The main gain, of course, was power and influence. But was the cost too great? Long before the Reformation, the institutional church was effectively owned by the rich and powerful in society.

Pupils could approach this subject in a number of ways:

· What kind of things would Jesus say about the institution that claims to represent him, if he returned to earth...
      · today
      · at an earlier historical period.

· Debate what the church would lose / gain if every single Christian community in Britain today was evicted from its property? What would be lost might include e.g. a sense of identity, history, conscience … while the gains might include reorganization of time and effort previously spent on maintaining the property and an opportunity to revise attitudes to life and worship. The example of the church in Soviet Russia might provide some examples of the strength and problems of an evicted church.