UK churches receive more than £900,000 for repairs

The 11th-century Church of the Holy Cross in Cotswolds received a grant of 35,000 pounds. Photo: geograph.org.uk

The British charitable organization National Churches Trust has allocated more than £900,000 for churches, chapels, and meeting houses, Christian Today reports.

Financial assistance is urgently needed for hundreds of religious buildings across the United Kingdom. Many churches and chapels are close to closure due to rising repair costs and shrinking funding.

Paul Ramsbottom, Chief Executive of the Wolfson Foundation, said that churches remain a central part of local life. “At the heart of local communities sits churches: places of worship, places of support for local people and places of shared heritage,” he noted.

Claire Walker, Chief Executive of the National Churches Trust, stressed the need for urgent action. “The costs for caring for them – and we’re talking about some of our nation’s most important buildings – should not fall onto local people to fund,” she said.

Walker also called on the government, in cooperation with Christian denominations and cultural heritage organizations, to develop a plan to “properly fund churches, chapels and meeting houses in the UK, so they can remain at the heart of local communities for generations to come.”

Earlier, the UOJ reported that the number of people leaving Christianity for paganism is growing in the United Kingdom.

Read also