Wednesday, July 23, 2025

For those who like churches

 The Smell of Water Has been on a church finding trip in East Yorkshire - Seeking the Romanesque in East Yorkshire.  He draws attention to the fact that all three churches were shut and they are no longer places for the public.  Facts and figures show that the Church of England is worth 10B£.  At some stage the Church has to acknowledge that people will not return to the faith and that some sort of future has to be found for these beautiful buildings.

Simon Jenkins in an article in the Guardian proposes a sensible solution.  Give these churches back to the parish councils to open up as venues for other uses.

There are many problems with the buildings, one of course is the coldness in winter and inadequate heating.  Another is loos and water for teas and coffees but such minor problems can be overcome and many churches have been turned into different venues over time.

I suspect that it is mostly down to money and getting people to agree to certain conditions.  The Church of England is sitting on a pretty big chunk of money, there must surely be some relaxation for helping to modify the churches into a public space for the use of the public and not this hopeful approach of how everyone will eventually leave their secular natures behind and once more turn back to Christianity and the church. 

Ivy growing in a church in Essex


St. Marys in Mundon Essex

St Marys is closed and under the care of 'Friends of Friendless Churches.
  Lovely unusual church with it's timber Tudor framing.


8 comments:

  1. It's certainly a dilemma. In the last twenty years, I have visited hundreds of rural churches and it is so terribly sad when you see a notice on a church that it is effectively closed forever. Trouble is that the "God" of Christianity was always just a myth and "The Bible" was written by creative humans who simply made the whole thing up. This is not a firm basis for religious belief or church attendance

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    1. Somehow I feel that is a bit drastic Neil;) though of course I agree. It seems to me that some higher being than us needed to keep our minds and bodies busy so they invented religion in its various forms to keep us quiet. Forgot, could have been the more unscrupulous humans in our communities! But then the churches are often beautiful places.

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  2. I agree that if the buildings are usable then they should be used!

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    1. I think it is finding the money to bring them up to a standard Ellen. But again if the Church of England let go of the strings of their purse it might help.

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  3. I like the idea of 'repurposing' unused churches. Here in Wales every village had a number of chapels of different denominations and they too are no longer in use. In our village of 1,200 residents there were three chapels and a church. One chapel has been converted to residential, one belongs to the scrap man and the third, Star of The Sea is an arts venue for often quite unconventional performers.

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  4. I remember our church in Normanby had to undergo being shut down no matter what the villagers said but it was the same tale of no loos or water, both things easily dealt with Ruta.

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  5. A bit late to the conversation but here goes. I too have visited hundreds of Parish churches and am always pleased when they are open. There are a few issues: too many churches; congregations are dwindling in size; congregations are aging; and church finances. The first three are self explanatory. As to church finances, whist the CoE itself might be asset rich, the parish church is not.

    I’ll take my parish church as an example. It is the typical grade 1 listed church dating back to Saxon times. the village it serves has a population of around 220. There is one service a month in the church, the average congregation size is 15 of which there may be seven from the village. It costs approximately £14,000 a year to keep the church open. The largest expenditure is “parish share”, which is almost £10,000. Parish share is paid to the diocese. it funds the clergy, clergy pensions, clergy training and diocese costs.

    In summary whilst the CofE might be rich, the way it manages its finances and requests £10,000 from such a small village with such a tiny congregation puts an unrealistic burden on local churches.

    Turning the church over to the parish council won’t help matters much except the parish share won’t need to be paid. There will still be the insurance costs and up keep.

    I am not a member of the congregation as I share YP’s views but I am the treasurer for the church, so understand the finances.

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  6. The Normanby church was part of three churches that the vicar attended to each Sunday, so very similar to your church. I can understand the CoE being asset rich but cash poor, but these churches could have a different life. Our church was overseen by the villagers and yes we did hold events in it. Everywhere there are volunteers willing to help and give their time, lack of money is probably the only problem for the upkeep of the actual building itself.
    And being a good socialist I would say being 'asset rich' is not a particularly good place to be.

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