At a time of falling congregations, one Oxford church is launching an appeal to buy a £650,000 building to provide more room for Sunday services.

St Ebbe's Church is hoping to make a bid for a church meeting house in Lime Walk, Headington, which was the former home of the Plymouth Brethren.

The building stands on a half-acre site, with seating for up to 350 people.

St Ebbe's says it has already received a number of pledges, with the property due to be sold by auction in London at the end of the month.

St Ebbe's, a large evangelical Anglican church, is located in Pennyfarthing Place in the centre of Oxford.

But over the past five years it has been holding Sunday services at Headington School. Administrator Sharon Peters said: "The number of people having to travel into the city centre became almost too big, so we started morning and evening congregations in Headington.

"We see this as an exciting opportunity to bid for a building that could provide a home for Sunday congregations.

"Presently, all our Headington meetings, services and toddler groups take place in rented buildings. We'll have to see how much money comes in. But we're very hopeful of being able to make a bid."

She declined to say how much the church was hoping to raise.

The church's website says that the guide price of the property is £650,000, but warns that the price could rise to £1m, with extra money needed to adapt the site to the church's needs. The previous owners, the Plymouth Brethren, have moved to the site of a former care home at Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, near Wallingford, and have planning permission to build a new church there.

Interest has already been shown in the Headington property, with 25 people being shown round last week.

City councillor David Rundle said: "This site has been for community use up to now. It would be sad to lose yet another site from the community, especially at a time when we know the future of Headington library is so uncertain."