THE TELEGRAPH: The Government will hold a top-level summit next month to tackle the crisis facing Britain's churches.
Ministers are to examine how extra funding can be given to churches, with one in five of them under threat of being closed.
Andy Burnham, the culture secretary, said there would be a new drive to make them central to community regeneration, backed up with financial support.
His comments follow The Sunday Telegraph's Save our Churches campaign, which has called on the Government to increase grants to churches and allow them greater freedom to make the buildings suitable for community use. The campaign has been backed by politicians, celebrities and leading church figures, including Joanna Lumley, Jools Holland, David Cameron and Archbishop Rowan Williams.
Mr Burnham said that the campaign had placed the issue on the Government's agenda. He pledged to rally his Cabinet colleagues behind the proposals.
"It's a really timely campaign because some churches are on the brink of viability," he said.
"We need to find practical ways of helping them. Sometimes it's beyond the means of the local congregation to get the access to the necessary finances to do the repairs that are needed." >>> By Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs Correspondent | November 22, 2008
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