Cost of living: ‘Struggling’ rural churches hit by energy costs
The role of churches as community buildings with a wider use than their core function and the impact of rising heating costs on their use is a key issue worth thinking through and I would be very interesting to hear about any examples of how this is impacting rural communities. This article tells us:
Rural churches already struggling financially have been hit by rising energy costs, a church treasurer says.
Richard Jones said Holy Trinity Church in the Shropshire village of Yockleton, was among those under pressure.
He said ultimately churches were “in danger” of closing if they could not afford to meet their costs.
Hundreds of churches receive hardship grants and some applied for funding through schemes to become warm hubs.
Holy Trinity is one of the northern most parishes within the Diocese of Hereford and is close to the Welsh border.
It partly raises funds via donations through the Parish Giving Scheme, and also holds fundraising events towards running costs.
This weekend sees its annual snowdrop event, where visitors can have tea and cake while enjoying the “lovely show” of flowers, said Mr Jones, the parochial church council (PCC) treasurer.
He said it was a difficult time for such premises.
“If we can’t pay our way then we can’t pay for our priest and the church would close, ultimately,” he said, adding they hoped that would never happen.
But there were a lot of rural churches dotted around and all seemed to be facing pressures, he said.
“Rural churches are struggling financially anyway, the escalating cost of energy is a serious concern,” he said.