A Festival Church is a church building which is not used for weekly worship, but is an open church, a local icon and a community asset. The model for becoming a Festival Church is increasingly being adopted by churches nationally as a way of rejuvenating parishes and giving new life to relevant mission and ministry within a local community.
The model in the Diocese of Leicester has been developed in the context of growing concern amongst some PCCs about their church’s future. It may be that a church has unrealised potential and could become more sustainable if energy and effort was spent doing fewer things really well.
Becoming a Festival Church is a positive, proactive decision to do less, but to do what is done better, and differently, as a springboard to a sustainable Christian presence and mission. It is not a step on the road to closure.
St Mary’s Church in Walton-le-Wolds were the first church in the diocese to pilot the Festival Church model in 2021 and have since seen many benefits. Revd Clive Watts is Rector of the Benefice of Barrow-upon-Soar with Walton le Wolds, Wymeswold and Prestwold with Hoton, and has been leading this work.
“Becoming a Festival Church has enabled us to engage with our local community, doing less but doing it better and with more people,” he explains. “It has given us a way forward for a struggling church with a very small congregation, which gives us hope for a bright future. It is proving to be the best move we ever made.”
This week we’ve released a new suite of resources, designed to enable Festival Church conversations to take place. The main document is a Pathway which is intended to help PCCs stop & re-imagine how they can work with the local community to deliver the worship they want to participate in. The key to success is PCC engagement and consultation with the local community, as this will enable the PCC to decide if there is enough local support to become a Festival Church.
A Festival Church is an open church used for at least six planned services a year. Services may include some major festivals but can also be other types of service. Community consultation will help to shape the planned services. The church is also open for Baptisms, Weddings & Funerals and a place for prayer and contemplation. Festival Churches can also accommodate appropriate wider uses (e.g. community use). Where present, schools may be encouraged to use the church.
Gill Elliott, diocesan Building Development Enabler and Church Buildings Team Lead, has been working alongside a number of churches discerning the Festival Church model. She says: “Whilst it is still early days, it has been really encouraging to see how becoming a Festival Church is opening up new possibilities for churches in our diocese.”
All Saints Church in Peatling Magna has recently made the decision to become a Festival Church. The Revd. Richard Reakes, Rector of The Four Saints Benefice of which Peatling Magna is a part of, says: “For the small congregation at Peatling Magna, becoming a festival church has been seen as a positive step forward. With having fewer services, it will enable us to concentrate on doing these well in partnership with the local community. We feel we have a bright future ahead of us.”
Please do read on to understand what it means to be a Festival Church and whether this model could be the pathway for your church.
Find more information and all the diocese Festival Church resources here.