Holy Trinity Church, Richmond, North Yorkshire

According to historian and tour guide Colin Crosby, Holy Trinity Church in Richmond’s town square has acted as a crown court, prison, school, warehouse and even a granary. To that list we might also add a regimental museum, as the Green Howards have their own rooms there, while shops have also occupied some of its space. Professor Pevsner rather dramatically remarked that the church is "the queerest ecclesiastical building one can imagine".

Some wonder if the age of the consecrated and dedicated church building is soon to end. The huge construction and endless maintenance costs are beyond many congregations’ means. As Christianity shrinks and the faithful remnant meet in homes and hired halls, we might find more church buildings closing (which is now normal) and/or sharing their worship space with secular and commercial usage. One of the joys of having a relationship with God through Jesus Christ is that we can meet Him anywhere, for He is with us wherever we go. My dislike of house churches is that the congregation is beholden to the generosity of the owner of the largest house (who is usually the richest), and a community hall offers little security of tenure, the Sunday morning spot occasionally allocated to the Yoga group or fittness class. Nevertheless, the decline of religious buildings need not signal the terminal decline of gospel witness. Christianity began in this land with no special buildings and it may well return to that state ahead of Christ’s return.

And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither. Acts 16:13

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