A million-pound revamp of Wantage Baptist Church is set to go ahead after 10 years of planning.
Plans to redevelop the 300-year-old stone church in Mill Street, look set to be approved by planners at the Vale of the White Horse District Council.
Pastor Philip Lambert, pictured centre with church secretary Robin Turnbull, left, and trustee Francis Cooper, said: "It is very exciting. It is going to be a real asset to us and is going to make our front of the church more accessible to people.
"We just want to share the good news with as many people as possible and help the community in whatever way we can."
Trustees of the church want to demolish the existing rear hall and build a two-storey extension which will linking the existing buildings with the Limborough Road shopping mall.
The development will provide new teaching facilities for the church and retail space, which Mr Turnball said might become a Christian bookshop.
Mr Turnball said: "This is the first phase of a bigger project to redevelop church facilities."
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