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Churches and Faith Buildings: Realising the Potential

24 March 2009

The Government and the Church of England have published guidelines today to help all religious groups overcome the “squeamishness” they can encounter from funding providers. Churches and Faith Buildings: Realising the Potential identifies funding and support for faith groups that will enable them to adapt their buildings for community use and build on their capacity to engage at local and regional level.

The paper has been produced by a working group comprising officials from Her Majesty’s Treasury, Communities and Local Government, Office of the Third Sector in the Cabinet Office, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Defra in conjunction with representatives of the Church of England. Bringing together all these Government Departments illustrates the huge potential that church and other faith buildings have to help Government meet its agenda.

The Government is keen to work with faith groups because they are deeply rooted in community life and are well placed to provide high quality local public services. The C of E could serve as a potential service delivery point having a presence in every community and because of its unique legal status, the paper suggests.

PCCs (Parochial Church Councils) and similar structures in other denominations/faiths will now have a better understanding of how to access resources that will enable them to engage directly at a strategic level with the local and regional structures within which funding priorities and decisions are made. In turn, funders will be better equipped to understand the important role of the C of E and faith groups in delivering public services.

There will be no new money but the document outlines how faith groups can better tap into existing sources of funding from Government programmes. It also sets out current Government funding programmes and a list of actions for both Government and Church to take this agenda forward.

A panel of experts will be set up by the Department for Communities and Local Government including representatives from faith communities which will seek “to address any squeamishness that funding providers may have in allocating public funds to faith groups”. The paper does not consider the funding of the general upkeep of historical buildings for activities such as worship; rather it considers funding for the physical alteration and modification of churches and other faith buildings to ensure they are fit for community use and funding to build the capacity of faith groups to engage strategically at local and regional levels around the delivery of local priorities and access to funding allocations.

The Bishop of London the Rt Revd Richard Chartres, who worked with the Government on Churches and Faith Buildings; Realising the Potential, has commended the new initiative saying that the CofE’s network of 16,000 churches is a readymade social infrastructure that would take billions to replicate. “At a time of financial stringency when the green agenda is growing in significance it obviously makes sense to maintain and develop such a significant national asset. Any assistance would of course depend on a proven determination to equip the churches for wider community access but a relatively modest investment could yield large dividends,” he said.

Anne Sloman, a member of the Archbishops' Council, played a key role with the Bishop of London in the development of the guidance. She said: "It is now up to the Church, and others, to take advantage of this initiative - nothing will happen unless we make it happen. This is a wonderful opportunity that we should embrace wholeheartedly."

Government ministers Andy Burnham (DCMS), Sadiq Khan (DCLG), Kevin Brennan (OTS), Stephen Timms (Treasury), and Huw Irranca-Davies (Defra) in the foreword to the report say: “The Church of England has a special role to play. The Bishop of London’s preface to this paper makes clear that the Church of England has a unique legal status, as the Established Church.”

Crispin Truman, the Chair of Places of Worship @ Heritage Link, said: "The Group strongly supports the statements in this report.  Historic faith buildings are a vital tool in strengthening communities in today’s increasingly individualised society and provide landmarks for economic and social regeneration.  Helping Government and funding bodies maximise the benefits from these wonderful, public, historic buildings and making sure we get the right support to the volunteers on whom they rely, is now more important than ever".

To hear a podcast with the Bishop of London and Anne Sloman talking about this new paper click here.