Church blogs

Read a selection of blogs from churches and faith communities.
  1. A group of children and adults standing on a stage with placards. Two people stand at a lectern while a picture of several houses with 'to let' signs is projected behind them.

    ‘We’re not a pressure group’ – can churches broker progress on affordable housing?

    16/11/2020

    St Barnabas and Christ the Saviour started a successful campaign about affordable housing. The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Commission on Housing, Church and Community wants to encourage churches to follow their lead.

  2. A homely living room with television, sofa and guitar. In the background is a small kitchen-diner.

    ‘God-given miracles’ – how a house church became a church of houses

    09/11/2020

    Pye Green Christian Centre started out as a house-church in the 1990s. The house they were meeting in was empty, and this made them uncomfortable – it didn’t feel like the best use of space. They found someone who needed a home, and they let them live there. While this didn’t last long, a new mission for the church had been born: to house those in need.

  3. A man sits in a church drinking tea and eating cake while chatting to another man.

    You are invited to the housing-themed Project Lab 2020 Final on 9th November

    26/10/2020

    This year everyone is invited to join in the online Project Lab 2020 final on 9th November at 7:30pm – a chance to find out about and support five church-led projects that are meeting local housing need in creative and effective ways. Please register here.

  4. A yellow stone house

    Grazing sheep or housing people? – Using church land for good

    20/10/2020

    In the early 2000s, it was decided that some church land in Dent in the Yorkshire Dales could be used more strategically for generating income, while also serving the church’s mission directly. The diocese built two houses on the site, to be let exclusively to local people.

  5. An artist's impression of a road yet to be constructed in the York Central Development, with greenery, gentle density of residential buildings and people walking and cycling comfortably.

    Neither up nor down – how the Dean encouraged compromise in York

    15/10/2020

    In 2016, the Right Revd Viv Faull, then Dean of York, was appointed as the chair of a Community Forum to steer the planning of the ‘masterplan’ for York Central. By the time Viv left York, the community forum had made decisions on key areas, and the planning application was being finalised.

  6. Almshouses in Berkshire which look much like any twentieth-century houses, including a small well-kept shared garden.

    Almshouses for the twenty-first century?

    30/09/2020

    The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Commission on Housing, Church and Community is looking at various different ways in which churches can meet housing need. This week, Mark Bennet, Team Rector at Thatcham in Berkshire, explains why we should hold almshouses in a higher regard.

  7. An illustration of a new housing development surrounded by fields, with plenty of parks and green spaces.

    Consultation, consultation, consultation: why churches should make their voice heard in planning

    24/09/2020

    The Archbishop of Canterbury's Housing Commission believes that churches should engage with the planning system. When the Diocese of Leicester replied to the Leicestershire Strategic Growth Plan they found that it was very beneficial for them.

  8. Logo for What Will You Do to End Homelessness with the title inside an orange house.

    What will you do to end homelessness?

    06/09/2020

    We need to reimagine how we respond to homelessness. It’s key that this discussion is led by those with lived experience of homelessness, and that’s why it’s great to see that the Joint Public Issues Team of the Baptists, URC, Methodists and Church of Scotland are inviting them to the centre of their discussions.

  9. A voluntary Nightstop host sits eating, talking and smiling with a young guest in a welcoming kitchen.

    Would you take in a stranger?

    11/08/2020

    Our houses are more than just financial assets. They’re more even that just our homes. The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Commission on Housing, Church and Community believes that they’re valuable tools given to us by God. Nightstop is one way to do that.

  10. Four people celebrating and smiling at the camera in front of a WLM banner

    From the old we travel to the new: West London Mission and changing responses to homelessness

    11/08/2020

    West London Mission (WLM) has been empowering people affected by homelessness, poverty and trauma since 1887. Recently, though, an element has changed. Where previously they were just responding to crisis need, they’ve expanded to have a more preventative approach.