Caring for your Church Building

Church buildings are physical symbols of faith and they play an important role in society, heritage and history. Learning to care for our places of worship can help ensure their future sustainability.

Caring for church buildings requires balancing the needs of faith, the community and heritage.

As well as being religious, social and cultural landmarks, church buildings are part of our historic environment, rich in architectural heritage, art and craftsmanship. Like all buildings, places of worship require regular care and maintenance, as well as developing them for generations to come. Understanding these buildings, their significance and how to look after them is essential to their sustainability.

Maintenance & repair

Repairs to traditional buildings are often seen as costly, time consuming and require missional energy. Yet, cold, damp and decaying buildings do not portray a positive image or meet today’s needs. 

Ensuring the fabric of the building is looked after through regular maintenance can help to keep the cost of repairs down. 

For further information on preventative maintenance of places of worship visit SPAB Faith in Maintenance or SPAB Maintenance Cooperative Project. Their technical advice page and the Coop Toolkit section offer a wide range of information. 

The conservation section on the ChurchCare website and the National Churches Trust building advice section offer further advice.

Conservation

Places of worship are the largest estate of historic buildings, making them unique heritage assets. 

Understanding these buildings, their significance and how to look after them is essential to their sustainability. 

Historic England provide advice on caring for places of worship. The conservation section on the ChurchCare website and the National Churches Trust building advice section offer further advice.

Cleaning your church building is a very important part of looking after these wonderful buildings. See the Churches Conservation Trusts guidelines on conservation cleaning.

Developing your church building

Developing your church building Historically church buildings have adapted to the needs of each generation. Adapting your building to install modern amenities; and or create flexible space for wider community use, can breathe new life.

For many the challenge is how to make your church building relevant to today’s needs whilst recognising their original role as places of worship, mission and respecting sacred space. The key is understanding what you have, communicating what is needed and good consultation.

Top Tip: Book – Buildings for Mission: A complete guide to the care, conservation and development of churches, by Nigel Walter and Andrew Mottram, is a practical and comprehensive guide offering essential and expert advice on every aspect of caring for churches.

More from the Churches Trust for Cumbria

Resources

Checklists, videos and more to help improve church buildings across Cumbria.

Caring for Churches Project

A project supported by the National Heritage Lottery Fund.

Sustainability

Use our sustainability rosette to identify and prioritise areas of need in your building.