When Should A Church Opt For Reordering And Renovation?

In many places, the church is the centre of the community, is one of the most historically significant buildings in the local area and one that often requires care when managing reconstruction and renovation projects.

Adapting churches is far from a new practice; Greensted Church in Essex is the oldest wooden church in the world and has been adapted many different times over the centuries to meet the needs of the rural communities that rely on it.

Most reordering and renovation projects are far more harmonious than Greensted, but the concept of a church changing with the times is shared between this and other historic community pillars in ever-changing worlds.

In an ecclesiastic context, reordering is the alteration of church property to incorporate additional uses, not all of which need to be exclusively religious.

This could include adding secular function rooms to a church by altering or reducing chapel space commensurate with the number of regular practitioners, adding cafes, eating areas and cultural centres.

Some reordering projects are particularly unusual; St Paul’s Church in Bristol has been adapted to include a flying trapeze school, taking advantage of the extra height of a church to allow for an unusual, highly interesting repurposing.

Whilst some religious hierarchies are opposed to reordering, it is far from a new concept. Churches have always been mixed-use to some degree, owing to their importance to the community.

They have served as village halls, been used as polling stations, been used as makeshift places of rest and recuperation and formed the centre of more secular celebrations such as village fetes.

Ultimately, a church should consider effective reordering with the help of strong project management and construction if there is a concern that the alternative is falling into disuse and disrepair. Nobody wants to see a historic building disappear, and reordering is the best way to avoid it.