A state-of-the-art Christian learning centre which cost nearly £1.4 million is ready to open its doors in Bradford.

Building contractor Henry Boot handed over the new Beulah Christian College to leaders of The Church on the Way, in Idle, yesterday.

The multi-functional facility will be used as a college for evangelism, bible teaching and classes in drama, music and dance.

The three-storey building, which has a total floor space of 12,000 square feet, has been built on the former site of two detached houses on Bradford Road.

Pastor James King has been the

driving force behind the church's development since he held the first meeting in his living room with just six people in 1978. The congregation has since grown to more than 400.

Keith Gibbins, a founder member, said: "It's a lovely building which blends in nicely. The project has been entirely funded from within. We have been going for over 25 years and have never asked anyone for a penny.

"The new building is going to be a college connected to the church and it will be a new Christian learning centre.

"Since the church started, it has grown and grown in popularity. We have invested £1.375 million in this new college. We can cater for children from the age of one right up to adults.

"This was a big contract and a big step of faith.

"It's a nice complex now and it warms the heart to see it. We look at the place and think 'where has all this space come from?'

Mr Gibbins said a curriculum in evangelism and bible teaching was being prepared in readiness for the start of courses.

In the late 1980s, leaders of the independent church drew up a three-phase plan for the church's future development.

The main sanctuary was completed in 1989, the youth hall and Sunday school building was finished in 1996 and completion of the new college is the final piece of the jigsaw.