Diocese says Wigan church is not closing

Church leaders have moved to quash rumours that a Wigan place of worship could be sold off and its congregation merged with another.
St Anne's Church on Beech Hill AvenueSt Anne's Church on Beech Hill Avenue
St Anne's Church on Beech Hill Avenue

The Diocese of Liverpool has said there is absolutely no plan to shut down St Anne’s CE Church on Beech Hill Avenue.

The Wigan Observer had been given a suggestion that the worshippers would join those at St Andrew’s Church in Springfield and St Anne’s would then be sold with the likelihood of a planning application being put in to convert the site to housing.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

However, the regional Anglican Church authority reassured believers in the area that there was no truth to the claim.

The diocese said the closure of a church is a lengthy process which could only be started by a parochial church council (PCC).

This would then be followed by a large amount of local consultation and public announcements would be made at each stage of developments.

The diocese suggested the confusion about the future of the Beech Hill Avenue church could have stemmed from a pre-Christmas reorganisation of how the clergy in Wigan are working.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The re-structure involved the 29 previous parishes being turned into seven larger areas which allows for ministers and churches to work together far more.

St Anne’s Church is in the Wigan Town Centre team.

The details of this new plan for the church in the borough were put into place earlier this year.

The aim of the new teams is to have tasks such as maintenance, financing and administration carried out centrally, leaving clergy with more time to lead worship and serve their communities.

Like all places of worship St Anne’s is currently closed due to the coronavirus crisis.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

However, services for Church of England worshippers are continuing online and the church is working to support those in need through the public health emergency through tasks such as delivering food parcels.

Related topics: