A RENOWNED collection of paintings, which once featured in an historic Bromsgrove church, will take pride of place in Westminster Methodist Hall.

The 20th century paintings by Bernard Sleight, once housed in Blackwell Methodist Church, will now be seen by millions of worshippers from all over the world.

Blackwell Methodist Church was forced to close at the end of last year following a shrinking congregation. The Grade II listed building was put up for auction and the historical paintings were put into storage.

However, Westminster Methodist Hall became interested in the five paintings following a small article published in The Methodist Recorder and decided to purchase the works, for an undisclosed amount.

The hall stands opposite Westminster Abbey and The Houses of Parliament and enjoys a lively, multi-ethnic congregation, which gathers from all over London.

It was opened in 1912 and has been the venue for a host of unique historic events, including the inaugural meeting of the United Nations in 1946.

Deacon Janet Thomas, the former leader of Blackwell Methodist Church, has welcomed the sale of the New Testament paintings.

"We are absolutely over the moon," she said.

"We were desperate to find a new home for them but nobody could give them any space. A lot of people wanted to keep them in the locality but we are just delighted they are going somewhere they will be enjoyed by so many."

She also said leaders at the Westminster hall purchased them in a bid to make the venue more 'churchy'. "Methodist churches are notoriously plain buildings," she added.

"There are five paintings in all, three of the five are really strange shapes, while the other two are rectangular. They like the unusual ones the most."