The historian and broadcaster Alice Loxton called for an “urgent, national, seismic response” to the “cultural vandalism” of the “quiet decay of the parish church”.
Stephen Cottrell, the Anglican Archbishop of York, said, “To lose them, to hamper our ability to renew and restore them, to diminish them, will cause irreparable damage not just to brick and stone, but to hearts and minds.”
The conference launched the results of the National Churches Survey, which found that 38 per cent of church roofs are in urgent need of repair, 22 per cent of parishes believe that their building has deteriorated in the last five years, and 27 per cent are not certain that their church will remain open as places of worship by 2030.
One in 20 churches said they will definitely or probably not be used as a place of worship in five years’ time, which amounts to around 2000 churches across the UK. Some 3500 churches have already closed in the past ten years.
In Scotland, the situation is particularly extreme, with around one third of all churches either closing or expected to close in the next few years.
Sophie Andreae, vice chair of the patrimony committee of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, emphasised that Catholic churches are more likely than those of many other denominations to be located in deprived urban areas and serve diverse immigrant communities.
Many of these buildings are Victorian and reaching the age at which they need major capital repairs, a financial burden that their parishioners are unable to meet. The survey found that deprived parishes were at much higher risk of their church closing.
Andreae said the decision to cancel public funding for places of worship in 2017 was “disastrous”. “The funding reintroduced in 2024 came with significant administrative hoops, and only four Catholic churches have so far received a grant,” she said. “There’s also no certainty this scheme will continue.”
Ian Morrison, the director of policy and evidence at Historic England, also said that public grants need to continue, and that many parishes don’t apply because the forms are confusing or because their eligibility for funding has not been clearly communicated to them.
He added, “It’s not just a crisis of funding, but also a crisis of visibility. Most people don’t know that historic churches need their help.”
“We see these buildings as part of the historic landscape, so many people assume that someone in the background is looking after them. The truth is that they’re not. They’re looked after by small groups of volunteers, usually with no public funding, many of whom are elderly. The most dangerous assumption is that these churches are being taken care of, because people don’t step in and do it themselves.”
He explained that only one person in ten realises that the upkeep of the local church lies in the parish community, while as many as eight in ten wrongly assume it is the duty of the denomination, Historic England, or another organisation.
Most of the delegates said that supporting churches’ volunteer base is one of the most crucial steps for protecting the buildings. Richard Taylor, author of How to Read a Church, said, “The financial and time pressure on the voluntary army that care for churches is becoming intolerable.”
The survey also revealed the enduring vitality of churches, showing that 80 per cent hold services at least once a week, and 42 per cent are open to the public daily. The majority also host community groups, music activities, and food collection, and many also host support for mental health, addiction, or debt.
Karl Newton, deputy chief executive of the National Churches Trust who managed the survey, said that this “hidden welfare network fills critical gaps where statutory support is limited”.
Jewish barrister and television personality Rob Rinder praised churches’ role in the community as “Britain at its best”: “a church hall on a grey Thursday morning, doing small miraculous things. A woman who has organised a jumble sale since 1982. A young Muslim volunteer who runs a foodbank in the vestry. A Britain powered by tea and biscuits and a refusal to give up on one another.”
He said, “The crisis is not only about the crumbling roof or the missing funds, but the crumbling sense of connection.”