The Inspiration…
Divine Inspiration began life in July 2006 and was funded by English Heritage, under the Inspired! programme, and the Diocese of Coventry.
Over six years, up to the end of September 2012, the Divine Inspiration project team - Helen McGowan, Amanda Ross and Janet Sewell - supported people working in parishes in Coventry Diocese as they explored all kinds of creative ideas acknowledging that church buildings are held in trust for all people to explore and enjoy, of all ages and any spiritual persuasion - that they are full of potential for learning, heritage, leisure activity, cultural events and are, most importantly, for sharing.
Divine Inspiration aimed to encourage stewards of church buildings to look creatively at how they welcomed visitors to those buildings and to tell better, well researched and more engaging stories to those who made visits. The project actively supported volunteers in churches as they developed an interesting, achievable welcome of their own by offering free training and a forum for networking opportunities. It encouraged churches to assess how they currently use their space and explore how they might share it more widely and creatively with others in their community.
Divine Inspiration widely promoted churches as surprising and interesting places to visit and aimed to give confidence to those who would not normally feel able to enter a church building to do just that. You can find details of all open churches in the Diocese of Coventry on the Churches pages.
The project is no longer active in the Diocese of Coventry but the hard work continues to keep these important heritage buildings for future generations to visit and enjoy.
