Diocese of London builds barge church to moor at Olympic Park

Jesus promised to make his followers fishers of men. At last they have a vessel worthy of His plans — even if it does look like a floating bellows.

A river-going church is set for its maiden voyage on the canals of the capital, after the Diocese of London turned a narrowboat into a place of worship.

Its folding sailcloth roof aims to solve the problem of headroom when docked and, when moving, low bridges. The altar of the £650,000 church is also collapsible.

The floating church will initially be moored alongside the Here East campus at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. There, by day, the roof will rise like an old VW camper, to give a 60-strong congregation 3.6m of headroom. By night, the architects claim it will transmit a soft ambient light, like a Chinese lantern, and attract passers-by with its glow.

The Diocese hopes the church, which has been called Genesis after the Old Testament book, will foster a a big enough congregation for a permanent place of worship to be erected.

They then plan to move it between regeneration sites in London, such as Sweetwater, Eastwick and Hackney Wick, over the course of its 25-year lifespan, developing links with growing canalside communities and reaching former churchgoers who have moved away from their old parishes.

Research by the Diocese concluded that worshipers would walk no more than 1.5 miles to reach a church, of which there are often few near the latest developments.

“We wanted it to have a conspicuous presence and whilst creating the bellows was quite a challenge, we think it has enabled an incredibly spiritual and serene place to be created in a very tight space,” Murray Kerr, of the architects Denizen Works, said.

“It’s the first time anything like this has been done on such a scale and everyone’s already extremely excited. You can just tell it’s going to be amazing, and it goes to show what can be achieved when a brave client with an exciting brief believes in an ambitious design team!”