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Spaldwick Village Hall
UK News

Christians urged to get involved in their village halls

by Aaron James

The Arthur Rank Centre, which supports rural communities and churches within them, is speaking as village halls struggle to find younger people to get involved in the place of their older neighbours.

There are around 10,000 village halls across the UK, with around 80,000 people helping to keep them going.

Warnings from Action with Communities in Rural England and the now disbanded National Village Halls Forum in the Daily Telegraph on Tuesday have questioned whether village halls will survive, unless a new generation of volunteers step forward.

Speaking on Premier's News Hour Jerry Marshall, CEO of the Arthur Rank Centre, said village halls were a great way for Christians to show Jesus to their communities.

He explained: "I remember when I first moved into the village we had a resident's association AGM and I remember knocking on the door of a church member and saying 'are you coming along to this? Great opportunity to meet people in the village'. And they said 'oh no, we're at a home group'.

"There's this kind of sense that church things are more holy and more important than community things. It's very important that church people recognise that being an effective Christian presence in their community means being part of village hall groups and resident's associations.

"It's a way we can get to know our neighbours and figure out how we can most bless them."

Listen to Premier's Alex Williams speaking to Jerry Marshall on the News Hour:

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