Churches are at risk unless they find new uses for their buildings, says a report by Cambridge Judge Business School and the Diocese of Ely, lead authored by Helen Haugh of Cambridge Judge.
The REACH Ely project is collecting audit data about church buildings from the church communities in the Diocese of Ely.
At Cambridge Judge Business School, we pride ourselves in our commitment to engaging with businesses, policy-makers and civil-society organisations. We believe that knowledge can be a powerful tool to help different players to improve their practices, policies and to develop their thinking. and, in this way, to generate positive social impact. But what does it mean "to engage" for a business school? And how can we keep on engaging as we all adapt to a life with physical distancing? Undoubtedly, many of our engagement practices have changed significantly in this period. But we would like to think that the creativity required to overcome current barriers to in-person physical engagement has actually improved and strengthened our connections to our community. At every level, Cambridge Judge people have committed to stay in touch with our key stakeholders and have come up with successful engagement initiatives. Here are just some examples of the many ways in which our faculty and research centres have been able to keep on engaging with students, alumni, and organisations, even as we have been working from home and adjusting to a new normal. Dr Simon Taylor, Faculty (Professor-level) in Management Practice (Finance) has published regular posts on his…
The research team of the REACH Ely has recorded the first podcast to talk about the project’s progress, challenges that churches in smaller communities are facing, and future implications. Listen to the podcast Alternatively, you can listen to the podcast on Buzzsprout. About the project Cambridgeshire in the UK is home to more than three hundred churches, the majority of which are hundreds of years old; and, in this episode of The Social Ideas Podcast, we hear from the team involved with the REACH Ely project. The 3-year project aims to help communities make fuller use of their historic churches, going beyond a just being a place of worship and becoming a space for the wider community. The Cambridge Centre for Social Innovation and the Diocese of Ely are working together to determine community values, needs and opportunities to ensure a win-win outcome for communities and sustainable future of historic church buildings.…
Insight
Closed but connected
How church communities are coping with COVID-19. By Dr Timur Alexandrov, Research Associate, Cambridge Centre for Social Innovation Churches in the time of a modern pandemic For the first time in modern history, places of worship including churches are closed. As the lockdown continues in the UK, we cannot help but notice the silent local churches. As we take our daily exercise allowance, we have all seen that the traditional boards proclaiming 'church is open' are gone, and the doors are locked. The arrival of COVID-19 has caused a great many difficulties on both a national and an individual level. What makes matters more painful, and difficult to process, is that the social-distancing rule prescribes now that only immediate family can attend the funeral of a loved one. In recent weeks, the Church of England has been encouraging families to discuss with clergy the possibility of a memorial service once the lockdown has been lifted, enabling more people to gather. If only we could step inside our churches Why are the churches closed when they are most needed at the times like this? People seek comfort in these troubling times and the importance of being able to go to church…
The REACH Ely project has produced the first batch of case studies. Colourfully illustrated case studies cover urban (Newnham in Cambridge) and rural parishes (Foxton, Linton, Bartlow, and the Abingtons) of the Diocese of Ely, each offering themselves for the study. Case materials have been written based on research observations, desk-based research of community level data, and personal in-depth interviews with the clergy, parish churchwardens, and members of parochial church councils. The key focus of the case study exercise is the capacity of churches in reaching out towards their diverse communities. Church buildings of the Church of England, while respecting their age, location and historic significance, are essentially community assets. In the Church of England, buildings are owned by the Church and managed for community benefit by local groups of volunteers. Although church buildings are primarily used for religious services, for the benefit of the community it is essential that churches become real tools for mission, provide complementary uses of the building, and welcome the wider community on any day of the week rather than being exclusive sites for Sunday worship. Case studies offer a snapshot in time of the more or less innovative uses of church buildings. The publications…
The initial stage of the REACH Ely implementation involves scoping and developing fifty case studies on church buildings and community characteristics with informants from a subset of deaneries and parishes in the Diocese of Ely. The team is selecting case study materials from a range of self-selected approaches from local churches, and also via publicity and presentations at deanery engagement meetings, which has helped generate the list of 39 case study locations. The remaining cases will be selected using available statistical data from the diocese of Ely and the Church of England databases. At this initial stage, in-depth interviews have been conducted at churches within the Cambridge North and South, and Granta deaneries. Other case locations include churches from the deaneries of Ely, Yaxley, St Ives, St Neots, Shingay, North Stowe, March, Huntingdon, Fincham and Feltwell, and Wisbech Lynn Marshland. Within the diocese, the percentage of population that has little or no relationship with the church reaches about 97 per cent, which raises concerns about the future of churches and their assets. Yet it is the ambition of the Taylor Report, and also the REACH Ely project, that the future sustainability of church buildings should be in the hands of…
REACH Ely, a three-year project to help communities make fuller use of their historic churches, has recently been presented to the Historic Religious Buildings Alliance and Rural Deans. Presentation at the Historic Religious Buildings Alliance in London The project team was invited to give a presentation in March 2019 on REACH Ely and its progress at the quarterly Members’ Briefing meeting organised by the Historic Religious Buildings Alliance (HRBA). The meeting was attended by HRBA members, church building consultants and representatives from partner organisations. Participants learned about REACH Ely’s aims in helping churches reach the approximately 97 per cent of people in their local communities who currently have little or no involvement with their local church. The REACH Ely team also presented the overview of the first year of the project that involves researching and developing an effective methodology for achieving the engagement with those 97 per cent, including fifty case studies of churches in the diocese. HRBA is an independently-funded group within the Heritage Alliance, the England’s biggest coalition of heritage organistions, over 100 in total. HRBA advocates for heritage interests and a secure future for historic religious buildings. REACH Ely presented for rural deans The Diocese of Ely’s…
The Bishop of Ely, the Right Reverend Stephen Conway gave his blessing to the REACH Ely project. The Cambridge project team was kindly invited to take part at the quarterly meeting with the Bishop of Ely, the Right Reverend Stephen Conway, and the senior staff of the Diocese of Ely on 23 November 2018. The newly launched REACH Ely website and latest updates on data collection were presented to the attendees. At the meeting, Bishop Stephen noted, "REACH Ely is the most important outcome of Lever Four of the Ely 2025 diocesan strategy – Re-imagine our buildings. Through this project we will learn more about how re-imagining what our church buildings could become, can truly make them tools for mission. We are very pleased to be working once again with the Cambridge Judge Business School, following their pivotal role in the research that inspired Ely 2025" The Bishop, archdeacons and the project team also had an opportunity to discuss further activities and strategic plans for the first year in project implementation. Bishop Stephen is actively concerned with community development, seeking close links with other community leaders. He takes a seat as one of the 26 Lords Spiritual in the House…
REACH Ely took part in conferences and workshops in London, Paris and Coventry to discuss the re-imaging of churches. Reimagining Our Churches – a conference in London On 9 October 2018, the project team took part in the conference and workshops on re-imagining churches from conservation to co-operation organised by Stir to Action, a non-profit that runs workshops, supports community enterprises, and publishes a quarterly magazine. The event brought together church representatives, community enterprise practitioners, and heritage sector experts. The conference and workshops were useful in meeting community enterprise experts and establishing networking links, spreading the word about the newly launched REACH Ely project, and learning about ongoing innovative church building projects in the UK. One of the highlights of the event was Becky Payne’s presentation of the updated edition of Crossing the Threshold, a step-by-step guidance for parish churches on developing places of worship for wider community use. The guidance was published by the Historic Religious Buildings Alliance in collaboration with the Diocese of Hereford. Stir to Action also presented a year-long pilot Unlocking the Next Economy: Churches and Community Enterprise that supports and encourages communities to repurpose physical assets of churches for local economic change. The project targeted…