No Village Shop?

We were recently visiting family in Devon and I was impressed to find a very well stocked and managed community shop in the tiny village where we stayed. As well as offering Post Office services, there were a couple of tables where you could sit to have a cup of coffee and read the newspaper or to hold a meeting - business or pleasure. The lady in charge told us that this 'cafe' style service was proving a popular addition and people could make their own drinks if staff were busy. It set me thinking how, for a fairly small sum of money and with a bit of imagination, many churches could offer the facilities for a community shop. This would certainly bring the church (people and building) more into the centre of community life and enable the church to provide a hospitable forum for the many connections and partnerships that are at the heart of any local community. In her introduction to the Big Society last night at Bedale, Alice Ullathorne (our Buildings Officer) introduced us to some valuable resources for thinking about this kind of project. She also told us the story of churches where rural shops had been set up in the Chelmsford and St Albans areas. The cost in one case was surprisingly low (£10,000); the 'cost' was, in fact, more accurately measured out in the time and effort to bring people together to share the vision and then set up and run the enterprise. Profits go to local charities.  

Useful resources

Crossing the Threshold; A Community Development Approach to the Use of Church Buildings by Simon Whaley
 http://www.simonwhaley.co.uk/2011/02/crossing-the-threshold

Guidelines and Best Practice for the Setting Up of Community Shops in Churches and Chapels
http://www.churchcare.co.uk/pdf_view.php?id=173  

Guidelines and Best Practice for the Provision of a Hosted Post Office in Churches and Chapels 
http://www.churchcare.co.uk/pdf_view.php?id=31

Many thanks to Alice for the resources and helpful insights she shared with those who attended the seminar on the Big Society, last night. We need more discussion of the changes in thinking that these developments are going to necessitate. The current changes in political outlook about the provision of many services are quite radical and are going to create new ways for churches to relate to their communities. They may bring about a return to some of the needs and opportunities the churches took a lead in responding to before the creation of the Welfare State (especially in social care).  We need to keep a close eye on developmets and on what is being asked and offered in the way of grants and commissions. 

What is the Big Society?

Does the 'Big Society' mean reduction of funding? The devolution of decision making-power from central government and the regions to local government? An expectation that the voluntary and private sectors will pick up responsibility for provision of services while local government and other authorities monitor and regulate them? Or does it mean something more creative and dynamic with opportunities for new partnerships, less red tape and more weight given to local and democratic perspectives on what is needed and how it should be provided?  Who will gain and who will lose out? How will we ensure that the most vulnerable don't slip through the net?  How can human resources, community goodwill and social enterprise make up for a marked decrease in funding?

If you have been wrestling with these questions or if you are interested in how the current social and economic changes will impinge on church and community life, why not come along to this day which has been arranged by our buildings officer, Alice Ullathorne. All these questions inevitably have big consequences for how we use our buildings and in fact the current changes in the provision of social services probably mean that the next few years will see some of the greatest opportunities for churches to get involved in their communities in new ways that have been seen over the last half century or so. Thank you, Alice, for your work on this. Alice also has a must-visit blog for those who are involved in the maintenance of church buildings, development projects, or conservation and funding projects for buildings.

You can contact her to book a place on alice.ullathorne@ropnleeds-diocese.org.uk or go to her excellent and informative blog http://church-community-building.blogspot.com/