Community Ownership Support Service (COSS) is hosting their second series of informative workshops on community ownership of former places of worship as part of the New Futures – Former Places of Worship programme. The purpose of the workshops is to provide specific information on key topics and to increase awareness of the support and guidance available to help steer communities through the process of taking a historic church into community ownership and securing its long-term future as a community asset.

This workshop series began in November of 2025 and so far, we have hosted five workshops as part of the series and one standalone event. These workshops covered the first steps to community ownership, planning, community involvement, mainstream funders, alternative funding methods and facilities management and maintenance. The series will continue with another three workshops throughout February and March 2026.

Schedule:

The workshops are free to attend, held online and will be hosted by COSS and feature selected guest speakers. Each workshop is open to individuals and community groups interested in taking former places of worship into community ownership. More information and registration can be found at our Eventbrite page.

New Futures is a three-year programme (January 2025-December 2027) funded by National Lottery Heritage Fund, Historic Environment Scotland and Development Trusts Association Scotland to provide enhanced support to community groups considering taking on a former place of worship across Scotland. This programme was launched in direct response to the significant and unprecedented number of former places of worship which are due for disposal over the next several years.