This article explores the evolving role of churches, moving beyond their traditional religious function to serve as community spaces.
It feels both naughty and nice to watch a small child bounce up and down the aisle on an inflatable unicorn or drink from a hipflask in a place that, on Sundays at least, lifts up our heart to the Lord (Photo: Flashpop/Getty Images/Digital Vision)primary school where my teacher actually added “heaven” to a scientific diagram of the earth’s atmosphere, I was not raised in a particularly religious household.
Which means that, on the whole, I feel very little compunction about doing secular things inside religious buildings., while sitting in a church nearly 1,000 years old, wearing a gold dress. And as I sat before a dazzling frieze of various saints, it felt somehow simultaneously virtuous and sordid to be discussing madness, Ibiza, seagrass and suicide in a Saxon place of worship. At one point I said the word “shit” and half expected the omnipotent hand of some unseen deity to come down and squash me like an ant. However, there is a healthy precedent for using churches for things other than religious services. According to the website for the Diocese of Exeter (a website I am rarely off): “In the Middle Ages, churches were used for a variety of functions such as courtroom, school and library, and hosted meetings, elections, debates, plays and festivities.” Imagine your court appearance for stealing a turnip taking place under a statue of the weeping, bleeding figure of Christ. Anyway, it would seem that it was only in the 1800s that churches started to be used purely for religious ceremonies, and once again things are on the turn. The wonderfully named St Cuthbert, Copnor in Portsmouth is a church that also includes a GP surgery; in 2009 the church of St Giles, Langford opened its own village shop known – I just love this – as “Heavenly Supplies”; while many churches, especially in rural areas, are used as post offices and citizens’ advice centre
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