I READ your report on lead theft from churches (Daily Echo, May 6) with interest as the church where I worship has recently suffered its fourth theft.

The Rev Reg Baldock speaks of the many difficulties with various faceless bureaucrats over the material used for repairs.

Replacing stolen lead with even more lead is pointless. I can find no reference in the Gospels to the material used for keeping a meeting place dry; in fact specific buildings are not even mentioned.

Perhaps it is time to remind officialdom that we are in the service of One content to be born in a stable, to live the life of an itinerant preacher, and to finally die a fearful death, usually reserved for criminals. In other words, the buildings, much as we love and value them, are useless without the spirit that we are instructed to show.

JOY DAWSON, Palfrey Road, Bournemouth