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St Christopher’s, Norris Green

St Christopher’s has played an important part in the story of Christian worship and community life in Norris Green for almost a century. This page explains the church’s history, the journey towards closure for regular public worship, and the ongoing care of its legacy.

A church built by children’s generosity

St Christopher’s was built in the 1930s, with much of the funding raised by children from the Liverpool Diocese. For this reason, the church became affectionately known as the “Children’s Church”. Its architect, Bernard Miller, reflected this story in the building’s Art Deco design by incorporating sculptures of children into the church’s fabric.

Worship, welcome and community life

In the first decade of the 21st century, St Christopher’s described itself as “a friendly congregation in a Grade II* heritage building, relaxed and conversational catholic in worship tradition, increasingly engaged with community transformation through projects such as the Chatty Church Café, Norris Green Fingers and youth discos.”

Over the following decade, however, the church experienced a decline in congregational numbers and community outreach. The impact of the pandemic brought further decline, and as St Christopher’s emerged from that period, only a small and faithful group of local people remained to continue the work of mission and ministry in Norris Green.

The challenges facing St Christopher’s

On Ash Wednesday 2022, the heating system failed completely and was subsequently condemned. The congregation did not have the resources to replace it. Alongside the global energy crisis, rising energy costs, and other building issues beyond the congregation’s capacity to repair, the Parochial Church Council faced very difficult choices.

With a cold winter ahead and only a small congregation, St Christopher’s began meeting with the congregation of the Good Shepherd in their building on Lower House Lane in autumn 2022. The hope was that the two congregations might be stronger together in mission, ministry and worship.

This period coincided with the rollout of the diocesan strategy, Fit for Mission. As part of the associated Right Buildings Process, a deanery team, supported by those with building expertise, surveyed church buildings across the deanery. St Christopher’s was identified as a building no longer fit for mission. Together with the very small number of people able to sustain the church’s mission and ministry, this led, with sadness and regret, to the deanery proposing closure.

Consultation and closure for regular public worship

An extensive and contested consultation process followed, led by the Church Commissioners. On 9 January 2025, the Church Commissioners published a proposed scheme suggesting the building be closed for publish worship. While acknowledging objections to the closure, the scheme noted that there was insufficient income to address the necessary repairs and that no further support had been offered from the wider community to enable the PCC to keep the building open.

Following a further period for appeals to be lodged and considered, the scheme was made on 12 May 2025. It declared that St Christopher’s would be closed for regular public worship, with effect from 30 June 2025. The PCC prepared for a final service of thanksgiving, held on 22 June 2025, at which nearly 100 people gathered.

Serving the parish today

The historic parish of St Christopher’s is now served by the clergy and lay team of the parish of Christ Our Hope Liverpool. The building and site is now in the care of Liverpool Diocese.

The building and Garden of Remembrance

Since closure, the St Christopher’s building has been marketed for sale. The Garden of Remembrance remains open and accessible. To request the padlock code, please contact [email protected]. The continuing care of the Garden of Remembrance will fall to the new owners, with arrangements to be considered as part of the next stage of Church Commissioners consultation regarding the future use of the church.

Looking ahead

Our hope and prayer is that St Christopher’s will become home to a new Christian worshipping community with the capacity to develop fresh Christian ministry and mission, serving the people of Norris Green and the wider Liverpool area.