A new report addressing the potential contribution of Britain's church buildings to community regeneration and cohesion will be launched to the East Midlands today.

The Church of England Report: Building Faith in Our Future, will be launched regionally by the Bishops of Southwell and Lincoln at 1pm today at The Vine Centre, Bobbers Mill Road, Hyson Green, Nottingham. The report helps paint a clearer picture of the value and diversity of churches across the country and suggests that the Church of England, its people and its buildings, are often taken for granted, despite the vital contribution they make to the fabric of our national life.

In Derbyshire alone, there are some 330 Anglican churches, 155 of which are Grade 1 & 2 listed buildings, cared for almost entirely by dedicated volunteers. Building Faith in Our Future aims to awaken greater understanding of how church buildings contribute to community and social cohesion and to seek partnership with national, regional and local bodies, as well as government at all levels, to unlock the potential of church buildings as catalysts for regeneration and safeguard their role as centres for community activities.

The Rt Rev'd Jonathan Bailey, Bishop of Derby, is one of five East Midlands bishops supporting the report. He said: "Over recent months the policies of Government departments, such as the Home Office and Treasury, have emphasised increasingly how they value partnerships with churches and faith communities. Church buildings spread across the townscape and countryside can be an under-used community resource. This Report amounts to an attractive, well-illustrated, good read full of possibilities."

Churches across Derbyshire enjoy good community relations and many provide space and facilities for activities in addition to Christian worship. But there are relatively few which have been able to physically restructure and re-order buildings for wider community benefit.

One of those few is All Saints Church, on the main road through Marlpool, which has undergone a £250,000 refurbishment, every detail of which is geared to providing accessibility and approachability to the community around it. The church's own Council persevered for six years to raise adequate funds for the building works. With backing from partners, projects like All Saints could become achievable for many more churches.

The Bishop of Southwell, the Rt Revd George Cassidy, who will be hosting the launch event today said: “The Church of England provides every person in this country, Christian or not, with a church building where worship is offered and the services of a minister. It is there for them, wherever they live - from the inner cities to the most rural settlement. We hope this report will be a springboard for action that will inspire more outside agencies to work together. We need to find new partners and ways of converting the passive goodwill which extends far beyond our regular worshippers and which emerges from every census and poll, into more active commitment.”

Building Faith in Our Future can be freely downloaded from the Church of England website at

http://www.cofe.anglican.org/about/builtheritage/buildingfaith/report.pdf

Ends

For further details and photographs contact:

Ruth Green
Communications Officer
Diocese of Derby
(the Church of England across Derbyshire)
01332 388680

Notes to Editors

• Building Faith in Our Future highlights many examples of church buildings adapted to enable a wider range of community activities. It also points to many examples of collaboration between churches and regional bodies.
• The paper welcomes the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Listed Places of Worship Scheme, which allows the VAT on some £100million worth of eligible repairs and maintenance to listed church buildings to be reclaimed, but urges that it be made permanent if a change to EU VAT rules cannot be achieved. It also welcomes the support of English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund but points out that as little as 20p per head of population per year extra from the Treasury would allow English Heritage to double its contribution to the repair grant scheme for places of worship.
• It draws attention to the limited State funds spent on church buildings in this country, in contrast with other European countries.
• Although Building Faith in Our Future is produced by the Church of England, the Church Heritage Forum says: “Our arguments about the contribution provided through these buildings to our society apply as strongly to places of worship of other denominations and faiths.”