The National Churches Trust is the UK’s church buildings support charity. They aim to:
a) Provide grants for the repair, maintenance and modernisation of church buildings
b) Act as a catalyst to improve and bring more resources to the management of church buildings
c) Promote the value of church buildings to the community at large
They have created an online survey to find out the impact of COVID-19 on churches. This survey is open to any church in the UK and consists of 18 questions which takes around 15 minutes to complete.
Eddie Tulasiewicz, Head of Communications for the National Churches Trust said:
“We urgently need information on the impact of COVID-19 to understand how churches are coping during the lockdown and to aid with future recovery plans. The information is also vital to find out whether digital worship means that church buildings will no longer be so important or, whether having a church building where people can meet for worship and to build community, will in fact be more important than ever after the coronavirus lockdown ends.”
Questions in the survey include:
- Have new outreach or support services for local people been set up as a result of the COVID-19 lockdown?
- How many people from churches are volunteering with the NHS and social care as part of the COVID-19 response?
- Will churches become more or less important in the future as a result of COVID-19?
- What are people most looking forward to once the coronavirus lockdown ends: religious services, companionship, being able to help people through volunteering or prayer, visiting churches to connect with history and heritage?
Complete the survey here
The closing date for the survey is Friday 15th May.