Churches could be providing as many as a quarter of a million essential community services across England, according to new research.
Churches are making a significant but often overlooked contribution to essential community services across England, according to a new report.
The Heart of the Neighbourhood report, published by Gather Movement, identified 12,840 instances of regular community provision among 1,632 churches and Christian charities surveyed across 25 local authority areas.
The services ranged from foodbanks, youth clubs and parent-and-toddler groups to mental health initiatives, debt advice and support for people affected by homelessness.
The churches surveyed provided an average of eight essential community services each. If this reflects what churches are doing across England, it could translate to around a quarter of a million such services being provided in total.
The report defines essential community services as church-run activities that are open to everyone, regardless of their faith, background, age, gender, ethnicity or ability - although it did not measure levels of participation or effectiveness.
Researchers examined 54 different types of provision across four broad areas: children and families, food security, mental health and wellbeing, and housing and homelessness.
Around half of the activities identified supported children and families, including parent-and-toddler groups, youth clubs, holiday clubs, parenting programmes, mentoring and work in schools.
Churches were also found to be operating foodbanks, food pantries, community cafés and shared meals, as well as providing emergency food, debt advice, money coaching and employment support.
Mental health provision included counselling, recovery groups, dementia cafés, peer-support groups, suicide-prevention initiatives and activities designed to improve wellbeing and reduce isolation.
Churches were also involved in night shelters, supported accommodation, housing advice, refugee integration projects, English-language classes, job clubs and digital inclusion programmes.
The research - verified by independent experts - included churches from a wide range of traditions, including the Church of England, Catholic Church, Methodist Church, Baptist churches, The Salvation Army, and Pentecostal denominations.
Gather Movement said the findings revealed a “hidden infrastructure” of neighbourhood support that was often missing from public-service directories and unknown to civic and health organisations. The research therefore “shines a light on a substantial part of England’s social infrastructure that has often remained invisible within local planning, policy and public debate”.
It argues that the contribution of churches extends beyond providing a service as their buildings, volunteers, local knowledge and long-term presence allow them to offer accessible spaces and trusted relationships within communities.
Churches are also well placed to become aware of emerging needs before statutory agencies, enabling them to provide early support and potentially prevent problems from escalating.
Roger Sutton, chief executive of Gather Movement, said churches were providing “places of welcome, practical help, friendship, hope and belonging” to people facing poverty, loneliness, poor mental health, family difficulties and homelessness.
“Much of this work has been hidden from view - not because it lacks impact, but because it is carried out faithfully, locally and often without recognition,” he said.
Describing the work of churches as “overlooked and hidden in plain sight”, he said that, “Recognising this significant contribution and integrating it into the wider response is essential if communities are to make the best use of the resource and relationships already urgent locally.”
With so many services coming under pressure, he said there was a “significant opportunity” for churches to become “trusted, place-based partners in building healthier, more connected neighbourhoods”.
The report includes examples of churches working alongside councils, the NHS, schools, police and other voluntary organisations.
In Lincolnshire, volunteer-led Night Light Cafés provide out-of-hours support for people experiencing emotional distress. Commissioned by the NHS and coordinated by ACTS Trust in partnership with local churches, the cafés offer listening, refreshments and signposting in non-clinical community settings.
The service is intended to reduce mental health-related 999 calls and avoidable visits to accident and emergency departments.
In Trafford, a children and families enabler works alongside local family hubs to coordinate church-based activities supporting school readiness, family wellbeing and early intervention.
Between 2016 and 2020, winter night shelters coordinated by Greater Together Manchester mobilised more than 600 volunteers and supported over 360 people sleeping rough. The work helped inspire the wider A Bed Every Night programme, which now provides more than 600 bed spaces each night across Greater Manchester.
The Bishop of Woolwich, Alastair Cutting, welcomed the report, saying, “Churches and faith groups have always been a lattice and framework providing welfare resources in civil society, through the provision of education, health, food and financial security - alongside all the additional wellbeing benefits that being part of a spiritual community brings.
“This Gather Movement report quantifies many of the ways faith groups make key partners working with statutory bodies and others in providing for the welfare of the city and the country in the UK.”
Jane Moffat, family hubs lead at Coventry City Council, said church-based services “represent a valuable community asset that can strengthen local systems and complement statutory provision”.
She welcomed Gather Movement’s study, saying that mapping the services provided by churches had helped the council work more closely with the voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise sector.
“Having a clearer understanding of what is available locally allows us to build stronger relationships, identify opportunities for partnership and ensure families can access the right support at the right time,” she said.
The mapping project began in Oldham in 2024 after the local council’s family hubs brought together representatives from local government, health services, voluntary organisations and churches.
Of the borough’s 101 churches, 87 completed a telephone survey, creating a detailed map of local church-based community provision.
The project has since expanded across England. As of September 2026, mapping of church-based services was underway or completed across 41 local authority areas. More are in the pipeline, taking the total to 64 local authorities covering a population of 11.7 million.
Mark Cowling, Mapping Coordinator at Gather Movement, said the aim of the study was to “make it easier for health and care providers to collaborate effectively with the wider church network in each place”.
The report goes on to call for investment in church steering groups and local faith-based coordinators, as well as training for faith and civic leaders in community development and cross-sector working.
A church leaders’ steering group has been established in every area where the mapping has been completed if one did not already exist.
The report concludes that there are opportunities to both recognise the essential services churches already provide, and connect them more effectively with public and voluntary organisations.
“By making visible what is already happening and strengthening collaboration across sectors, communities can unlock existing capacity, reduce pressure on public services and ensure that more people receive the right support at the right time,” it says.
The report has the support of Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who said it was “critical that we pull together in a cross-sector collaboration to meet the significant challenges we face today”.
Danny Kruger, Reform MP for East Wiltshire, said, “Strong families, thriving local institutions and active faith communities are the foundation of a healthy society.
“Too often, we underestimate the contribution that churches and other faith groups make to the wellbeing of our neighbourhoods.
“This research provides valuable evidence of the vital role they play in supporting people, building relationships and strengthening communities across the country.”
