UK churches must become social hubs in order to survive, report says

[EmperorScorpious]

[quote]England’s churches must become vibrant hubs at the centre of communities, offering local people a range of activities and services beyond a place to worship, if they are to be sustainable, according to an independent review.

[B]Churches are “heritage assets”, but their care, maintenance and repair represents an enormous task[/B], according to the Taylor review of the sustainability of English churches and cathedrals.

The report [B]urges congregations to involve more local people to use and care for churches, citing examples where “enterprising clergy, PCCs [parish councils] and volunteers have developed their churches into vibrant hubs at the centre of their wider communities”.[/B]

More than 200 churches have full or part-time shops, and more than 150 have Post Offices. According to a 2015 survey, [B]60% of churches held parent and toddler groups, and two-thirds host food banks.[/B]

The purpose of the review was to “consider how to ensure that the thousands of listed church buildings, many of which define our towns, cities and villages, are conserved for future generations”.

Three-quarters of the 16,000 C of E churches in England are listed. Nearly 45% of all grade-I listed buildings in England are parish churches.[/quote]

[url]https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/dec/20/churches-must-become-social-hubs-in-order-to-survive-report-says[/url]

[Redcoat893]

As someone who was at church regularly until a few years ago, a lot of these events aren’t to survive, a lot of it is how they see following Christian Tenets, and as someone who is now very sceptical of religion in general isn’t this what they should be doing? That’s how I was brought up anyway.

[joshthesmith]

The Churches must evolve! [sp]/s this isn't a jab![/sp]

I don't see how this is a bad thing, more post offices and food banks sound great. If there is one thing the UK needs it is more food banks for sure