Southwell Minster says resources are “almost completely exhausted”. Around £20 million is needed to safeguard buildings and grounds. Its statement says a dozen or so other cathedrals face similar difficulties. We need to hear the alarm. And look beyond the cathedrals…. It is just as grim for many parish churches. The repairs deferred, the bills mounting, the congregations fundraising, the clergy becoming property managers…..Keeping the doors open can conceal how fragile everything behind them has become. Here in Kilburn and West Hampstead we are responsible for two large Victorian churches. We need to be able to ask honestly how many buildings we need for worship and what their future should be. There is a strong case for public investment. But it comes with questions for us. Whose heritage counts? Anglican churches cannot be the only buildings that matter. What public benefit are we offering? Publicly funded community services must treat women, queer people and people of every faith and none equally. “Everyone welcome” must mean something. Who decides? If the public helps pay, the public deserves a meaningful voice. We must be willing to share control and consider different uses. Another café or another exhausted volunteer will not resolve every repair bill. Community enterprise can be wonderful. It also takes people, time and money. Preserving a beautiful building need not mean keeping it as a church forever. Southwell’s warning deserves a national response. That response must include an honest reckoning with what the Church can sustain and what we must be willing to let go.

The Church of England needs to read this—and answer its questions. This safeguarding briefing asks whether institutional learning actually makes children safer. Completing an action plan is no substitute for demonstrating that people are better protected. Its findings concern safeguarding partnerships. My challenge is to the Church. From Kilburn, I ask our bishops: what do survivors experience differently because of the reforms we announce? Can they challenge episcopal decisions safely? Who can require answers—and consequences—when leadership fails? Another policy, another training course, another “lessons learned” statement cannot settle this. Show us whose safety has improved and whose testimony has changed how power is exercised. A Church that preaches repentance must accept accountability. Survivors should not have to spend their lives making us practise what we preach. childsafeguarding.independen… @ArchbishopSarah @CottrellStephen @TheOutsider40 @dioceseoflondon #Safeguarding #Accountability #ChurchOfEngland