A New Future for the Church House

Since the mid 1980s St Andrew's has owned a house on St Minver Road, which has been used as accommodation for curates, and let commercially during periods when a curate was not in post.

At their meeting on 8th July 2025, our PCC decided to use this asset differently, resolving to partner with a local charity to house a vulnerable family for several years to come. This decision has come after much consultation and prayer, and in making it the PCC is leading St Andrew's in fulfilling a Gospel imperative. To choose just one of dozens of similar verses, Isaiah 1:17 tells us to ' learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan,  plead for the widow.' We as St Andrew's are so blessed with a wealth of resources, and it is right that we 'learn to do good and seek justice' with them.

In terms of our vision priorities, as expressed on our MAP, this decision is absolutely in keeping with our aims of:

Kinship: Engaging deeply with the local community; seeking justice

Stewardship: Using our resources courageously.

For those who would like to know a little more, read on.

A note about curates and housing.

The house on St Minver Road has often been referred to as 'the curate's house,' and many of the Church family also have happy memories of the days when the 'upper room' of the old sweet factory behind the house was used for youth groups. But times move on. The 'upper room' is no longer safe to use, and we now have a whole Church centre at our disposal for youth ministry.

Another descriptor you may have heard is that St Andrew's is a 'training parish.' This is a concept that is now outdated. The main consideration in the deployment of curates is the skillset of the clergy person who will be their 'Training Incumbent;' there is no such thing as a 'training parish.' I have decided, having trained a number of curates over the years, not to take on any more. For those of you who have kindly expressed concern that I need the help, I would want to make clear that curates are not in post to 'help the vicar.' We train curates as a gift to the wider Church, not to be an extra pair of hands. Supervising a curate, whilst bringing many blessings, also takes significant amounts of time and energy.

The way that curates are housed is also changing. Just because a parish owns a house no longer means that they will preferentially have curates placed with them, and indeed there is growing recognition that a large, well resourced single parish benefice may well not be the best place for a curate to be prepared for their future ministry. It is also recognised that curates have varying housing needs, which may not be met by a parish owned house.

Finally, you may be aware of the falling number of people being trained for ordination, and therefore the falling number of curates nationally.

All of this makes it less likely that St Andrew's will receive a curate in future, and that if we do, the house we currently own may not be suitable for them.

The Property.

The house on St Minver Road dates from the 1890s, and had not had a condition survey since it was bought by St Andrew's. When it became vacant in May 2025, Finance Committee suggested that we commission a survey to help us understand the potential expenses we were likely to face in the coming years in terms of maintenance and repairs. The property is an asset of the PCC, and needs to be approached as such. All charities have to ensure that their assets are being used to fulfil their charitable aims, and our PCC is no different. Having received the survey, a large number of inter-related options were considered by CCMC and the Finance Committee, including:

• carrying out the basic work to reach modern rental standards and re letting the house commercially.

• selling the house and then buying a smaller, more modern house in the parish, which would be easier to maintain.

• selling the house and investing the profits.

• turning into smaller units (an HMO).

• selling and using the money to fund a mission project.

• letting the house to a charity accommodate a family in need.

The Future

Having read all the reports and prayed about the options, at the start of our meeting, we explored the centre of gravity of the PCC's views about the house. Whilst opinions and reasoning varied, the PCC generally felt the house should not be sold at this point, and that it should be used for missional purposes, rather than for example income generation. We are hugely grateful to Andy Redfearn who has offered his considerable professional expertise to the process, and talked us through the options so clearly. After an hour or so of discussion, questions and exploration, the PCC unanimously agreed that the house should be used to accommodate a family in need, through a let of several years to a local charity or the council. Some key reasoning behind this:

• we know of the housing problems in Bedford, with hundreds of families in unsuitable temporary accommodation.

• whilst perhaps not the most glamorous house, the Church property is sound, safe and spacious enough to offer a real home to a family in need.

• as a Church, we can afford to let at less than market rate.

• letting to a charity for a period of about seven years will give security of tenure to a family, and also mean that the day to day maintenance and repairs of the house is taken off our hands.

The PCC has had one offer for the house, and is seeking others. At our meeting, the PCC delegated the responsibility for interrogating those offers to a small group with suitable skills.

On a personal note, while I was clear that this was a good moment to consider the future of St Minver Road, as we set about the process I had no idea what the outcome of those deliberations would be. I didn't even know that the course of action we have agreed was possible! I am hugely grateful to those who have contributed to the process, including members of CCMC, Finance Committee and PCC. We have not always agreed, but it seems to me that God's hand has been on us, in every meeting, every conversation, every report and every spreadsheet, and that the decision we have reached is absolutely the right one, one that will bless our community and see God's Kingdom come on that small piece of land we own on St Minver Road.

Rev'd Canon Lucy Davis

9th July 2025