28 BCD SPECIAL REPORT ON HISTORIC CHURCHES 31st ANNUAL EDITION parish church, and to attend its services. The Church of England has, for many decades, recognised that evolving patterns of church attendance has created the need to address the question of church buildings that are no longer required as places of regular public worship in the Anglican tradition. Concerns about the potentially unrestrained demolition of church buildings that were damaged during the second world war (in the days before the protections of the current planning and listed building consent regimes) resulted in the Bridges Commission Report of 1960, from which the current arrangements for dealing with closed churches largely derive. REVIEWING THE MISSION AND PASTORAL MEASURE The current arrangements for the closure of churches were first introduced in the Pastoral Measure 1968 (a ‘measure’ is a Church of England statute having the force of an Act of Parliament.) This was revised in 1983 and again in 2011 as the Mission and Pastoral Measure (MPM). A review of the MPM is currently underway. The General Synod has approved draft proposals for a new legislative framework and is expected to consider draft legislation at its sessions in February 2025 with implementation likely in 2027. The timing of this has resulted from a combination of factors. This review sits within a context of a review of the church’s national governance structures with a vision and strategy. Their aspiration is for these to be simpler, humbler and bolder, in the way they serve the church on the ground. For many years, the word from dioceses has been that the fall in congregation and clergy numbers means that maintaining a worshipping presence with an open church building in every community is no longer sustainable. For some time the typical closure rate has been in the region of 20–25 churches per year across England which, in the context of there being around 16,000 churches, may not seem a high proportion. Anecdotal evidence suggests that this may increase and, obviously, some areas are affected more than others. Under the present measure the approach to the status of church buildings is seen as being too binary. Church legislation generally recognises the legal status of a church as either being in use primarily for regular public worship (including where some extended use activities may also be taking place) or closed. This does not support a more flexible approach where church buildings are increasingly used for partial, seasonal or occasional worship. It also does not allow for a temporary status whilst a parish seeks to recover from a situation it has found itself in. Readers will be familiar with the use of the term ‘festival church’ to describe one that is officially in use but with only the occasional services. However, this term has no legal status and the PCC remains responsible for its care, maintenance and insurance as if it remained fully in active use as a place of worship. Research to inform the review of the MPM revealed support for some kind of breathing space. A temporary period of rest and recuperation would enable parishioners to regroup, during which they would be relieved of the financial and governance responsibility for the church building, while longer term decisions about its future are made. This is being termed as ‘fallow time’. Already, some dioceses are looking at establishing trust models to provide some practical and financial support to struggling PCCs and the MPM review is looking to provide a form of official status to buildings in this fallow period. St Mary’s (Grade I), Long Crichel, Somerset, is a small medieval church with fine interiors. It was gifted in 2011 to the Friends of Friendless Churches. (Photos: Friends of Friendless Churches)
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