Kingdom Buildings: Your church and churchyard as assets for mission

Kingdom Buildings reveals the overlooked potential of church buildings and grounds as tools for mission and growth. Too often seen as burdens, this practical and inspiring guide helps church communities rediscover them as gifts – spaces that can enrich both congregational life and the wider community. Blending theology, ecclesiology and hands-on advice, Kingdom Buildings offers both a fresh vision and practical steps to tackle even the most daunting challenges. It shows how small, affordable changes can spark momentum and create lasting impact, while also guiding readers to make wise, long-term decisions for the good of future generations. With thoughtful attention to issues such as accessibility, carbon reduction, and ecological stewardship – especially within the unique constraints of heritage sites – this book equips churches to care for their buildings as faithful stewards and mission-minded hosts. Chapters include: 1: The theory behind the practice 2: Preliminaries: planning, permission, paying for it, perseverance 3: Getting your church open Welcome, unstaffed opening 4: Projects that make a difference: toilets, kitchenettes, community space, cafes, children’s corners 5: Carbon reduction Heating, lighting, solar panels, EV charging 6: Churchyards: from urban jungle to sacred ground 7: Making the most of your church hall: business plans, marketing, hire rates, legalities Conclusion: Securing lasting change

About the Author :
Kenneth Padley has 20 years’ experience of involvement in large and small projects at local and diocesan levels which have sought to make churches, grounds and ancillary buildings fit for contemporary use. He is Canon Treasurer at Salisbury Cathedral with oversight of the architecture and artefacts of one of England’s most iconic buildings.

Review :
"Kenneth Padley is to be warmly commended on writing a book that fills a long-vacant niche. He leads the reader confidently across the threshold (sometimes, the minefield) of church buildings projects, and enables, too, the wise stewardship of their neighbouring churchyards and halls. We have needed a guide such as this." "Here is real theological understanding easily expressed and here too is a steady, sane enthusiasm. Here is a theologian with mud on his boots and here is an ordained project manager full of Christian hope. It is so good to read a book that sees possibility where so many of us imagine difficulty." 'This book is essential reading for every cleric about to become an incumbent and for every new churchwarden... this is a thoroughly enjoyable read, which will, I hope, inspire many instinctively cautious people to think: “We could do something like that.”