Church buildings

A picture of a church in an urban setting

The care and maintenance of our church buildings, their contents and churchyards is vitally important, now and for the future.

Advice and support for parishes in this area is provided by the Diocesan Advisory Committee for the Care of Churches (DAC). It is a statutory body that advises parishes, the Archdeacons, the Bishops, and the Chancellor ( an Independent Judge) of the Diocese on matters relating to the care and use of church buildings in the Diocese.

They are also able to advise on protecting church buildings, as well as offer general and specialist advice on church maintenance.

In the Church Buildings section, we cover how the DAC can support your parish, with dedicated pages on:

On this page you can find details about:

Commonly requested forms and guidance
Meetings Dates and deadlines
DAC Surgeries
Other useful links

Commonly requested forms and guidance

All forms, guidance documents, and policies relating to church buildings and the DAC can be found in the 'church buildings' section of the Documents store. You can also find some of the most commonly needed forms and guidance below:

Hall hire

Hiring of Church premises guidance notes
Hiring of Church Premises Hiring Agreement
Hiring of Church Premises Hiring Agreement for short-term Bookings
Hiring of Church Premises Supplementary Agreement for Groups Working with Children Young People or Vulnerable Adults

Churchyards
The Churchyard Regulations 1981
CR1 Headstone request form

For all other guidance, please access the Document store.

Meeting Dates and Deadlines

Submissions should be made via the Online Faculty System and must be received by 1pm on the last date for submission to allow time for processing.

Where an application is complete and submitted by the deadline, every endeavour is made to include it on the next DAC agenda. However, if further information is requested because an application is incomplete, and if this is submitted after the deadline, it may not be possible for the case to be discussed at the next meeting.

To download the 2025 dates as a PDF file, please click here

DAC Surgeries 2025

If you are struggling with a faculty application and feel you would benefit from some support or would just like to talk through your parish’s plans face to face, why don’t you book in to one of our DAC Surgeries.

A member of the DAC team will be on hand to help guide you through the process. If you would like some help with the Online Faculty System, bring your laptop or iPad along and we can explain the next steps to you.

Sessions will take place at the Diocesan Office, and we will be offering 30-minute slots from 10am onwards. Booking is essential; to book, please call or email Izabella Rowbotham, Assistant DAC Secretary, and include a few details of your application so we can be ready to help.

The 2025 DAC Surgery dates are:

Monday 13th October
Thursday 13th November
Wednesday 17th December

If you can’t make any of these dates, please get in touch and we will do our best to accommodate you.

Izabella Rowbotham – Assistant DAC Secretary
E: izabella.rowbotham@rochester.anglican.org
T: 01634 560000
M: 07912 217737