Baptists & Councils of Wilton

Curiously, Wilton Baptist Church in Wiltshire meets in Wilton’s old town hall, which became redundant with local government reorganisation after 1974. Although its clocktower looks somewhat peculiar, the building otherwise looks like a town hall ought to. Conversely, Wilton Town Council appears to meet in what formally may have been a chapel, below. Although I cannot find which denomination, nor have I enough local knowledge to confirm this claim, there is something quite delicious about the reversal of uses.

In America, there is clear constitutional distinction between church and state. We in Britain have a state church (though one would be forgiven for not knowing this, considering its weakness and shrinkage), while our national values are increasingly secular, or even at odds with the Christian world view. Ideally, the churches here, like in America, might still influence and shape the culture and those who manage the country, without actually having power. Instead, we have the opposite: the secular culture influencing and reshaping the Church. It is less the town hall meeting in the church, but the church meeting in the town hall.