Church Buildings Support Conversation

Introducing the Church Buildings Support Conversation

In Chelmsford Diocese we are blessed with nearly six hundred church buildings. Many are an important part of our heritage and have been at the heart of the communities we serve for hundreds of years. Most importantly they are sacred places of worship, mission and ministry.

Just as we are grateful for the buildings, we are grateful, too, for those who take care of their upkeep and development. I know that responsibility for a church building can sometimes feel more like a burden than a blessing. It is a challenging and often costly ministry. So we are holding  diocesan wide conversations about how we ensure those who care for our church buildings are given the support they need to maintain, manage and improve them. 

The Rt Rev Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani, Bishop of Chelmsford,
Diocesan Synod, Presidential Address, June 2024

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What is the Church Buildings Support Conversation?

This is part of our wider Parish Support Conversation, which will cover the many different ways our churches and their leaders are supported in their mission and ministry. You can find out more about the Parish Support Conversation here.

Please click on the boxes below to find out more about the Church Buildings Support Conversation.

• Goal

  The main goal of the Church Buildings Support Conversation is to discern how resources can be used to ensure parish clergy and volunteers are adequately equipped in the care of their buildings.

• Priorities

  The conversation is focusing on three priority areas

  1) Support for those who care for, maintain and improve our church buildings

  2) The role and work of the Diocesan Advisory Committee

  3) Support for those trying to reduce the carbon footprint of their church buildings

• Advisory Group

  In June 2024, an Advisory Group was convened, consisting of people from churches across the Diocese, to help design the Church Buildings Support Conversation.

  The group includes Churchwardens, Deanery Lay Chairs, church buildings experts and diocesan staff, with representatives from each Episcopal Area. 

What's happened so far....

In summer 2024, the Church Buildings Support Conversation Advisory Group focused on:

1. Using an online survey to listen to and understand what topics should be covered in the conversation and how people in our church communities would like to take part.
2. Planning ways to widen the conversation this autumn through events, more online activities and one to one conversations.
3. Providing support to churches who contacted us directly through the survey with specific needs for their church buildings.

• Learning outcomes so far

  There were five topics of conversation that were clearly identifed by respondents to the online survey held over the summer.

  The most popular topics were:

  1. Support to repair, maintain, improve and develop church buildings - particularly guidance and advice on how to navigate legal processes and to procure and work with contractors such as architects, builders and electricians

  2. Support in identifying and securing funding for church building work

  Other topics mentioned were:

  3. Support for churches who feel that their buildings have become a burden to their mission and ministry

  4. Support in utilising church buildings well - for worship, community activity and as a source of income

  5. Support in reducing the carbon footprint of church buildings

   

  Participants want to engage with the conversation in a variety of ways:

  1. Most popular were online or offline gatherings of people from across the diocese

  2. Some wanted individual conversations within their church context

  3. Some wanted to enagage through online means such as surveys

• Providing support to parishes

  Where survey participants said that they would like conversations within their church context, members of the diocesan team made contact directly to arrange this. We have been pleased to be able to support and help a number of church communities over the summer. 

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Next steps - how you can get involved this autumn and winter.

Whether you are looking for church building support now or want to help shape how we support people in the care of their church buildings in the future, there are a variety of ways you can get involved in the conversation this autumn and winter.

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Current support for those who care for church buildings

• Church buildings and the DAC support hub
• Church Grants funding service
• Carbon net zero and the environment
• Contact our diocesan teams