German artist Hans Feibusch, who worked extensively in the Diocese of Chichester, provided a mural in 1954: it is considered impressive, but caused controversy at the time.

[1] As well as demolishing the manor house and building Goring Hall, a new mansion, he commissioned architect Decimus Burton to redesign St Mary's Church.

[5] A memorial to casualties of World War I, in the form of a sculpture of Jesus, was added on the south exterior wall in the early 20th century.

[8] In 1954, German artist and muralist Hans Feibusch, known to the then-incumbent Bishop of Chichester George Bell since 1940,[9] was commissioned to design a mural for the chancel arch in the church.

Some traditionalist members of the diocesan advisory committee, perturbed by the boldness of the design (which included imagery described as "violently masculine and brutal"),[10] raised their objections at the diocese's consistory court—a type of ecclesiastical court.

[9] Bishop Bell, who passed the judgement at the court, managed to settle the dispute, and the mural was unveiled in September 1954.

[11] Decimus Burton's design for St Mary's Church—described as "disappointingly limp"[7] by Nairn and Pevsner—was simple Early English Gothic Revival.

Parts of the north and south interior walls were also retained, and fragments of the original chancel arch remain.

[7][8] A funerary hatchment dated 1860 commemorates Sir George Richard Brooke-Pechell, 4th Baronet, of the Pechell Baronetcy, who died in that year.

The parish covers a rectangular area in the southwest corner of the borough of Worthing, and includes a long, narrow strip to the northwest.

St Laurence's Church was founded as a mission chapel in 1936 to serve residential development in the Sea Place area of Goring-by-Sea.