A CHURCH is celebrating 100 years since its first stone was laid by holding a year of community events.

The Church of the Good Shepherd in Dyke Road, Brighton, started life as a cook house and mess room at the military camp at Shoreham Airport.

After the First World War it was dismantled and re-erected as a temporary building in Dyke Road, known affectionately as "the tin hut".

But it was decided a more fitting home for a growing congregation was needed, leading to the inaugural stone of the present building being placed in 1922.

The tin hut was moved to Mile Oak where it became another church.

A century later, the Church of the Good Shepherd in Dyke Road is still at the heart of the community, led by Father Felix Mascarenhas.

The Argus: Inside the churchInside the church

“For me, it is a privilege to be the incumbent for this church,” he said.

“We want to celebrate this hundred years of worshipping in the community – the church has flourished.

“It has continued despite all the difficulties that churches are going through, both here and worldwide.”

The church will begin its celebrations later this month, though the official date the first stone was laid was May 31, 1922.

A family fun day will be held on June 11, with a visit from a former vicar of the church on the following day.

On June 19 the Bishop of Chichester Martin Warner will be hosted at the church, as well as Brighton and Hove Mayor Lizzie Deane, the High Sheriff of East Sussex Jane King and the Lord-Lieutenant of East Sussex Andrew Blackman.

Further events will be held throughout the year, continuing until next May.

The Argus: The Church of the Good ShepherdThe Church of the Good Shepherd

To ensure the church continues on its successful path, Father Felix said he has been trying to change the way many think of religion and has opened up his church to all.

“There are people who think in terms of a very old-fashioned theology," he said. "I have come to understand that not all people worship and think like that. So, I have tried to make this church a very broad church, in the Christian division itself, and also for others.

“I’ve tried to invite people to think, to put science and religion together. Previously, the thought was that the church was the master and the science was the servant but that sort of thinking is gone.

“Some years ago, it was thought the Heavens were beyond the clouds, but it is not so.

“We have to try to explain the understanding according to the historical context, how those things in the Bible were written, and try to make them understandable in the modern language of today.”