Last update 1 January 2006

Back to the Future of Church Buildings

The diocese of Gloucester has published a review of the uses of its rural churches. Called Vibrant Church, this was published in February 2003. It contains useful statistics about the use of rural church buildings. Added 1 January 2006.

The diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich has published Building our Future (a draft of the final report). It says 'There may well be more churches than we need or can sustain. The financial burden is enormous and can detract efforts from other mission priorities. . . . The best hope for our buildings is for them to be places of life and activity.'  Published March 2005.

 We missed the Diocese of Ely in our earlier review of material, with their report All Good Gifts published in 2002. Focusing on the needs of ministry, there are clear indications that the number of church buildings may in future be reduced. Added February 2005. 

The Diocese of Derby documentation gives a very clear picture of the pressures and opportunities facing one diocese in the Church of England. Although focusing on ministry, with a project called 'Renewing Ministry'  it seems possible that the changes will have a long term impact on buildings. Added April 2004

'Moving on in Ministry and Mission' is the name given to the review being carried out by the Diocese of Exeter (this take you to their home page, or click here for a direct link to the page in question). Mission communities (groupings of congregations) are to be set up: the summary of chapter four says that 'mission communities themselves are best able to decide whether, in their situation,  the buildings they have continue to function as a valuable spiritual and community resource, or are an obstacle to the Church’s life and mission.' Added 1 June 2004

'Kairos' (Greek for a watershed moment) is the name given to the review in the diocese of Portsmouth. The handbook gives good background to the need for change. Regarding buildings, it says: 'The cost of maintaining our church buildings is becoming more of a burden . . . these pressures seem bound to increase in the future'. Added 1 June 2004.

In addition, our report How do we keep our parish churches? uses information from reports from a number of dioceses, the following of which are available online: Chelmsford Review of church buildings (March 2003) , Peterborough Setting God's people free (2002), York Report . . . on Pastoral Provision (2002)

2. Analysis of attendance

An important analysis of church attendance trends in the  Diocese of London. Thanks to Julian for drawing this to our attention. Added June 1 2004.

The best systematic analysis of the pattern of occasional attendance which we have yet encountered is found in Paddy Benson and John Roberts, Counting Sheep: Attendance Patterns and Pastoral Strategy, Grove Books Ltd, Ridley Hall Rd, Cambridge, CB3 9HU, 2002, ISBN 1851745173. The key finding is that over an eight week period, the number of individuals attending church on Sunday was approximately double the average number of people on any one Sunday. This matches well the figures quoted in How do we keep . . ., which looked briefly at the number of individuals attending some tme within a month - the figure was a little lower, as would be expected. Added February 2005

3. Funding

The Churches Heritage Forum submission regarding the future of  Lottery money. Added 1 June 2004

4. Using church buildings for urban regeneration

The Church of England submission regarding the use of historic buildings in urban regeneration. Some examples, but no overall facts and figures. Emphasises the need for more positive working together. Thanks to Julian for pointing this out to us. Added 1 June 2004 And here is the report of the select committee - pretty weak on the use of living churches in urban regeneration. See the oral evidence on page 49 for more views of the Church Heritage Forum. Added 6 August 2004.

5. The pattern of faith groups' activities

A report from the East of England, called Faith in the East of England: the roles of faith communities in the region, produced in September 2005. Added 1 January 2006.

An important report from North West Region, entitled Faith in England's Northwest: The contribution made by faith communities to civil society in the region.

6. The American position

The National Trust for Historic Preservation (in the USA) has a summary of how help available for preserving sacred sites. You may want to check out their advertising campaign, particularly the ad which uses a church.
 
7. Issues connected with the closure of churches.

'The idea of sacred space': - a paper given to the Church Conservation Course at the Kings Manor, University of York on 24 September 2004, by the Venerable Paul Ferguson, Archdeacon of Cleveland; the second part of the paper is a clear and helpful description of the practical and human problems associated with the closure of Church of England church buildings. Our accessing this paper is with the kind permission of the author. It may also be downloaded from the website of the Diocese of York.  Added 9 March 2005.

8. Church of England attendance statistics

The  2005 ORB survey, showing how often people go into a church building. Available online from late 2005. Added 1 January 2006.

Church Statistics for 2003/4, for the Church of England, available online from Autumn 2005. These are important because for the first time they give an estimate of outstanding repairs. Added 1 January 2006.

A useful series of four charts. The most interesting and important are the comparison between urban and rural churches (graphs C and D). Added 10 March 2005

The Church of England summary attendance figures for 2003. These show that in that year the figure for average Sunday attendance stabilised. Added 10 March 2005.