Our Land Ownership Helps Us Take the Church to the People

In her article on the Church Commissioners' annual report, Catherine Boyle suggests that the major challenge facing the Church of England is to get the thousands of Sunday shoppers who visit Gateshead's MetroCentre, in which the commissioners hold a 10% interest, into church (How much land does the Church of England own?, April 28). This is an admirable goal, but we also see our task as taking the church to where people are to be found.

In the thriving environment of the MetroCentre itself, for instance, the Church of England has created the post of chaplain to serve staff and visitors. The chaplaincy conducts regular high-profile services on Sundays and offers pastoral support and prayer to all those who use the complex.

Boyle also says that the church owns "large tracts of land in cathedral cities" - although many of these are still farmland, some of these now form part of new towns and communities. Their rising value provides some of the return that helps to fund the Church of England's ministry, although the lion's share of the annual cost of running the church comes from parishioners' generosity.

We are certainly happy with the 19% return on our investments last year highlighted in Boyle's column, but more impressive is the 11%-a-year return achieved over the last 10 years. This means we have had £38m a year more to give the church than if the funds had only provided an industry-average return.

Our commercial portfolio, which includes the industrial estates in Swindon, Waltham Cross and Bristol, helps to enable funding for all sorts of ministry to continue, providing money in places with the least resources.

We certainly haven't just been sitting on this revenue, as some readers may have interpreted the article as suggesting.

The Church Commissioners have driven funds from these investments towards new initiatives, putting real money behind the church's vision of creating new expressions of church alongside more traditional ones.

Funds have gone towards a project in Clifton, Manchester, offering local children positive alternatives to crime and anti-social behaviour; and the commissioners have also supported the conversion of a village church in Sheepy Magna, Leicestershire, which - as well as regular services - hosts a post office and small shop selling locally produced goods.

A further example is the part-funding of the bishop's chaplain to London's Docklands, who not only provides a visible presence of the church in the community but also organises events such as seminars on issues of faith in the workplace, and held an inter-faith event the week after the bombings last July.

Through projects such as these, alongside other Christian churches, we are investing in providing a witness to the Christian faith not just on Sundays but throughout the whole year - and in places where the church is not traditionally found.

· Andrew Brown is secretary to the Church Commissioners