In a major funding boost aimed at revitalising local churches and expanding outreach efforts, the Church of England has announced a new wave of grants supporting parishes across both urban and rural communities.
The funding, awarded by the Strategic Mission and Ministry Investment Board (SMMIB), will support a wide range of initiatives focused on mission, leadership development, and community engagement.
Grants have been allocated to the Dioceses of Ipswich and Winchester, Rochester, St Edmundsbury, Carlisle, Sheffield and Chelmsford.
These funds will underwrite projects from church planting and leadership training to youth work and outreach in underserved neighbourhoods.
A grant of £6.45 million has been awarded to Chelmsford in support of its 'Believing in Barking,' a programme serving East London communities.
The initiative aims to strengthen local parishes through support for youth and children’s ministries, outreach in minority communities, and mission efforts in local estates.
Bishop Guli Francis-Dehqani of Chelmsford described the programme as a reflection of the Church’s “commitment to participative change,” empowering communities to shape their own expressions of faith “as part of one diocesan family.”
Sheffield Diocese is set to receive £14.3 million to build on its successful Centenary Project. The allocated funds will support parish renewal efforts in Rotherham, Goole, and Doncaster, expand youth, lay, music and family ministries, enhance clergy wellness and church infrastructure, and establish Sheffield Cathedral as a hub for digital evangelism, music ‘missioners,’ and a recently established religious community committed to outreach.
Carlisle Diocese will receive £6.8 million to launch fresh networks of worshippers in places like Barrow-in-Furness and the rural Derwent Deanery.
The funding includes a major investment in leadership training for more than 200 emerging leaders and a three-year pilot programme to promote expansion and leadership formation in rural parishes.
The St Edmundsbury and Ipswich Diocese is set be granted £2.7 million to expand mission initiatives in Ipswich and surrounding rural areas, including outreach to new housing developments and the use of music as a tool for engagement.
Rochester Diocese will benefit from an £11 million investment for parish revitalisation in Medway, Kent, and parts of southeast London. The funding will support youth and family work, clergy and lay well-being, leadership cultivation, and apprenticeship opportunities.
Winchester Diocese also received a boost, with £412,333 allocated to St Clement’s Church in Boscombe, an area of significant poverty and multicultural presence. The funding will enable the church to employ a children and families outreach worker and make much-needed upgrades to its facilities, with additional support dependent on future grant approvals.
The Chair of SMMIB, Carl Hughes, celebrated the diversity and ambition of the funded projects, remarking: “The awards reflect the commitment of the Board to investment in parishes and their leaders, and the work of parishes in developing new services and congregations to serve those they are not currently reaching, particularly in the most income deprived contexts. Many of these awards build on previous investments in parishes.”
