Building a Church, people and bricks:
Church building, mission and lessons learned.
Through the story of a building project at St Edward the Confessor, Mottingham this series of posts reflects on how the church as Christian Community can grow in missional confidence through developing their church building as a missional asset.
There is a phrase that has become popular through the church-building course, Leading Your Church Into Growth, otherwise known as LYCIG,[1] that churches need to move from Maintenance to Mission. The difficulty is that if you neglect Maintenance, whilst focusing on Mission, you can end up without a building fit to conduct your worship and missional activity. This is an attempt to consider how Maintenance and Mission can go hand in hand.
Popular perceptions that ‘church’ means the building makes our buildings important assets in Church mission and carries emotional power in our communities. This story explores how building and evangelism can work together. The hope is that sharing lessons learned will help others negotiate building projects and see how building bricks also builds people and mission. This story comes from a UPA[2] parish so there is particular hope that it will build the confidence of others planning projects in similarly challenging areas.
[1] https://www.leadingyourchurchintogrowth.org.uk
[2] Urban Priority Area
During
During 2022 the Church of St Edward the Confessor, Mottingham – affectionately known as St Ed’s – underwent a transformation, or, in the words of Bishop Christopher,[1] a Transfiguration. This story of that Transfiguration considers how a vision for developing a building can be a positive missional tool and aims to provide theological encouragement and practical advice for those considering or planning a building project. St Edward’s is amongst the 10% most deprived parishes in the country, so it is especially hoped that St Ed’s journey can inspire churches who struggle with finance and capacity.
Mottingham is an outer London Council estate, with St Ed’s geographically at its centre, located in the relatively wealthy Borough of Bromley. However, parish boundaries cross into Lewisham and Greenwich and Mottingham itself is the poorest area of Bromley. The parish has a significant concentration of the varied faces of social deprivation, including those on low or no wages, preciously employed in the gig economy, single parenting, age, illness and disability.
The parish is also on the edge of Southwark Diocese; leafy and very wealthy Chislehurst, the next parish along, is in Rochester Diocese. Both the local authority and Diocesan boundaries added to funding challenges, with Mottingham often falling in between areas for which grants were available!
[1] Bishop Christopher Chessun, Bishop of Southwark Diocese
Defining Church:
The word Church has more than one meaning. Much of the population think of “church” as a building, with particular ideas about what constitutes a ‘proper’ church, influenced by widespread Norman and Gothic church architecture. Yet the original Greek word, Ecclesia, used in the Bible, refers to the people of the Church. There are no Church buildings in the Bible, nowhere dedicated as a Christian House of God, because the early Christian community, the Ecclesia, met, increasingly underground, in peoples’ homes and the Synagogues of members from Jewish backgrounds.
It was some time before the first Ecclesia were called Christians. Acts 11: 26 states, “It was at Antioch that they were first called Christians”. There are no references to Christians in the Gospels as the movement was spread more than anything by news of Jesus’ resurrection and the Apostles powered by the Holy Spirit after Pentecost.
By contrast Ecclesia‘, Church’ is used for the people of God as early as Matthew’s Gospel. Jesus tells Peter[1]that he will build the ‘church’/Ecclesia on his faith in the Messiah. Ecclesia is used twice for reconciliation of church members sinning against another[2], and also when Annanias and Safira are struck dead for not giving everything to the common fund.[3] Saul also persecutes the ecclesia[4]. The English word Church is also used in contexts other than translating “Ecclesia”. “Church” is used where the original Greek speaks about, “the brothers”[5] and in asking about forgiveness.[6]
Accordingly, many Christians today use the word Church for the people of God not the building. Some even argue that we should forget the buildings and concentrate on people, particularly those Christian communities fed up with managing buildings and anxious to return to original Biblical experiences of meeting in homes.
Both uses of the word are necessary. Even church groups without the dubious privilege or duty of being the established church, serving specific geographical communities and saddled with heritage buildings, opt to have a place to meet. Most churches lease and manage their own building or hire space in other churches, schools or community buildings. The people of the Church need space to meet, particularly in Britain where worship outdoors is impractical for much of the year.
The building project at St Edward the Confessor, Mottingham provides illustrations on the ways in which the church as Christian Community can enhance the churches’ mission and the power of church buildings as missional assets. Anyone who has tried to close or de-commission a church will be aware of the church’s emotional power in communities, even if the majority never attend a service.
Attachment to church buildings is epitomised by an encounter between a vicar in Leicester and a member of the local community. A consultation about closing two churches that required extensive repairs had generated strong feelings, even though there would still be two other churches left in the team. A young woman stopped the vicar in the street beside one of the churches due to close, telling him, “You can’t close the church, it’s very selfish to try…”
“I’m sorry you feel like that,” he replied, “what’s your connection with the church?”
“I want my children christened there,” she said, “it’s my family church.”
“Well, the church isn’t closed yet, so I’d be happy to arrange a christening; when were you thinking of?”
“Oh, I haven’t got children yet, but when I do that’s the church where I want them christened… looks like it won’t be around…”
The incident illustrates the place of church buildings in communities’ social fabric and community expectations around them and the rites of Christian faith, even if many people rarely attend. Whilst civic religion and cultural expectation is a far cry from full Christian discipleship and faith, the popular perception that ‘church’ means buildings makes them important factors in the Church’s mission.
[1] Matthew 16:13
[2] Mathew 18: 17
[3] Acts 5
[4] Acts 8: 1-3
[5] ‘Adelphos’ Mathew 18: 15
[6] Matthew 18: 21; Acts 11:1 and 11:19
Mission and Buildings…
Contrary to the idea that buildings and people are opposed meanings of “Church”, and perceptions that material and administrative worlds are opposed to the life of the spirit, St Edward’s journey shows that they can be intertwined. Christianity is the religion of incarnation, God becoming embodied, engaged with the material and the administrative tasks of living together, including paying tax to Caesar.[1]
It is a dynamic that is present throughout Christian history; even St Francis of Assisi, when first called to follow Jesus, heard God saying, “Rebuild my church”, which he interpreted as rebuilding his local Church, San Dominiano, alongside ministry to those in poverty and the natural world. The newly built church gave a missional base for his ministry, including the founding of a new religious movement. Rebuilt roughly eight centuries ago, San Dominiano, and the buildings around it, still house a Christian community, re-fashioned as mission has developed over the years.
There is also a surprising amount about building, building skills and templates in the Bible, including Noah’s ark with building dimensions given in Genesis 6. Other accounts of building projects are found in:
- Exodus 25: dimensions and building process for the ark of the covenant;
- 1 Kings 5-6 and Chronicles: Solomon building the Temple;
- Chronicles 32: building for harvests and
- Chronicles 34:11[2] re-building after war damage and neglect.
It is a profound fact, resonating strongly in a working class community, that Jesus, like his earthly father Joseph, was a carpenter[3], a ‘chippy’ in South London dialect. One of the lovely features of Southwark Diocese retreat house, Wychcroft, is the formidable picture of Jesus the carpenter, a craftsman in the building trade.
[1] Matthew 22: 15-22
[2] Amongst others
[3] Matthew 13: 55
Shaping the Project:
The story starts with scene setting, context and identification of problems that needed to be addressed to make the church more usable and missional. The process demonstrates the need for time as projects germinate and develop, happening in God’s time, which may not be our own. Hopefully the scene setting can highlight pitfalls and obstacles to avoid, making project development smoother.
An important first step was recognising that no-one would put money into a building if there was not already some sense of mission and purpose as to why building work was needed. There needed to be existing and projected footfall to justify investment. St Ed’s had always been a community-oriented church but the sense of mission to the parish not just church community, clearly developed with the building.
There were projects in the hall, run by a church-linked charity and independent providers, however, growth had stalled. New energy came from the church to develop new uses, alongside the building project. Initially growth was from community projects and service to the community, the expression of Christianity with which most of the parish and the PCC felt most comfortable. The assumption was that if people came to community activities, they might then attend Church services as well.
Pre-Covid projects like boxing, dance, meals, fairs, films, theatre and karate grew, drawing on the enthusiasms and gifts of PCC members. A few people did join services from these projects. However, most growth in Church numbers came directly, from those exploring Christianity, seeking confirmation or bringing children to Sunday School once it restarted. Alpha, Bible Study, Communion and Confirmation groups meeting in the vicarage confirmed the need for small group meeting space in Church.
One cheap and simple development was opening the doors, from using just one access point to using all four doors and restoring the side path. Providing more access generated a strong sense of opening the church to the community, allowing people to see the surrounding grounds and drawing people into church as well as the hall.
The sense of missional opening up was increased by Covid-era developments. With Covid came the foodbank, vaccination centre and environmental projects like the Community Garden. As the foodbank grew it took over space in church, straddling Church and hall. Moving the foodbank counter to the front of church increased footfall to the church building and people began to see the great space it was. Access increased familiarity and some growth in those seeking God came from people accessing the foodbank. Prayers on the prayer tree increased.
The vaccination centre also used both buildings and generated conversations about God, Christianity and worship with people resting in the church after Pfizer vaccinations. Creating flags in the church with community groups and then banners for church also led to missional chats and at least one confirmation candidate came through those activities.
Covid lockdowns, forced not only worship online but also the consultations on the architects’ initial plans, and informed the growing sense of church as both within and outside the building. Plans were displayed on noticeboards outside church, at the foodbank and the local Co-op but it was social media copies that generated most engagement with the consultation, even in an area with significant digital exclusion.
Opening up to the community generated feedback about the plans, confirmed decisions to make the space as flexible as possible, with space for whole-community worship, that could also be used for theatre, films, school assemblies and exercise. It also identified smaller spaces for Bible Study and training, for pastoral and spiritual chats and small group meetings. Sunday school were able to choose their own space alternating between the office and chapel spaces. In the parish profile to recruit a new vicar St Ed’s had styled itself “the heart of the community.” By the end of the building project that was a more valid and authentic claim.
The consultation also enhanced confidence, helping the PCC to see that the church was valued by the community and reducing the sense that being a Christian was stigmatised. Through opening some PCC meetings with Biblical reflection, confidence grew in decision-making about the building alongside applying faith in life. A PCC that was mute when asked to share favourite Bible stories, became a PCC that spent an entire away day sharing how faith had sustained us through Covid and become inspiration for the building project. Members also gained the confidence to share faith and life through “This time tomorrow” and began to pray and preach as well as reading in church.
From a sense in the 2000s that the church was declining and the way to save the building was community projects, carving out a small space for the church, it is the community charity that has closed and the church is very much alive. There has also been a growth of trust in God, sharpened by completing the project against the disruption of Covid, cost of living crisis and so much that de-railed other projects.
Shaping the Space:
There was no conscious engagement with theologies of space, place and mission; St Ed’s is not a community given to reading as most left school at 16, engaging with faith, life and work in practical terms. However, as a less well-off community, with fewer opportunities for travel and social mobility, place-based identity is strong.
St Ed’s is an important part of that identity and family connection, a strong relational focus for the community, against instability caused by erosion of roots and housing insecurity. Many who were forced to move by evictions post-Covid continued to return to St Ed’s, helped to stay in touch by streamed services and the foodbank.[1]
It is interesting to note that George Ling’s analysis of Seven Sacred Spaces[2] was instinctively reflected in the building, or perhaps this was also the work of the Holy Spirit. For 9 months the new vicar prayed alone, hermit-like in a Cell, and prayer-walked church and community, discerning how to re-start the building project which had originally foundered when the previous vicar left.
Both the vicar’s departure, the costing of plans that seemed unreachable and the background of a community hit by austerity, had created a community with little hope. However, in due course others joined morning prayer, which moved to the Chapel of the nave; growing numbers at morning prayer and Sunday services brought hope. Re-arranging chairs into rows, instead of a horseshoe, developed a more open sense of Chapel, enabling new people to join.
Opening doors and gates did not create corridors or Cloisters but did generate greater connection between the hall and church. There was no special room for PCC[3] meetings but chairs were moved to create a Chapter-style space for discussion and discernment. St Ed’s always had hospitality at the heart of service, which was enhanced by adding kitchen and toilets to the church, creating space for Church hospitality when the hall was in use by others (generating income). Flexible design enabled the Chapel also to become the Refectory when needed.
The Community Garden was a literal space for gardening work, engaging especially church and community members and volunteers picking produce for the foodbank. Decorating lower walls in Church, digging ditches for pipes, moving furniture and cleaning as building work progressed also developed engagement with work of the Church that was not just liturgical. Developing office space in the church, with bookshelves, enabled the moving of books and files from the Scriptorium space in the vicar’s study to a more communal Scriptorium in church.
[1] Place and faith are explored further by Rt Revd John Inge A Christian Theology of Place Routledge Taylor Francis London and New York Ashgate Series – 2003
[2] George Lings Seven Sacred Spaces BRF.org.uk and Church.Army.org – 2020 The spaces are Cell, Chapel, Chapter, Cloister, Garden, Refectory and Scriptorium
[3] Parochial Church Council
More to follow…
Subsequent posts in this reflection will show how this missional building developed, covering lessons learnt and tools that can hopefully help in relation to community consultation and decision making, project management, funding, the faculty process and other planning issues. The chronology can hopefully help project planning and timelines.
There will also be some thoughts on recording community history as the stories of Church communities are the stories of our mission. Whilst prestigious buildings with national reach, like Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s and other major churches, will attract historians and biographers, there is history in all communities. Discovering and recording that history is an important process for missional communities and the life of the church. The writing down of the Gospels and the life of the early Christian Church in books like Acts and the letters, was a significant factor in its geographical spread.
Information on training and prayer resources that helped build knowledge, good practice and confidence will also follow. It is hoped that sharing lessons learned and inspiration will encourage others to bite the bullet and build for mission.
If St Ed’s can do it, against the background of deprivation, Covid and other challenges, so can many others. Though every parish has its own challenges and stories, underpinning the process in prayer means that every member of the church, young and old, can be involved. The most important lesson learned was that prayer, love, faith, hope and trust in the Holy Spirit at work in our lives enabled all else to follow.
St Edward’s circa 2010: Before the willow tree was felled to prevent undermining of the church and vicarage foundations
Learning and reflecting 