Extended and Additional Uses of Church Buildings
In the Middle Ages, churches were used for a variety of functions such as courtroom, school and library, and hosted meetings, elections, debates, plays and festivities. In fact, until relatively recently, churches were multifunctional community centres. After the nineteenth-century restriction of secular uses of churches, attitudes are now changing again.
It is increasingly recognised that church buildings are a precious resource and can play a vital role in their communities. National and local government and public sector agencies are increasingly acknowledging the contribution of faith groups to social cohesion, education and regeneration. New surveys mapping the size and range of this contribution continue to be published. Church buildings are often located centrally and may even be the only community building in a village or a deprived urban area. But churches can offer not only space but also volunteer support and enthusiasm for serving the community.
In 2004, the Church of England published a ‘green paper' Building Faith in Our Future which outlined the numerous opportunities of opening churches to additional uses and contained recommendations how this could be facilitated.
Extended and additional uses of church buildings can take several forms: the building may be used for cultural activities, such as exhibitions, drama performances, rehearsals and concerts; it may host a café, post office, farmers market, shops or a cybercafé; or other community services like mother and toddler groups, playgroups, drop-ins for youth groups or elderly people. Churches can also be important resources for school visits and local tourism.
Each proposal will need a faculty and the church will need to show that the proposed works are necessary and the effect on a listed church building have been carefully assessed. However, churches can accommodate many uses which need not be specifically ecclesiastical in purpose, provided that worship remains the primary use of the church. church courts have held that the additional uses do not need to be ancillary to worship or pastoral in motivation; they can also be commercial and primarily motivated by the need to raise revenue for the church. Additional uses which prevent the primary use of the church for worship and those which involve activities which are unsuitable in a church, either because they conflict with its teaching or because they are unlikely to be acceptable for members of the Church of England, are impermissible. (Ecclesiastical Law Journal, issue 31, 2002, pp. 306-317)
There are already many successful examples of extended and additional uses of church buildings around the country. Churches and their extended uses can be instrumental in tackling rural exclusion, enhancing quality of life and improving social cohesion. Opening your building to visitors, the local community, additional uses and projects can be an essential part of your church's ministry.
In order to accommodate and facilitate extended uses, some adaptations of the building, including the provision of kitchen and toilet facilities, may become necessary. Reponses to the 2005 Parochial Returns indicated that some 44 per cent of churches now have toilets and some 37 per cent have kitchen facilities. Clearly, churches are taking their role to serve those outside the congregation as well as those inside increasingly serious.
Extended and additional uses and activities may be organised by the church itself, by an outside organisation or by a partnership. Many projects are a partnership between the church and the local authority who may want to provide a statutory welfare service to a specific locality and is looking for a building. Such partnerships are especially vital in rural or deprived areas where the church can provide essential services and facilities, contact hard-to-reach communities and contribute knowledge of local circumstances. This may also include community-owned shops, which can replace the closed-down village shop, or an outreach post office in a church to replace a closed post office.
However, such additional uses and activities can only be successful if there really is a proven need for them in the area. Therefore, it is important to first establish the present provision of community services and projects to find out where the church can usefully provide missing and needed services and projects without competing with existing institutions.
If you are thinking about opening your church to additional uses, the case studies will give you further ideas and the chapter on How to Develop your Church Building provides advice and a path of simple steps to follow.
November 2007
Further Information
POST OFFICES
If you are considering hosting an outreach post office in your church, detailed information and guidelines for outreach post offices are available on this website.
COMMUNITY-OWNED SHOPS
The Plunkett foundation has extensive guidance on planning and managing a community shop available on the their website. They also run an online network.
