The Ecclesiological
Society
The future
of church buildings
- news stories
The Times horror story ... The Times
(of London) led with a horror story on its front page on 8 June 2005,
implying incipient disaster for the Church of England - too few
clerics, mass closure of church buildings. Read the story here.
And here are some letters to The Times on the topic. In fact, this was a somewhat sensationalised version of a draft report
to the Synod of the Church of England, which you can read here - scroll down the page until you get to the Resourcing Mission section at the bottom.
Older material
In early 2005, there were a flurry of news stories in mid January about the future
of English church buildings - for example, see the BBC
news website of 19 Jan 2005 for concerns about future closures (somewhat
sensationalised, sadly), and the Guardian
of 31 December 2004 for a more considered view, with discussion of St Paul's
Bristol. All these were prompted by the Churches Conservation Trust Annual
Report, which expressed concern about the future, and the need for greater
partnership.
Another story, from BBC
radio Nottingham, dated 8 February.
See also an important
interview given to the
Church Times by Simon Thurley, chief Executive of English Heritage,
in late November 2004. "We have to make the point that parish churches
are for everybody", he said. Here too is a useful speech he gave in February 2005.
Click here to go back to the page on the Future of Church Buildings.