At the Heart of the Community

Diversify or die… it’s a message that has spread out across rural communities, affecting not only farmers but now, it seems, our churches. Several churches across the country have taken on the challenge of opening up their doors for use by the wider community. In some places churches are cinemas, post offices, coffee shops and concert halls as well as providing general space for village meetings. Rebecca Paveley and Sally Jarman met some of those who have seized the initiative in our diocese, and made sure their church is firmly at the heart of their community.

The news from the countryside has been bleak for months, if not years. If it isn’t foot and mouth, it is stories of post office, church and village shop closures, of families moving away, of isolation and loneliness.

Where churches remain, they are often the only community space in the village. Some have seen in this the opportunity to serve their community further.

Rural officer John Townend, who lives in rural west Berkshire, said it offers a fantastic chance for some churches to reconnect, to prove they are the heart of the village.

‘The church does not just exist to serve its immediate congregation but the whole community. Here in Chaddleworth we lost our shop and post office, and the pub has taken it on. It wasn’t appropriate for the church to do it, as it isn’t in the centre of the village, but in many villages the church is well placed to step in where other facilities close.’

As more and more village post offices and stores close, the church is faced with a huge opportunity, he said. A few churches around the country have already opened up post offices – though none yet in our diocese – but John is sure some soon will.

‘It is a way of throwing open the doors of the church –  many people think churches are locked all day when in fact most aren’t – and letting people know the church is at the heart of the community. If we don’t then there will be more and more church closures and that would be a terrible thing.
‘Priests would be foolish to turn against this. Diversifying  offers a way of meeting people and making contact outside the regular congregation.’

Fernham, in the Vale of the White Horse, is doing just that – and has seized the opportunity to try and raise funds through participating in a TV phone poll programme, which offers cash to worthy causes.
Fernham’s project to turn its tiny church into space available for community gatherings as well as worship is competing in ITV’s People’s Millions lottery show on 28 November. If they win the public poll they could win up to £92,000 – enough to begin on the first phrase of their ambitious project to take out pews, re-do the flooring and create a new space for community events, such as film nights and concerts. And with just 250 people in the village, everybody is having to get behind the scheme to try and raise the money, with £50,000 raised so far.

Richard Hancock, area dean, said the scheme was being run by villagers, with his support – and he won’t be the one to go on the show and bid for the money!

The show will be on around 6pm on 28 November. Please watch and vote (to vote phone: 08702 433 202)

Fernham has modelled its project on two others, carried out in the 80s and 90s. Stoke Lyne, in north Oxfordshire, was one of the first. The closure of the village school left the village without any public space and the church offered to create a village space within its walls. There was some opposition to the plans, said Jane Ward-Alden, whose late husband Christopher was churchwarden at the time.
She said: ‘Those fears were respected and listened to and the issue went to a consistory court, held in the church, before a decision was made.

‘But the idea had the support of the diocese and my husband and others did a huge amount of work to ensure that the alterations were sympathetic to the building, and permission for the idea was granted.
‘A glass screen was installed towards the back of the church and pews taken out to allow chairs instead, which are flexible and allow up to 50 people seated at tables. We also installed a kitchen, disabled ramps and loos.’

The space is used regularly and even those who were opposed in the beginning generally welcome the changes now, she said.

Another early mover on opening up the church was the small population of Elsfield, just outside the Oxford ringroad. There the church holds services just once a month and is attended by a regular congregation of around 12. There is no other space in the village for the community to meet and the village rallied round to raise funds to transform the Grade II* listed church from a dark and damp space that was barely used into something altogether more warm, bright and welcoming for the whole community.

Churchwarden Carolyn Brown said: ‘When the idea was first suggested in 1994 the church was damp and cold and shut for most of the time. The congregation was virtually non-existent and we didn’t even have a PCC. It was Eric Heaton, a former dean of Christ Church Cathedral living in the village, who suggested that it be used as churches were intended to be, for the whole village.

‘We had a meeting of the whole parish and everyone agreed it was a good idea, as there are no other meeting places and it would justify the money that needed to be spent on the building. So we set about fundraising.’

Undeterred by the mammoth amount of money required for the project, the parish organized what became the famous Elsfield plant sales of which, Carolyn says, people still bemoan the end. Formation of a community parish group also meant that they were able to obtain a grant from the South Oxfordshire District Council community fund, as well as others. Where once there were pews at the back of the church, there is now an  oak and glass folding screen and space for 50 people to sit.

Carolyn says that the project has really united the whole village and it is wonderful to see the church used by the community for meetings and events. Another bonus has been a growth in the congregation, and the ability to simply offer them coffee at the end of services.

Elsfield is often visited by other parishes gathering ideas for similar projects and Carolyn’s advice is to involve the community, be very clear about your vision, and to persevere when problems present themselves, as they inevitably will.

There is support on hand for churches planning to open up as community facilities.

Diocesan Rural Officer Glyn Evans produced a booklet a few years ago to help churches thinking of opening up, and that is now being updated. And there is support from the rural community councils too, who can give advice on funding and available grants. 

‘Opening up for whole community use is vital,’ said Glyn. ‘It is about being imaginative and giving space in small rural communities for people to gather together, where the community can be directly served by the church.’