, Norfolk: the building’s visible history of change and adaptation is part of its beauty (Photo: Barry Cawston/Archbishops’ Council)

Sittingbourne, is the first to host a important than preservation’. Amen to community bank. that, I say. The examples are myriad and should serve as an inspiration. If church buildings Further Information are to succeed, their adaptation and Church Buildings Review Group, Report alteration must be welcomed. It should of the Church Buildings Review Group, be sensitive to their heritage and to their 2015 (http://bc-url.com/churchreview) primary purpose as places of worship of S Coakley in S Wells and S Coakley, Almighty God, but it should emphatically Praying for England: Priestly Presence not make preserving the status quo a in Contemporary Culture, Continuum, primary aim. Proper conservation is about London, 2008 managing change not preventing it. A A Davison and A Millbank, For the , case in point is pews, very often a quite SCM, London, 2010 recent addition to churches. Removing S Hill, ‘At the Still Point of the Turning St Mary the Virgin, Ashford, Kent: reordering for them enables a flexibility in the use of the World: Cathedrals Experienced’ in community centre with removal of pews (Photo: Lee building which would have been possible S Platten and C Lewis (eds), Flagships of Evans Partnership) in the past but which pews prevent. the Spirit: Cathedrals in Society, Darton, Only if such flexibility is not merely Longman and Todd, London, 1998 except when open for worship and are allowed but welcomed and encouraged I Poulios, The Past in the Present: increasingly marginal to the life of the will churches remain healthy and vibrant A Living Heritage Approach, communities they exist to serve. They and continue to be used for their original Ubiquity Press, London, 2014 remain oases of calm, but unavailable. purpose. The alternative will be for them A Rumsey, Parish: An Anglican Theology The picture is far from hopeless. We to close and that, as I have argued above, of Place, Forthcoming commend a rising wave of imaginative would be a great loss. While our report R Strong, A Little History of the English adaptation of church buildings for acknowledges that some churches will Country Church, Jonathan Cape, community use which has breathed new need to be closed, it also advocates a London, 2007 life into them. An increasing number, like change in the mood music: with a positive N Walter and A Mottram, Buildings St Giles’s, Langford, near Chelmsford, mind-set we can see their true potential, for Mission, Canterbury Press, now house a village shop or post office. rather than simply characterising them as Norwich, 2015 Many, like St Stephen’s in Redditch, are a ‘burden’. In A Little History of the English home to a food bank. Some, like St Mary’s Country Church (2007), Sir Roy Strong JOHN INGE PhD is the 113th Bishop of in Ashford, Kent, have been reordered advocates ‘giving the church building Worcester and lead bishop on Cathedrals and to become community arts venues as back to the local community, albeit with Church Buildings for the . well as places of worship. New and ever safeguards for worship. Change has His book, A Christian Theology of Place, was more imaginative schemes are constantly been the lifeblood of the country church shortlisted for the Michael Ramsey Prize for springing up: All Saints in Murston, through the ages. Adaptation will be more Theological Writing.

6 BCD SPECIAL REPORT ON HISTORIC CHURCHES 24TH ANNUAL EDITION