We hope to see all our churches healthy and flourishing, as we know this is the underpinning of our Transformation vision. Foundational to this is prayer, and this forms a key thread of Growing Churches – enabling, resourcing, coordinating and energising the prayer life of our diocese.
Alongside this, Growing Churches hopes to support and resource churches in deepening the culture and practice of discipleship in our congregations, offering coaching, resources and opportunities for learning together.
Another crucial thread is increasing and enabling evangelism, encouraging and equipping people and churches to reach out and share the gospel in their community in collective and individual ways. Building on the rich missional heritage of our diocese, we recognise that a vital key to unlock the Transformation vision is to raise up evangelists in every generation, and to empower all Christians to witness to the hope they have in Jesus.
The Growing Churches team are particularly keen to support churches in establishing new worshipping communities that reach and engage the 99% of people not yet in our churches. It has been exciting to see many churches already beginning this journey, with new worshipping communities being established in church buildings, in schools, in community centres and outside – all focused on enabling people to encounter Jesus and embark on a personal faith journey. Our diocesan vision is to establish 100 new worshipping communities by 2032, and there is seed funding available to resource these in getting started.
Connect with the Growing Churches team.