CCT Strategy 2025-2030 

We are pleased to share with you CCT’s new five-year strategy, which was launched on 1st April 2025.

Our core mission remains to care for the diverse historic churches vested is us by the Church Commissioners, and to repair the damage from sometimes years of neglect, working with local communities to reimagine them as thriving and enjoyable spaces for all. We continue to benefit from vital financial support from both church and state, which underpins our work, and multiply this, thanks to our members, supporters, funders, and our own income-generating activities.

This strategy is an evolution of the previous one, ensuring we deliver on our priority areas. It also acknowledges the importance of taking a longer view. The decisions we take now will have repercussions for generations to come.

The strategy centres on three strands: Conservation, Community, and Creativity. We plan to deliver our core mission by focusing on these interlinked themes.

Conservation

• Over the next five years, we will multiply our core income applied to keeping our buildings safe, leveraging funding from our supporters, to ensure our buildings can continue to weather future challenges.
• We take our obligation to regularly maintain our buildings seriously. Although the condition of our buildings has improved in recent years, we still have much work to do to continue this positive trajectory.
• We will utilise the expert heritage craft skills required to properly care for our precious buildings and support skilled jobs in our sector.
• We recognise that conservation is a process of managing change, and we commit to holding positive conversations with communities about managing the changes that may be necessary to continue using their church while protecting what makes it so unique and special.

Community

• We will continue to empower communities by working alongside them, acknowledging that their efforts are best placed to help bring our buildings to life.
• We will grow our community of support by listening, regularly collecting feedback, and consistently expressing our gratitude to our volunteers, members, donors, and funders.
• We will increase support from our staff, with expertise in conservation and regeneration, to communities, enabling them to support their ambitions more effectively.

Creativity

• The founding of CCT was an act of creativity, inspired by those with the foresight and hope to imagine a new future and continued usefulness for previously “redundant” churches.
• The best way to continue this tradition is by championing the creative re-use of the buildings in our care, which allows them not only to survive but to flourish.
• We will continue to promote the creative re-use of historic churches, capitalise on commercial opportunities, and foster a culture of creativity and enterprise. In doing so, we will share what we learn within our organisation and beyond to benefit all those working towards a sustainable future for our historic churches.

We hope that you are as excited as we are about the direction of travel. Your continued loyalty and support are essential as we embark on this journey together over the next five years. Thank you so much for your input. Any further thoughts are very welcome. Please email supporters@thecct.org.uk.