The Diocese of Durham has been successful in an application to the Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England to enable transformation and church growth, particularly in some of our most deprived communities.
£8 million has been awarded through the Diocesan Investment Programme which allows dioceses to advance their vision and strategy plans in local communities by helping to develop new areas of mission and further build on missional approaches already proving effective.
The funding for ‘Called to Fruitfulness’, part of the Durham Diocese’s Transformation Programme, will see investment in new parish initiatives, further support for church communities and local projects, and the training of new young leaders. It will provide funding to parishes to plant new worshipping communities and aims to double the number of young people engaged in weekly discipleship over the next three years.
The funding will also see investment in the missional work of Sunderland Minster.
Welcoming the award, the Bishop of Jarrow and Acting Bishop of Durham, the Right Reverend Sarah Clark said: “We are thankful for this extraordinary opportunity given to us by this funding to strengthen and grow God’s Kingdom across Durham Diocese. We are grateful to the National Church for such generosity and confidence in our vision for the coming years. The funding will enable us to further develop our existing mission and ministry in parishes, as well as developing new and innovative church communities and support networks for people in areas of our Diocese where they are most needed. Our vision of transformation is rooted in our hope and trust in Jesus Christ and his command to the church to love and serve the people and communities where we live and work. In doing this we seek to be authentic to our rich Christian heritage of the Northern Saints and adventurous as we step into the future.”
This is the second phase of the ‘Called to Fruitfulness’ programme, focusing on building local, grassroots capacity and activity to support church planting and church growth, resourcing discipleship and helping the Church ‘grow younger’ through also developing new Youth and Children’s Mission Hubs across the diocese.
Last year, the Diocesan Investment Programme awarded the project £2.6million to enable the appointment of missional chaplains in further education colleges, parish regeneration through interim change ministers and other key work related to the programme.
This latest round of funding will establish new missional initiatives in parishes across the Diocese, including:
- Enabling more parishes to engage with church planting and establish new worshipping communities, and supporting the revitalisation of existing parishes
- Training and resourcing individuals and parishes to deepen Missional Discipleship
- Investing in Sunderland Minster for missional growth
- Enabling parishes to establish Youth and Children’s Mission Hubs to double the number of young people in active weekly discipleship
- Enabling parishes to increase support and engagement with local secondary schools through Missional Chaplaincy and other routes
- Developing new leadership pathways to equip and release hundreds of new lay leaders, with a focus on raising up and supporting new youth and children’s leaders
Parishes wishing to register an interest in hearing more about any of these initiatives are invited to complete this webform and we will keep you updated. You can contact the team at new.mission@durham.anglican.org with specific questions.