Following your correspondence last week, it is always sad to read about any closures of churches and their possible fate. But I wonder if it  is useful to look at the wider picture?

One hundred and fifty years ago in the Forest the churches and chapels were full three or even four times on Sundays.

Many people today  remember singing in the choir at three Sunday services.  One Forest chapel alone had 1,000 worshippers every Sunday.

Today, barely 1,000 attend church in the whole Forest on a Sunday, about one person in 60. In the last 10 - 15 years there has been a steep decline in the number attending in the Forest week by week and at Easter and especially Christmas.

The numbers of baptisms (christenings) and confirmations have  fallen by 30 to 40 per cent. Now  decline is not the case  everywhere of course, and there are many places of growth and exciting new things. But overall, it is not a good picture.

Alongside this, it costs around £1,000 a week to keep an 'average' church running. It costs in total  around £500,000 a year to pay for clergy to run  all the  Anglican churches in the Forest, this isn't what vicars get paid but includes all the housing, training  and pension costs. Each year there is a gap – the churches have managed to pay on average about £350,000 a year. The Diocese makes up the shortfall.  Over the last decade the Diocese of Gloucester, largely thanks to well-off generous churches in the county,  has subsidised our Forest churches by some £1.5  million.  On top of this, the churches each have to find entirely by themselves the daily running costs - heat, light, maintenance and so on. Church oil bills for £4,000 - 5,000 are not uncommon.

The bottom line is that more than ever before, the Forest of Dean churches need the support of their local people. Good things happen at them – if you've had a family christening, think if you have you been back since to support and encourage that church.

If you had your wedding at your local church – have you been back to support it, even if only on your anniversary? If you've had a family funeral, have you returned for a service? Judging by the acknowledgement notices in this paper, the churches seem to do a pretty good job.

People will remember the threat to our local hospitals and the amazing evening rally at the Speech House in May 2006 attended by 7,000 people and how the hospitals stayed open.

People will remember the threat to our woods a couple of years ago (and even now) and how the woods stayed open. If we want our churches to stay open, the same commitment will be needed.

The clergy here work their socks off, there have never been fewer clergy in the Forest and many individual clergy are doing the work which would have been done by three or even four vicars less than a decade ago. 

It might be a shock to know that 40 per cent of clergy do not make it to retirement age and retire before age 65 (source: General Synod, 2010).

And if you don't go to church now or have just fallen out of the habit, just going to a service once a month will make such a difference.

The Christian heritage in the Forest goes back to the Romans in the 3rd century. Our churches sometimes are almost 1,000 years old. Too good ever to lose.

– Rev Nick Bromfield, Lydbrook.