1

A Serious Building: Bishop Tim Ellis

Managing Major Projects June 25 2015

St Mary’s Bramall Lane Sheffield

In the book of Genesis, Abraham builds four altars. Building an altar fixes in time and

space the place where a people have encountered God or an aspect of the Godhead.

The physical building of an altar underpins the truth that divinity is not encountered

in an ethereal way: a 'spiritual' experience, but that truth is encountered in the

concrete physicality of this world. This is the truth also of the crucifixion of Christ:

the reality of God made man happened in the blood and spit and the mud of our

reality: God became man. This is why we set up holy places: to mark a place where

the divine is encountered but also to make an investment in the reality of this world.

Our church buildings demonstrate in stone and wood the reality of the Christian

community's presence within the joys and sorrows and ups and downs of real life.

Inasmuch as the church building points us beyond the world of the senses to greater

truths and realities it also hallows this life and this reality too. So from time

immemorial humanity has set up places of meeting, and it is this inchoate ancient

reality that we have inherited in our church buildings of Great Britain and it creates

the sentiments and feelings that surround them.

Abraham's altars pointed beyond the reality of this world to four greater realities:

broadly speaking, his altars highlight the joys of promise as he arrives in the land of

Canaan; he then moves on to Bethel, building an altar after his pilgrimage and

demonstrating his openness to what lies before him and his people; then he goes on

alone to Mamre and builds the altar that represents his drawing apart from the

world; and then, most famously of all, he builds the altar on which he is commanded

to sacrifice his son, Isaac-the altar of sacrificial offering. The altars of Abraham were

his answer to the question we ask today-‘What is God calling us to do in this place?’

So, we can move from viewing our church buildings as simply shelters over our

heads, to also holding those four realities too-incarnated sacred spaces: they are

places where we can encounter the promises of God; where we can move on

2

purposefully and hopefully in our lives and be open to life; where we can draw apart

from the hustle and bustle of the world and where we can witness the sacrifice of

Jesus on the Cross and make our own sacrificial response to it. We are beginning to

achieve a theology of our church buildings.

The question before us today then is 'how can our church buildings in the modern

day serve these ministries of the promises of God, helping us to go forward hopefully

in our lives, of being places of withdrawal and seclusion and safety and places where

we encounter sacrifice and openness?’ And what happens when they are no longer

able to serve these purposes? ‘ So, let’s consider what makes a healthy church and

how our buildings can serve this central purpose…how can they become places of

Promise?

I offer you the first altar that Abraham constructed as he arrived in Shechem:

Abraham had left his native Mesopotamia and, in faith, gone to the land of Canaan-

the Promised Land. He encounters many problems and setbacks in trying to do God’s

will, and his journey is a motif for our own pilgrimage through life. Arriving in

Canaan, he comes to Shechem to the oak of Moreh, and the land is promised to him

by God for him and his descendents to flourish in. It is a land of promise: so Abraham

marks this promise by building an altar. (Genesis 12: 6-7)

A recent survey on church buildings suggested that 86% of people had been in a

church building over a twelve month period for one reason or another (Opinion

Research Business Report. Oct 2003). The more recent report Faithful Cities seems to

confirm this. There is great promise here…

So what are we aiming to achieve?

Seven marks of a healthy church

Energised by faith. Not a sense of managing decline or worn out by keeping things

going, bit a people who are fed and excited by: worship, motivation, scripture and a

sense that their faith is being enabled to grow.

3

Outward looking focus. Not just concerned with churchy things, but with the whole

of life: ecumenical, deeply rooted in community, passionate about justice and peace

issues, making connections between faith and daily life, responding to community

needs with loving service.

Seeks to find out what God wants. It isn‘t what we want that sets the agenda.

Vocation, vision, mission, making sacrifices

Faces the cost of change and growth. Rather than resisting the need for change,

being unwilling to take risks and frightened of failure. Recognise need for change and

where it must happen, take risks in achieving it, and create positive experiences of

change.

Builds community rather than functioning as a club of like minded people.

Relationships are nurtured, leadership-lay and ordained-is encouraged, trained and

deepened.

Makes room for others. Inclusive rather that exclusive. Good ministry of welcome,

children and young people are encouraged and helped to belong by being made a

priority, plenty of material for enquirers, diversity is encouraged (rich and poor,

young and old, black and white)

Does a few things, but does them well. Frenetic activity is out of the window, things

that are failing are let go. Do the basics well: worship, pastoral care, admin etc,

occasional offices done well to make sense of life and communicate faith, being good

news as a church, obviously enjoying what we do as Christians and being relaxed

about it.

So, now, let's look first at 'openness‘

Abraham built his second altar at Bethel: a name which means in Hebrew ‘the house

of God’. He pauses, reflects and opens his heart to what lies before him.

The Church of England operates on the parish system, and there is a spiritual reality

to this as well as a purely operational one. Our conviction that we should be 'parish'

churches with 'parish' priests underlines our Church's belief that it has a ministry and

duty to the whole people of a community, not just to the gathered few. Whether

male or female, black or white, rich or poor, the ideal is that our church community

4

in all its aspects is open to all. Sadly, this is not always the case and one factor we

have to face in our consideration of church buildings is the exclusive sense of

ownership that a small introverted group can exercise: actively preventing others

from coming in (typical of this is the common revulsion to having baptisms in the

main morning service because they are 'disturbing‘-or referring to ‘members’-the

language of ‘membership’ suggests some people are ‘in’ and others, who are not

‘members’ are ‘out’-and this will permeate our ethos). But having church buildings

which are truly open in all their aspects to all aspects of community life is our real

destiny.

In part, this exclusiveness is because we have fallen into the trap of thinking that

being a Christian and living a Christian life is about propping up the operation locally-

endless money-raising to keep the roof on and pay for the Vicar. In his book Shapes

of the Church to Come, Bishop Michael Nazir Ali suggests that our church

communities... will have to give up their churchy focus on priest plus stipend plus

building and re-orientate themselves to something like faith plus community plus

action

The Temple in Jerusalem was a deeply symbolic and hierarchical place. Here the Ark

of the Covenant containing Manna from the desert was kept at the very heart of the

Holy of Holies, itself a place which only the Great High Priest could enter, and then

only on one occasion each year and after much ritual cleansing and barriers and

airlocks. At the moment of the death of Christ on the cross, Matthew and Mark in

their Gospels record that the curtain which separated the Holy of Holies from the

Temple precincts was torn in two: the barrier between God and humanity is torn

apart and we are opened up to intimacy with the Almighty. Our temples therefore

must also be places of openness: where the things of God are opened to us his

people and which are also open to all people whatever their state or need.

Otherwise it seems to me the words of Richard Holloway, words may haunt us...

5

If the original purpose of Christianity was to carry the spirit of Jesus through

history, then it soon fell into the trap of using most of its energies to maintain itself

and the life to which it had grown accustomed

So, one outcome of our openness will be buildings which are fitted appropriately for

wider community use: places where the weddings and feasts can take place: where

our people can mourn, play and laugh: places where social justice and community

cohesion are priorities. This alone will have a profound effect on our sense of ‘being

church’ rather than ‘going to church’…

Slides…

Extension and interior rooms to St Nicholas, Newport, Lincoln by Andrew Wiles

Storage and cupboarding in a church in Kent

John Spong writes this…The mission of Judaism (Edgar Bronfman) suggests, is not to

preserve Judaism but to build human community…the good of all religion is not to

prepare us to enter the next life, it is a call to live now, love now, to be now and, in

that way, to taste what it means to be a part of life that is eternal, a love that is

barrier free and the being of a fully self-conscious humanity’. John Shelby Spong in

‘Eternal Life-a new vision

Our buildings are places where this can become a reality.

To do this we need to be concerned with the practicalities…, we need to have a

programme of 1.community audit, so we truly know the makeup of our communities

and the real needs, rather than guessing our imposing our perceived needs. There

needs also to be a comprehensive and well-funded system of 2.feasibility, so we can

test our buildings and how they may be developed and re-ordered against the

established needs. In any event, church communities can conduct their own audit

and feasibility-starting with a simple 3. ‘SWOT’ process with the church people

6

themselves and also a 4. ‘Where are we now and what are we like now-and where

do we want to be and what do we want to be like process’. The strategy is in the

difference between those two positions. 5. Research: look at other churches which

have been creatively and imaginatively re-ordered

All this, demonstrates openness to all opinions and views and involves all parties-and

involvement in the decision making leads to commitment.

And so we will also be open to partnerships with like-minded people-‘find out where

God is at work and join in’. (Abp Rowan Williams)

There are temptations to see the Church and its mission as somehow special;

unique, removed from the realities of the secular society around us-but the concerns

of the world are central to our life as a community of faith. So, we will be concerned

about social justice as we develop and re-order. Our desire will not be to attract

more people to our ‘club’, but to move together with our partners to a fairer society

which respects civil and human rights; to act locally together for the local good; we

will be pooling insights, skills and resources-and expansively encourage others to

participate and ‘get involved’. Most importantly, we will not consider that there is a

point at which we have ‘done it’-the work is always ongoing, always changing and

flexing to new circumstances-we will realise that standing still is to decline (the

sigmoid curve)

Does the ability to lease part of our buildings allow us to enter into more meaningful

partnerships?

And, a great part of ‘openness’ will mean that we are open to the advice and support

of others: we need to be in conversation with the parish architect, the DAC and the

Amenity bodies from the outset and before plans are drawn up or solidified because

we can go to great expense only to have it turned down. Seek their advice first so

that plans can be drawn up which are in accordance with that advice-thereafter,

regularly consult-walk along with them.

7

Slides…

Computer suite at St Aidan’s, City Road, Sheffield

Nave of Kneesall Church, Nottinghamshire

All Saints, Hereford-restaurant and nave

Particularly if you are the custodians of a Listed building, but in any event it is useful

to produce a good Statement of Significance and Statement of Needs after all these

bodies have been consulted and before plans are drawn-again.

All Saints, Hereford

Let's move now to consider how our buildings might become places of Pilgrimage-

places where we walk through life together…

St Peter’s, Newton on Trent, Lincolnshire. Clearing and re-ordering of nave to create

a weekday assembly hall for neighbouring church school.

We have been following Abraham as he made his way into the Promised Land, a

progression he marks by building altars-fixing in the reality of the material world the

spiritual journey he is making. In Genesis chapter 13: 18, he comes to Hebron-a word

which in the original language means ‘fellowship’. But it is the saying which Abram

received from Yahweh, his Lord, which I want to draw attention to:

Raise your eyes now, and look from the place where you are, northwards and

southwards and eastwards and westwards; for all the land that you see I will give to

you and to your offspring forever.

What an expansive view! Here is not introverted, fearful engagement with life, but

one which encompasses the vast horizon. Abraham is relating the life of his people

with the life of the world-faith. And it is this panoramic, all-encompassing view of life

that we, as Christian people and congregations, are called to. Yet, one of the aspects

8

for institutional decline is that we become inward-looking, caring only for our own

life and the survival of those things which we associate with the Church: the building;

paying for the priest; increasing our numbers simply for the sake of increasing our

numbers. Those things which are secondary to a faithful life and are meant to be

servants of it, take on a primary significance and become the reason for our

existence. In this, and in so many ways, the original vitality of the Christian Faith has

been lost.

There has always been a desire in the human psyche to physically locate that which

is intangible and numinous, but which just evades our grasp and our ability to pin it

down.

Speaking of this, the former Bishop of Edinburgh, Richard Holloway, says of the work

of John Betjeman, the poet…

Of course, he knew well that it is the very transience of the objects of our love that

moves and compels us, because we are reaching through them to a permanence that

escapes us at the very moment of possession.

In ‘Godless Morality

As we look at the church building as the gathering place of the Faithful, we are

reminded that our gathering together in worship is not to make us introverted and

self -obsessed. Rather, it is to broaden our vision and experience of life as we grow in

community.

It is interesting to remember and look back on the two major reports of the 1980s:

Faith in the City and Faith in the Countryside. The Faithful Cities underlined the

urgency of maintaining a healthy physical presence in urban areas. Both urged wider

and more comprehensive use of our church buildings. In rural areas they are often

the largest and most commodious building in a village. And this is not all: with many

church buildings, many 'employees', roots in each community, schools, financial

assets etc, we learn that the Church in any place, far from being a minor player, is in

9

fact one of the major players. We are, therefore, in a good position to offer a vision

of how things could be in the future to the community around us. Two things are

important here: first, to enter into partnerships in our work and to identify who we

can partner with and, secondly, to consider ways in which we can allow a wider

remit for the building: Trusts being one creative way forward.

But let's look also at how they can become places which lack attractiveness and are

not inviting-which actively discourage people from walking with us: encourage

people to stand across the road from their church and ask themselves the question

'what is it saying?'. Are notices tired and worn, pinned with rusting tacks to paint

peeling boards? Is information out of date and too detailed? A senior church

communications officer once remarked that any business would regard the

advertising space of our church buildings alone as a massive resource.

Does all the written material involve asking for money and petty internal church

concerns, or are there Amnesty International posters and other material which

demonstrate that the church community is melded into the everyday life of the

ordinary people of the parish.

People will not give money to problems, only solutions…Alice Mann in ‘The In-

Between

Entering the building, are old furnishings, clutter and carpets apparent? Is the

general feel one of care and respect or neglect and decay? People will judge the

church community, and more importantly what the church community believes, but

the appearance of the building. In short, is it the serious house on serious earth of

Philip Larkin's poem? All of this is a matter for Archdeacons Visitations, a vigilant

DAC and also the help and encouragement offered by Churchwarden's Conferences

and training days.

But then our buildings can be places of education, regeneration and epicentres of

society. Are their evidences of a church community thoroughly engaged with

10

contemporary life-posters for Amnesty International, Christian Aid and more...?

Good quality books, leaflets and Prayer Books? And, above all, good noticing and a

lively and bright ministry of welcome.-which is not just about a human welcome, but

the sense of invite and anticipation that carefully ordered access and architecture

can create.

Slides…

St Mary, Bramall Lane

St Aidan, City Rd, Sheffield

St Martin’s in the Field, London-entrance to new restaurant and conference facilities

All in all, the physical care of our church buildings in a routine and organised way will

militate against crises and building problems which can be the factor leading to

closure and redundancy, but also be a factor in promoting an atmosphere of promise

to those who look on and enter our buildings daily:

Watch an old building with an anxious care, guard it as best you may and at any cost

of any influence of dilapidation. Count its stones and bind it together when it loosens

or declines. Do this tenderly, reverently and continually and many a generation may

yet be born, and pass away beneath its shadow.

John Ruskin

The regular cleaning of gutters and downspouts, effective ventilation and targeted

'trickle' repairs can all contribute to keeping a structure fresh and rot free. Prompt

and proficient repairs can prolong life and cut out the spiral of rapid decay

associated with vandalism. All of this will enable our buildings to be assets rather

than millstones.

And finally, we come to Mount Moriah as Abraham is commanded by God to

sacrifice his beloved son. We are told that God’s purpose was to test Abraham and

his obedience. It is a dreadful command, and Abraham was not to know that his son,

11

whom he had waited so long for, was not to be sacrificed. By legend, the mount on

which this famous story took place was the place where Solomon later built his

Temple, and which we now associate with the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and the

Dome of the Rock mosque. And we are reminded that in our Christian

understanding, Jesus did not know the outcome of his own death-his obedience was

complete. So, the final altar of Abraham is the altar of sacrifice-but actually, the altar

of the willingness to sacrifice to see God’s will done. What are we-the church folk,

prepared to do, give up and offer to see growth and development happen?

To quote Soren Kierkegaard…The Church has succeeded in turning wine into water…

Can we revivify it?

Otherwise it seems to me the words of Richard Holloway, words may haunt us...

If the original purpose of Christianity was to carry the spirit of Jesus through

history, then it soon fell into the trap of using most of its energies to maintain itself

and the life to which it had grown accustomed

So what is our role in all this-the gathered worshipping community?

Slides…

St Nicholas, Poplar, London

Mason United Methodist Church, Ohio

Lady Chapel-St Martin’s in the Fields

Here, we might acknowledge that there is something obstructive in our governance

which, despite our good will and well-meant intentions, inhibits the ability of the

whole community to be involved in the care, maintenance and use of our church

buildings. Put simply, the common perception is that the building is the preserve of

the gathered congregation whilst the congregation believe there is no public love for

the building. A downward spiral ensues. Properly ascertaining the needs of the

12

parish and the church communities possible part in answering them through audit

and feasibility will allow adaptation for community use and also be far more likely to

attract grants and public subscription. We must also remember that, primarily in our

rural communities although it’s also very true of urban areas in a time of austerity,

we stand at a point in history where the traditional structural 'glue' of our

communities has been eroded: schools have been privatised, pubs have shut, Post

Offices have closed and bus routes have been reduced, funding for social projects

withdrawn. In many places, only the church remains. Now the building can be a way

of speaking of the inclusiveness and all-encompassing love of God:

slides...

St Peter, Newton on Trent

St Aidan, City Rd, Sheffield

A serious house on serious earth it is,

In whose blent air all our compulsions meet,

Are recognised and clothed as destinies.

Philip Larkin

Slide…

Avonbridge United Reform Church, Falkirk

When my son was fourteen, we moved into a small village in Lincolnshire. One night,

knowing him to be alone in his bedroom we could hear him having an animated

conversation with someone-who knows who. I crept up to his door and tentatively

knocked, to find him in front of his television with headphones on deftly

manipulating the control panel in his hands. ‘What are you doing? I asked. ‘Playing a

game with someone’ he said. ‘Where are they?’ I enquired. ‘New York’ was the reply.

13

It was very difficult to get that boy up on a Sunday morning for an 8am Book of

Common Prayer service in a cold and bleak church!

If we are serious about change as Christian communities, one of the things we need

to ask ourselves is ‘what are we prepared to sacrifice for growth and relevance in the

modern world?’.

The Second Vatican Council spoke of the Church as ‘the pilgrim people of God’,

reminding us of a very ancient, traditional description….(it follows that) those who

dislike change and oppose it in the name of tradition are not within the tradition of

the Church which, by its very nature, must be a Church on the move, a searching

Church without any abiding city here.

Gerard Hughes in ‘In Search of a Way’

Those who lead a development project therefore need to have some change

management skills, and to understand that often changing the culture of a church

community is the trickiest aspect of the operation…

First there needs to be a clear understanding that the church and its built resource

are public property and not the private domain of a few-they are sacred spaces, set

aside for use by all…

Primitive people found a clear distinction between so-called 'sacred' and 'profane'

place. Sacred space is the place of regeneration, creativity and transformation.

Sacred space provides an anchor for one's existence in the midst of the hazards of the

environment. This experience of sacred space is all but lost in our contemporary

culture.

Huffman and Stauffer

Slide…

Prayer maze-St Mary, Bramall Lane

14

and again...

It needs to be realised that the architecture of the building is capable of exercising a

profound influence on the worshipping community's understanding of itself and its

mission.

Peter Hammond in 'Towards a Church Architecture‘

How the building is ordered will influence how those who regularly use it see and

understand themselves as a faith community and understand what there mission is…

Slides…

RC church of Mary the Immaculate, Grantham

St Catherine, Wakefield

Salisbury Cathedral

When he was considering the theology behind the proposed re-ordering of

Portsmouth Cathedral, Bishop-then Dean-David Stancliffe suggested that, primarily,

the church building is a place where the Holy Week and Easter Liturgies can be

enacted. We know what he means, for it is in our liturgies, especially the Eucharist,

that the Christian family most expresses what it is and what it is about.

Slides…

Portsmouth Cathedral, where we move from the Georgian nave-the Old Testament

and gathering place of the people, through the baptistery based on the font at

Ravenna to the Victorian chancel-the New Testament and then to the sanctuary and

reserved sacrament in the medieval ‘bit’-heaven.

Consider for a moment our own homes: they will tell people who visit what the

inhabitants are like. Are they neat and tidy? What colours are used and are they

15

extravert or introvert? The size of the house and its furnishings will tell whether we

are rich or poor, and the pictures will reveal what we value and hold dear in life. All

in all, the sensual experience of a home will reveal far more than words can. The

same is no less true of a Christian church where, for good or ill, its physical condition

and ordering will reveal what its regular users hold dear and to what depth.

So a church must speak powerfully of its central purpose: worship. So, the central

furnishings of the sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist need to be in clearly

defined, uncluttered spaces and have sufficient weight and presence to underline

the significance of those two actions. I react against the use of fruit bowls on flower

stands for fonts and when the altar doubles as a sideboard for ornaments or, worse,

coffee cups. Allowing these central foci to 'speak' wordlessly informs the visitor what

the building is about:

Slides…

Southwick Methodist Church, Worthing

St Andrew’s Methodist Church, Sheringham, Norfolk

The purpose of a church is to move to worship, to bring a man to his knees, to refresh

his soul in a weary land.

Sir Ninian Comper

Also, our buildings and the way they are ordered internally speak of the relationships

within a Christian community and how they are conducted: whilst traditional layouts

can speak to us of the splendour and immutability of God, they can also speak of a

priestly superior caste with a subservient and disengaged people 'meekly kneeling

upon their knees'. The layout and ordering of the church interior might speak of the

complementarity and collegiality of the different functions within the Church's life.

And also, the numinous quality of a building needs our attention: the special

ethereal quality of patina and age does not just happen, it is the carefully crafted

conjunction of colour, lighting, wood tones, art work and much else. And simply

space is also important: Ron Sims, the great northern church architect, said that 'you

can improve a building simply by taking things out'.

16

A Mirfield Father once said that, when the community chapel was empty, it was as if

it was 'resting' between acts of worship.

Slide…Newton Road, United Reform Church, Fulham

And finally, the church building as a place of retreat....

In the normal course of things, our church buildings have been places of solitude and

retreat: places to draw apart from the hustle and bustle of the world to consider and

reflect: to pray. In this, we must also be conscious that the churchyard is part and

parcel of this place of retreat, and is probably used as such by a wider range of

people in a community than the church itself. It is an important aspect of sacred

space in a community, and is one of the greatest offerings that the Church can make

to an increasingly frenetic and stressed world.

Following slides…

St Peter, Plymouth