News by email Donate

Suggestions

Top Stories

Most Read

Popular Videos

CHURCH BENCH BANNER.jpg
praying-church_article_image.jpg
World News

'The poor have been abandoned': Church closures hit low income areas harder, says report

by Heather Preston

A new report has found significantly more churches have closed in low income areas than in affluent ones in the past decade.

Research from Church Action on Poverty revealed a disproportionate affect on poor communities when churches in the UK have shut their doors.

The three year study - Church On The Margins - examined closures across Greater Manchester over the past ten years.

The main five Christian denominations (Church of England, Roman Catholic, Methodist, Baptist and United Reformed Churches) involved in the research cited declining attendance; buildings costs and repair and a lack of clergy as contributing factors to church closures.

Of the denominations, only the United Reformed Church had more closures in affluent areas.

Niall Cooper, Director of Church Action on Poverty tells Premier he's concerned that churches are favouring the wealthy.

"Churches are effectively withdrawing from low income communities. And if that trend continues for the next 10 or 20 years, then it's really about abandoning communities."

Cooper says there's a stark contrast between the "immense faith and resilience" of those living on the margins and the churches serving them.

"The people themselves, are amazing. When we went to speak to them, I always came back inspired by how people - in spite of their challenging life circumstances - have deep faith and love their church but don't feel that the institutions are really supporting them.

"The broader context is, these are communities where lots of things close now...and people then feel abandoned and left behind.

"It's really important that the Church fights against that. It says no, we are not going to abandon communities, we will stick with you, we will invest in you, we will ensure that the people of faith in that community are resourced and supported."

The Methodist Church has committed over £6 million to its own ‘Church at the Margins’ programme missional activities led by people and churches on the margins over five years.

The Church of England has committed substantial funding via its ‘Low Income Areas Fund’.

Church Action on Poverty has called for greater transparency on Diocesan spending and its benefits to communities whilst imploring other denominations "to make substantial long-term resource commitments to churches and communities on the margins, as the Gospel priority for the church over the next decade.”

A Monthly Gift Of $11 Makes A World Of Difference

In a world of fake news there’s never been a greater need for quality Christian journalism. Premier’s mission is to provide the Church with the most up to date and relevant news, told from a Christian perspective. But we can’t do it without you.

Unlike many websites we haven't put up a paywall — we want to keep our journalism free at the point of need and as open as we can. Premier’s news output takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. No one in the USA is sharing news like we are across radio, magazines and online so please help us to continue that today.

For a monthly gift of $11 or more we’d also be able to send you a free copy of the brand new Premier Bible, a wonderful Anglicised version of the NLT packed with exclusive bonus content, reading plan and resources to help you get the most out of scripture.

Your monthly support will make a world of difference. Thank you.

Support Us
Continue the conversation on our Facebook page

Related Articles

Sign up to our newsletter to stay informed with news from a Christian perspective.

News by email

Connect

Donate

Donate