architecture can do.”

Inside, the main auditorium has seating for 550, an overflow area for another 100 and a second meeting space for 200. An underground car park has spaces for 30 cars and there is also an open plan office. The cost was more than $18 million and there is just over $4 million left to raise. Several events, including a concert by Rob Smith, are scheduled in the first month because the congregation wants it “used widely as soon as possible”.

The history of the old church, which counts Archbishop Jensen and Bishop Rob Forsyth as former staff members, has also not been forgotten. A heritage wall features bricks from the original building and seats made from old pews.

The old gates, through which R.B.S.Hammond and his congregation member Arthur Stace once walked are rebuilt in the side garden.

The Sydney Morning Herald covered the first Sunday at the new Barneys with the headline "Message from a feisty congregation: we're back in the house".

The Herald quoted Mr Paget as saying he hopes to have a new signboard erected within the next fortnight, and to resume the billboard exchange with the Broadway hotel opposite.

But nostalgia for the old is fading as the advantages of the new start to be felt.

“The old building had, in its own way,a warmth about it,” Mr Paget says. “But during the week, people thought it was derelict because it was tatty, had a small entrance, was slab-sided and locked up. It had a wire grille over the windows facing Broadway and the gate was locked. It was a wonderful space in many ways but it was also fairly unfriendly to the visitor. This space speaks enormously positively, I think, to the street.”

So, what does the rector think as the congregation moves in? “I’m thankful for the fire. You can quote me on that.”

More pictures in the June edition of Southern Cross and further special coverage in July.