How the Church Is Providing Essential Services in Every Part of the Country

The Heart of the Neighbourhood: a landmark moment for the church 

More than 100 leaders gathered in Westminster on Tuesday 8 September for the parliamentary launch of The Heart of the Neighbourhood, presented at the Faith and Society All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG). The event shared groundbreaking national research that is beginning to reveal the extraordinary scale and impact of churches serving their local communities across the UK.

The event brought together an exceptional mix of civic and church leaders, academics, MPs and members of the House of Lords, denominational leaders and representatives from national Christian organisations – all exploring what happens when we begin to see, understand and evidence the contribution of the local church.

Our Mapping work has already identified around a quarter of a million services being offered by churches, daily, weekly or monthly – from food provision and family support to work with children and young people, older people, mental health, debt, homelessness and many other areas of community life.

Mapping currently covers 60 Local Authority areas, providing increasingly powerful evidence of the breadth, depth and value of church-based social action.

But this is only the beginning.

We have set ourselves a bold ambition: to map the whole of the UK within the next three years, creating an unprecedented national picture of the contribution churches are making to the flourishing of their communities.

Stories, research and collaboration

The parliamentary launch brought the data to life through a rich mix of perspectives. City and unity leaders shared inspiring stories of transformation from their places, while respected academics presented research and insight into the significance of the emerging national picture.

Panels explored Family Hubs, food security and stories from our cities, bringing together civic, academic and church perspectives, before opening the conversation through a lively Q&A.

Presenters throughout the event included city leaders, civic leaders, unity leaders, academics, MPs and members of the House of Lords – reflecting the breadth of collaboration at the heart of this work.

The response was exceptionally positive, with a real sense that this research has the potential not simply to describe what churches are already doing, but to strengthen relationships between churches and civic partners and help shape future collaboration across our towns, cities and communities.

What happens next?

The Heart of the Neighbourhood Report gives us a compelling glimpse of the national picture. Now we want to complete it.

Over the next three years, we have set ourselves the bold ambition of mapping every borough and Local Authority area across the UK – building an unprecedented national picture of the contribution churches are making to the flourishing of their communities.

Could you help us make that vision a reality?

If you would like to explore mapping the churches in your own borough or Local Authority area, we’d love to talk to you about how the process works and how we can help you get started. Please get in touch with us.

You can also help by sharing The Heart of the Neighbourhood report with colleagues, friends, church leaders, civic partners and others in your networks. The more widely this evidence is seen, the greater the opportunity to strengthen understanding and collaboration between churches and their communities.

And finally, please consider helping us fund the next phase of this work. We need to raise £100,000 towards the central costs of mapping every borough across the UK, enabling us to coordinate, support and grow this ambitious national programme over the next three years.

Together, we have an extraordinary opportunity to make visible the remarkable contribution of the local church – and to demonstrate just how deeply it sits at the heart of the neighbourhood.