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.

This month a 300-year-old bell was stolen from the tiny 15th-century Bremilham Church, Wiltshire. The 12ft-sq Grade II-listed chapel, hidden away in a farmyard, was targeted despite being the smallest in the country still in use. 

Rural churches are facing a crime epidemic. Recent figures from Historic England show nearly half have fallen victim to pilfering, with the nationwide repair bill running into millions. 

As the price of scrap metal has soared, professional gangs have moved in, according to the National Crime Agency, sometimes using sophisticated technology, including drones, to plan heists and getaways. The NCA also reports offenders becoming more violent. Burglars recently smashed up 900-year-old Pendock Old Church in Worcs, including the church’s organ once played by composer Sir Edward Elgar. 

Some 37 churches a month have valuable lead ripped from their roofs. 

In one example, 20 tons of lead was removed from the Grade I-listed All Saints’ in Houghton Conquest, Bedfordshire, costing £400,000 to replace. Another Wiltshire church, St Peter’s in Stourton which dates to 1290, had its roof stolen a second time after the local community had raised £160,000 to restore it. 

The Church Conservation Trust says raids on its at-risk properties have soared by 75 percent. It’s not just the roofs either. Historic England says thieves are taking guttering, downpipes and even lightning conductors, as well as stone walling and paving. 

The scale of the Church of England’s atrophy has been starkly set out by figures presented to its general assembly that show church attendance will continue to fall for the next 30 years.

Previously, the church predicted that its decline in numbers was likely to continue for another five years before recovering.

But John Spence, the C of E’s finance chief, has said the decline was expected to continue for another three decades, with today’s figures of 18 people per 1,000 regularly attending church falling to 10 per 1,000. An 81-year-old was eight times more likely to attend church than a 21-year-old, he said. “On all likely measures of success, given the demographics of the church, it is unlikely we will see a net growth in church membership within the next 30 years,” said Spence. “I could have given you other facts, but I think you get the point.”

However, these forecasts do not take into account the potential impact of the C of E’s emphasis on evangelism and its £72m programme of “renewal and reform. The programme is aimed at modernising the church and increasing by 50% the number of priests being trained, to 600 recruits a year. But the programme also involves shifting funds away from ‘struggling’ rural parishes with small and elderly congregations to urban churches which are seen as having potential for growth.

In a separate session, the synod called on the government to launch an independent review of the impact of benefits sanctions after hearing anecdotal accounts of hardship and humiliation from bishops, clergy and lay members.