USES OF CHURCH

This page provides advice on how parishes can realise the
potential for mission and income generation from their
church buildings and halls
The following text distils a great deal of the information
you need if you are really serious about developing your
church buildings for wider community use.  It will give you
a good grounding in the opportunities and
potential problems you will face. It bears close reading!
Church buildings and halls are often significantly under-
utilised, despite being physically prominent in their
locality.  Even if you already organise or host activities
during the week, there is likely to be huge further potential
to benefit the local community, support church mission
and, where necessary or appropriate, earn valuable
income.  These brief notes are designed to help stimulate
ideas which PCCs can develop to suit their own unique
church building and their own unique set of community
groups, local issues and mission objectives.
A good deal more detail is available in the
excellent Crossing the Threshold toolkit produced by the
Diocese of Hereford.  There is also a wealth of information
available via the open and sustainable website on
developing your church building and on potential funding
providers - including some very helpful case studies ( use
the three "community/cultural/commercial" links at the
bottom of that web page for the most useful and detailed
case studies whic include some really useful feedback from
parishes who have "been there, done that").
A particular case study of developing a church building is
available in the book “The Social Entrepreneur: Making
Communities Work” by Andrew Mawson, readily available
online from such outlets as www.amazon.co.uk . This book
will have resonances for many parishes and deals with the
practicalities of using church buildings to engage
imaginatively and successfully with the local community.
Step 1: Identify community needs
First and foremost, you need to identify exactly what the
real needs are in your community. The vicar and church
members should already be aware of what’s happening,
and what’s lacking, in their communities – but walking
around the parish, keeping eyes open and really talking and
listening to people will open up even more possibilities.
What social or local community needs might be able to be
satisfied through imaginative use of your church hall,
church vestries, main church building, space in or under
galleries, or even a new extension or a new building?
Alongside this, you need to make sure, of course, that such
developments don’t compromise the very special historic
and spiritual space that is a feature of so many churches.
The government’s “Big Society” initiative means that there
is currently a particular amount of potential for churches to
open up their buildings for wider community use, and to
attract funding for such uses.  This could be good for
church outreach and mission, and/or bring in a significant
income stream. Such funds might be invested in your
church facilities for mutual benefit: you provide the space,
and you may also benefit from upgraded or new meeting
spaces and facilities with external funding assistance.
You may need to think “out of the box” in terms of what
church facilities could potentially provide.  Even just a
small step forward in the first place could open the door
to longer-term opportunities for outreach and growth.  You
need to look at the genuine, specific needs relevant to
your unique local community. Some ideas include:
Community:
Café – a social focus for the local community
Providing breakfasts for people with social needs
Teaching cooking skills to young parents
Well-being clinics / counselling
Community co-operative
IT training
Public interface for Age Concern and other such charities
Post office
Community shop
Crèche
Sports
Youth activities
Start your own choir, worship group or youth club
Link with local festivals or events
Link with special national events (e.g. commemoration of
World War One)
Make exhibition space available to promote sustainability
and caring for creation - and become a "champion" of
these issues yourself, advice available at Shrinking the
footprint and Traditional buildings: adapting for a low-
carbon future.
Having the church open for prayer or as a quiet space -
even just a regular hour a day (perhaps over lunchtimes if
you have shops or businesses nearby) or Saturday
mornings can be a tremendous form of outreach.
Cultural:
Meeting space for special interest groups
Make exhibition space for artists (and agree a suitable
commission rate on sales!)
Rehearsal space – choirs, bands, ensembles, rock groups,
drama (one church in the north east even has circus acts
rehearsing in its church building!)
Performance space - all churches can host musical
concerts but you might also have the sort of flexible space
that would be suitable for dance, drama and other
activities
Start a concert series based around your church musicians
and/or other local talent
Heritage trail – most churches have special features of
interest, and some have connections with
notable cultural figures or historical people or events.  Be
aware of what makes your church special or instructive,
write these up, put photographs and details on your
website, participate in heritage events, and create links
with special interest groups.
Heritage centre - does your community need exhibition
space? Stockport St Mary have hosted such a centre very
successfully for some years, and are now significantly
developing these facilities by attracting external financial
support.
Commercial:
Training facilities
Meeting space
Office space – e.g. housing associations, charities or other
suitable organisations
Commercial crèche facilities
Businesses providing yoga, dance and other lifestyle
classes.
Do look at the specific case studies which are available -
you can also contact the DAC Office or your Archdeacon to
find out where examples of similar projects to yours have
been completed successfully in our own diocese.
Do take a suitably commercial approach if you need to
improve church finances.  Look to other local providers of
space and carefully consider your relative Strengths,
Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats ("SWOT"
analysis).  Decide on realistic rates - don't feel that being
a church means you have to be a soft touch!
Having a good idea is just the start. Carrying it forward to
success requires hard work, effective teamworking and
commitment. This includes carrying out suitable
consultation with interest groups, detailed finance and
business planning, and effective marketing.
Step 2: Identify the potential of your buildings
You need to think carefully about how your buildings might
be adapted, considering such issues as:
Professional advice – if your development requires any
building work inside the church, you should consult your
Quinquennial Inspecting Architect – or another suitably
experienced architect - at an early stage, so that you
understand the specific issues
Heritage – this is a particularly significant consideration
for church buildings listed at Grade I and Grade II*, but
applies to all churches whether listed or not. The grade
listing need not in itself be an impediment – you need to
think about what parts of your building are significant, and
whether those would be irreversibly affected by any
development proposals.
Access – you would need to ensure that any facilities
were fully accessible to wheelchair users (so, for example,
first floor facilities would normally require lift access)
Toilet, refreshment and parking facilities – are your
present facilities sufficient for the additional usage?
Local planning consent – any changes to the exterior of
your building or the churchyard are likely to require local
planning consent
Consultation – you may need to consult with people living
near the church if they might be affected. You will also
need to consult the DAC, English Heritage and other
heritage groups if your proposals will have an effect on the
fabric of a listed building. Whether your church is listed or
not, it’s best to consult the DAC informally at an early
stage with outline details of your proposals. They will then
be able to advise you appropriately, including how best to
ensure a suitable balance of conservation and mission, and
what further consultations you would need to take before
developing your proposal further.
Church activities – you clearly need to ensure that church
activities are not compromised by new developments. For
example, if you are using the main church building for
community activities during the day, how will you be able
to make sure the church remains available at short notice
for funeral services?
Heating, humidity and ventilation are hugely important
issues for the structure and contents of your
church building.  If you are significantly changing the usage
of the main church space, you need to take account of
what effect that might have on existing delicate church
fabric or furnishings (pipe organs are particularly
sensitive).  Damage can easily run into many thousands of
pounds before you notice the long-term consequences of
condensation on roof trusses or cracking leatherwork
inside the pipe organ. However, with active management
of heating, humidity and ventilation you can normally
accommodate varied church usage with caring for
sensitive items, but you do need to take suitable
professional advice at the start of your development from
your architect, organ tuner and any other relevant
individual.
Step 3: Identify skills, resources and potential in your
church community and further afield
Look around the people associated with your church
community.  The Sunday regulars will have a great deal of
skills and experience in all sorts of fields (though you
might not know it yet!) relevant to making use of your
church buildings: e.g. marketing, communication,
organisation, leadership, project management, graphic
design, website design, painting and decorating.  So will
their families and friends, and people who attend on a less
regular basis. Some people will have the time,
commitment and potential to develop new skills, or just be
around when needed to open up or keep an eye on things.
If you still can’t find people with the skills you need, look
to other churches in your deanery or beyond. You will
have access to all the skills you need somewhere, if you
look hard or far enough.
Step 4: Identify funding
Advice on funding is available from Churchcare, WREN and
the DAC web page covering Funding and VAT . However,
you may not need a big budget to start making significant
progress - sometimes just small initial steps can help you
gain community and financial momentum later on.
In summary
Do look closely at the wealth of information available via
the above links.  It’s highly likely that there is a potential
match between genuine community need and the potential
for your building.  If you can develop your building to bridge
that gap, it could bring huge benefits all round and open up
new opportunities for mission, outreach and financial
stability. There's every good reason to use and
develop your buildings to make your church a spiritual,
social, cultural and even commercial hub of your
community.
Getting your project off on a sure footing - and staying
on that sure footing - will save a lot of time, money and
energy.  The following pointers, although obvious, can get
overlooked in the "white heat" of your project:
1. Understand the needs of your local community: get out
there and talk to people.
2. Be willing to change as your needs change (e.g. in
response to local developments, such as new housing).
3. Have a strong management team (beating in mind that
people outside the church community may be able to bring
the skills your need for your project).
4. Maintain good relationships with your "competitors" such
as local organisations or nearby churches - work
collaboratively.
5. Make sure you have the full support of your vicar for
engaging with the community - everyone has to pull
strongly together.
6. Maintain good, ongoing communication with both the
church and the wider community - send out regular
newsletters and updates.
7. Allow for growth (e.g. build in plenty of storage for new
users of the facilities).
8. Be businesslike - have proper planning and review
processes, and make sure you have a proper booking
system for your new facilities.
9. Look at the many potential sources of funding.  There's a
great deal of guidance available via the DAC web page on
funding and VAT and its various links.  Time spent
researching these funding opportunities could be very
useful to you.
10. Consider setting up a Friends' Scheme for your church to
raise its profile and involve the community (details
available via the funding and VAT page).
11. Have a strong leader or project champion.
12. Don't expect the same core of ever-willing church people
to run the new community facilities as well!
13. Remember that ongoing success is hard work: creating the
new facilities is just the start.
14. Remember the call to Love Your Neighbour : making these
facilities available beyond the church community is a true
response to that call.