The book launch for Kingdom Buildings was held at Salisbury Cathedral last July where the author, the Reverend Dr Kenneth Padley, was the Canon Treasurer (with oversight of the architecture, treasures and artefacts including the visual arts and sustainability programmes) and is now the Canon Chancellor. The author brings a wealth of expertise to this very positive and practical book aimed at church leaders working with the property in their care. The book is a straightforward read. The warm tone is one of walking alongside a reader who is seeking wisdom on the best way forward. It is a practical book rather than an academic one. Some of the sections of lighter terminology fare better than others. The book uses ecclesiastical history and theology to set the context of the chapters, but the emphasis is on real-world advice with visible results. As such this book sits between more theological volumes such as Andrew Rumsey’s Parish: An Anglican Theology of Place (2017) or John Inge’s A Christian Theology of Place (2003) and detailed accounts of adaptions such as Becky Payne’s Churches for Communities (2014) based on churches in Oxfordshire. It will be an excellent resource for a new incumbent trying to discern how best to work with their PCC to maximise the use of property in a parish.

Padley writes that the ‘[c]entral premise’ of his book ‘is that the care and development of church buildings can make a massive contribution to Christian mission’, referring to church buildings as the ‘shop window for church people’ (p 1 and 3). His starting point is both simple and unthreatening, ‘that, whatever the condition of your church, hall or churchyard – good, bad or ugly – there is usually something that can make a marginal improvement and take things in the right direction’ (p xv). The practical examples used vary from very small to larger building projects. A wider geographical set of case studies might have been helpful, but by often focusing on projects he had personally been involved in, the author is able to offer depth and context. A key strength of the book is the way it considers the impact of changing buildings on the church community itself, both present and future. The author stresses the need to balance longer term perspectives and immediate pressures. Padley encourages leaders to consider ‘starting out small’ where possible, breaking renovations down into individual projects, wisely observing that ‘[d]oing things in stages and celebrating small successes can lift the spirits of a congregation that might otherwise feel tired and downcast’ (p 19).

The book offers specific chapters on the preliminaries (planning, permission, paying, perseverance), opening churches to the community, identifying projects that make a difference (including porches, toilets, kitchens, cafes, shops, offices and community partnerships), carbon reduction, churchyards (including issues of safety, security and spirituality) and church halls. The chapter on keeping church buildings open is the most striking in terms of mission. Padley writes with the conviction of someone who has witnessed the impact of moving from a closed to an open church and works systematically through the barriers that can stand in the way, from ecclesiology and fear to practical concerns with advice on risk assessments and insurance. The worked example from St Michael’s, St Albans and St Mary’s, Childwick Green includes ‘ripple effects’ of opening; new members of the congregation joining after visiting the open church, a more welcoming worshipping community and the trend for other local churches to start opening their doors (p 61). The chapter on managing church halls is surprisingly interesting. As financial pressures on parishes and dioceses rise, the use of these assets is increasingly relevant. This chapter explains the history and churchmanship behind the variety of existing church halls. There is practical advice for developing business plans for renting out buildings, developing sets of terms and conditions, avoiding pitfalls, setting fair prices and insurance. There is valuable up-to-date expertise to be found throughout this book with many practical links to further resources. The sections on fundraising within the parish and the local community, and then externally, are excellent. In a similar way, after considered reflections on climate change and Christian mission, there is thorough advice on carbon reduction and church heating (including the detailed practicalities of heat pumps), lighting and solar power. Recent consistory court judgments on church heating have shown the need for clear information and advice for churches to enable them to plan ahead on heating projects, and this can be found in this book.

This reviewer’s only reservation is the lack of ecclesiastical law in the book beyond the initial short sections on statements and permissions in the preliminaries chapter. The book does not claim to provide legal advice. However, as the book is to equip leaders to plan, it would have been helpful to have a more substantial explanation of the faculty system. More links could have been made to ecclesiastical and property law in the subsequent chapters. For example, sections about selling items to fund renovation or renewing church heating did need more comprehensive reference to faculties and the Faculty Jurisdiction (Amendment) Rules 2022. There is no consideration of case law or the guidance offered in some of the recent decisions from the consistory courts. This point speaks to the wider challenge that the Ecclesiastical Law Society, and in particular the training committee of the Society, has as to how to continue to encourage church leaders to engage positively with ecclesiastical law and appreciate that the practical law is not something to be feared or to contain their vision, but something that exists to facilitate, inform and support their work and their stewardship of resources.