Making money in God's house

By Brady Haran BBC News Online

On a mission from God?

Many people think of churches as old-fashioned places used only on Sundays.

During the week they are empty apart from the odd tourist or brass rubber.

But when Susan Rowe visits a church, she sees things differently.

She sees a building which can be utilised in countless ways to generate income.

Based in Nottingham, Ms Rowe is a church 'doctor' - a consultant employed by churches to help raise money.

She explains: "I advise church groups on the feasibility of using their church buildings for both worship and community use."

HOLY RACKET

The nave is used as a village facility for everything from parties to badminton

Susan Rowe

Sometimes this advice is traditional, such as hosting an orchestra during the week or using surplus space to stage an art show.

But sometimes the ideas can be more off-beat.

In one memorable case she worked with a church that started hosting unusual events - such as badminton games - in its nave.

However Ms Rowe often encounters resistance to her ideas.

She says: "A lot of churches would like to allow their church buildings to be used for community activities at no charge despite the fact that there is a cost, such as heat, light and cleaning.

"It is hard work to make some church groups think like a business."

However the reality is that many churches cannot afford to care for their ageing buildings without additional income.

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"Old church buildings cost a lot to maintain and congregations, many of whom may be small, cannot be expected to shoulder the whole burden," she says.

"Unless churches are used more than one day a week, or in the case of many rural churches, one day per month, their survival in the future looks uncertain.

"Using church buildings for community activities as well as worship uses the resource more fully.

"This is also better for old buildings because they are kept at a more constant temperature and ensures that these wonderful buildings are visited by many more people, thus exposing them to their heritage.

"And it sends out a very strong message that the church cares about its community even if its community does not care about the church."

Prior to starting her own consultancy, Ms Rowe ran the Rural Churches in Community Service programme, funded through the Millennium Commission.

Some of pet projects from that tenure include:

• Newlands Church, near Braithwaite in Cumbria: "This tiny church is miles from nowhere and has an attached school room which was converted to provide somewhere that hikers could sit to eat their sandwiches or take shelter from the weather."

• St Mary's, Ludborough, Lincolnshire: "The whole of the nave has been re-floored with heating under the stones and the nave is used as a village facility for everything from parties to badminton. Most worship happens in the chancel."

• All Saints, near Whitby, Yorkshire: "The nave has been cleared of pews and re-floored to allow daily use by the village school for physical education, drama, music and assemblies because the school has no hall."

• Holy Trinity, Holmfirth, Yorkshire: "Holmfirth is where the television programme, Last of the Summer Wine, is set, hence the town has loads of coach parties visiting it and a lot of teashops but nothing for young people. This project was to convert the choir vestry of the church into a cyber cafe for the local teenagers."

Ms Rowe says one of the hardest things about her job is that some churches will not accept funding that has its source in gambling, such as the Community Fund and others will not take out loans.

On the other hand, she always has access to a team of volunteers who are ready to help their church.

She says: "Most churches have a core of hard working volunteers who can and will run fund raising events successfully."