Whitehouse secures national coverage and large launch event for report highlighting growing importance of church buildings

The report was commissioned the National Churches Trust, a British church buildings support charity. It found that churches provided £12.4 billion worth of essential social and economic support to local communities during the 12 months up until May 2020. The detailed study measured the extent of the social and economic value the UK’s church buildings provide to national and local communities.

With communications and media relations support from the Whitehouse Consultancy, the report was launched with coverage in international, national, regional and trade press, as well as broadcast media and radio. Featured as an exclusive in The Guardian and The Observer, other media titles covering the story included The Times, The Telegraph and The Sunday Programme on the BBC Radio 4.

This Monday, a day after the release of the report, the Whitehouse Consultancy and National Churches Trust delivered an online event on the economic and social value of church buildings to the UK, chaired by Huw Edwards. The event attracted more than 225 attendees and led to an insightful discussion about the significance of church buildings in the UK, with speakers Walker, CEO of the National Churches Trust; Revd Lucy Winkett, Rector of St James’s Church; Will Watt of State of Life; and John Drew, Trustee of the National Churches Trust; with an introduction by Luke March, the Chair of Trustees of the National Churches Trust.

Churches have been at the centre of local communities for centuries, providing important support services often run by volunteers. Following lockdown and its associated hardships, the most vulnerable people in our society are increasingly relying on these services for their physical and mental well-being. However, just as these services become more important than ever, the church buildings they are housed in are under threat because they are struggling to access funding in order to remain open and in good repair. We made sure that the report got the coverage is deserved.

The full report can be viewed now: http://houseofgood.nationalchurchestrust.org.

The Whitehouse Consultancy is an award-winning issues-led communications agency with decades of experience in public affairs, press and media relations, stakeholder engagement, crisis communications and training. The Whitehouse team are experts in the impact of global crises, providing crisis communications, risk management and public affairs advice to a wide range of clients in the United Kingdom and across the member states of the European Union.