3,000 clergy may face axe

A cash crisis in the Church of England may force some of the faithful to worship in their homes and bring a drastic cut in clergy.

The radical moves are contained in an interim report for next month's General Synod from a group seeking to fund more missionary work. It highlights a drop in parishioner numbers and suggests slashing the ?250million annual cost of maintaining thousands of Grade I listed buildings.

The Church has 10,000 clergy but the group wants the Synod to discuss a 3,000 cut.