Categories: uncategorized
Date: 28 June 2007 06:56:10
Last night I heard some sad news, a local Christian conference centre is due to close at the end of the year. It's sad not only because of the loss of the facility but because it is another sign of degeneration in a town that is desperately seeking regeneration. Also it's closure is another sign of the human cost of secularisation (through all that will be lost in human terms when the building closes).
One good thing is the building doesn't appear to be listed. I say this is good only because it means atleast the building is less likely to be left to decay, as another former sacred building in the town, which closed due to the costs of maintaining it being too high has.
What really gets me though is that if the church (in the broadest sense) had money, manpower and imagination think what we could be doing with these sites to properly regenerate the local community and also live out the gospel commands by serving the community and providing much needed facilities. As it is in the end I guess these sites will probably end up providing more housing that many locals can't afford and which send the property prices in the area further out of their reach. Yes this will probably result in regeneration, but not the type of regeneration that the locals actually need.