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<p>Officials from the National Church Institutions are seeking a meeting with the
Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to discuss the 2017 independent Taylor
report on the sustainability of Church Buildings. Despite being commissioned by the
Government, the Government has yet to respond.</p><p>The Church Commissioners are
providing £11million in funding for 2023-25 to support a new “Buildings for Mission”
programme to provide support, through dioceses, to local parishes with the challenges
they face in maintaining their church buildings.</p><p>National grant funding is no
longer ring-fenced for religious buildings despite the largest number of listed buildings
in the country being from that classification. While grant funding is also available
from national and local charities, this can only go so far. The Church of England
is grateful to the great many congregations and local philanthropists who continue,
despite current financial difficulties, to support the work of the Church.</p><p>Recent
reports from the National Churches Trust have shown that every £1 invested in a church
building returns £16 to the community in other services and facilities. If the Church
can spend less time on repairing buildings, an even greater focus could be given to
supporting the communities it serves. The evidence for this can be found in the 2021
House of Good report, available at: <a href="https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nationalchurchestrust.org%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2FGADS1597%2520%25E2%2580%2593%2520NCT%2520House%2520of%2520Good%25202021%2520V7%2520SINGLE-PAGES.pdf&data=05%7C01%7Crichard.chapman%40churchofengland.org%7C552d0047f19347a2cec208daffc427fe%7C95e2463b3ab047b49ac1587c77ee84f0%7C0%7C0%7C638103516281887456%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=0ILjNDfV%2FcwAc%2FlvI5qVt001QAPNL1wA9aDaMGcdfHM%3D&reserved=0"
target="_blank">House of Good 2021</a></p><p> </p>
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