Church Post Offices win stamp of approval

Could your parish church become home to the local post office? It’s not as far-fetched as it sounds. In fact this is exactly what’s happening in several rural areas. With 2,500 post offices set to close, the Government's commitment to ensuring continuing access to Post Office services means that the Church may become part of the wider solution.

It will not mean paying for your stamps when the offertory plate comes around or mailing envelopes at evensong, but it could be an imaginative way to keep alive a vital service in outlying areas. It is also an opportunity to open up church buildings to people who are not worshippers.

“It’s part of much wider aspirations to see church buildings fulfil needs beyond those of the worshipping community,” explained Paula Griffiths, Director of the Archbishops’ Council’s Cathedral and Church Buildings Division. “Many church buildings have long had complementary uses, by local community groups for example, and these are just the latest examples.”

In the village of Hemingford Grey in the Diocese of Ely, the Post Office is open six days a week in the parish rooms of St James’ Church. When the postmaster retired, the church took the Post Office in-house and the Revd Peter Cunliffe became the first vicar in England to be appointed village sub-postmaster.

The PCC now runs it as a successful non-profit-unit, underwriting the business and providing its parish space rent-free. And the service draws in people from beyond the 3,000-strong local population, says Mr Cunliffe, “because it’s easy to park and you get a personal service”. And there are additional benefits: “It’s helped bring the church into life as a centre of the village, providing many pastoral opportunities for myself and other staff.”

The Revd Annette Reed offered All Saints, Sheepy Magna in the Diocese of Leicester as a new home when the village Post Office closed at the beginning of 2003. Between them, Post Office, Borough Council and Church authorities approved the plans, and grants were obtained to set up a Sub-Post Office in the base of the tower. It now opens two mornings a week for up to 50 local customers.

“In medieval times,” explains Annette Reed, “the nave of the building was the meeting place of the village, and the chancel was the sacred realm, with a screen between the two. So many churches are finding that in opening up some of their spaces to the community, the relevance of the Christian faith is becoming much keener.”

The introduction of Post Offices within the Church is well in tune with the message of of Building Faith in our Future, the 2004 report from the Church Heritage Forum which recommended that “In rural areas, as elsewhere, places of worship may have potential for providing community facilities which are otherwise lacking”.

Now that the Government has announced its intention to open 500 new ‘Outreach’ Post Offices in rural areas, any Church of England parish church could offer to host such a service. A process of consultation on the Local Area Plans for providing such services will be starting soon, leading to decisions about possible locations that will look at issues such as location, access, security and funding. Paula Griffiths points out that every case will need to be considered individually, but she predicts that, over time, there are likely to be many more Post Offices located in churches – benefiting both customers and worshippers.

 Guidelines for churches will be available on the Churchcare website later this summer to help churches who want to consider hosting an Outreach Post Office: www.churchcare.co.uk