Church blogs

Read a selection of blogs from churches and faith communities.
  1. bedroom

    Painting, gardening, befriending – how can your church help to provide supported accommodation?

    21/11/2019

    The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Commission on Housing, Church and Community seeks to offer a distinctively Christian perspective on the housing crisis, but is also exploring how churches can meet local housing needs – action, as well as words. As part of that, we are visiting church-linked housing projects to discover the great work that’s already being done, to learn from them and inspire others. 

    Recently, we visited One Roof Leicester, a charity that has been ‘adopted’ by the Diocese. One Roof works with people who are homeless, destitute refugees and refused asylum seekers.

    3 min read
  2. keswick_1-min

    How did a group of self-confessed amateurs build 37 homes in Keswick?

    18/11/2019

    It all started back in 2009, with six open meetings of Keswick Churches Together about the issues facing the town. Housing kept coming up in these discussions. Determined to change things, a working group of mainly church-linked people was created to come up with solutions. At just the right time, the vicar of St John’s offered a piece of land next to the church graveyard - impractical for burials, but ideal for The Hopes development that now sits there with mountain views. And so the hard work began of forming a Community Land Trust, commissioning an architect, and securing planning permission and funding. 

      6 min read
    1. rev_sheelagh_aston_pudsey_at_the_diy_sos_big_build

      Reflection on DIY SOS/Children in Need build project by Revd Sheelagh Aston

      13/11/2019

      FEATURE / A former Blackburn Day School and Sunday School built in 1834 to nurture young people is being given a new lease of life to continue its legacy with the help of the BBC DIY SOS programme, presented by Nick Knowles, and the BBC Children in Need annual appeal. 

      4 min read
    2. marvinrees_0

      Building better communities and homes

      29/10/2019

      COMMENT / Members of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Commission on Housing, Church and Community joined other panellists at the Bristol Housing Festival for a panel discussion on the church’s response to the housing crisis.

      4 min read
    3. graham_photo_0

      Two years on since Grenfell, nothing much has changed.

      28/10/2019

      COMMENT / The Bishop of Kensington, Graham Tomlin wrote to the London Evening Standard following his visit to Grenfell Tower.

      5 min read
    4. housing commission

      Searching for answers to the housing crisis

      16/09/2019

      FEATURE / Academics, theologians and housing experts are meeting over an 18-month period to examine how the Church of England can build on its own work in housing and contribute to the national debate on policy. Charlie Arbuthnot, chair of the Archbishop of Canterbury's Commission on Housing, Church and Community, writes about a visit by Commission members to Newham, in east London to listen to the experiences of people directly affected by the housing crisis and those working to tackle the problem.

      4 min read
    5. archbishop of canterbury

      Archbishop Justin: Britain’s housing crisis is one of the major challenges facing this country

      09/04/2019

      COMMENT / The Archbishop of Canterbury on the launch of a new Commission on Housing

      3 min read