A GRANT of £14.95 million has been awarded by the Strategic Mission and Ministry Investment Board (SMMIB) to the diocese of Chelmsford for its “Believing in Barking” plan, developed over the past two years in partnership with greater than 60 parishes and church communities in east London.
The Area Bishop of Barking, the Rt Revd Lynne Cullens, said that the Area’s churches served “a few of the fastest-growing, diverse, and most societally and economically disadvantaged communities within the country”. The money might be invested in work including encouraging greater attendance of kids, young people and families; increasing diversity of leadership; supporting churches to rework their communities; and developing “sustainable structures to support local parish mission and ministry”.
The Barking Area’s five deaneries cover five east London boroughs with a complete population of 1.4 million: larger than most C of E dioceses. In March 2024, the SMMIB awarded the diocese £2.2 million in capability funding to develop a “Programme Management Office” (PMO) to support the event of funding proposals to the SMMIB. The money has also enabled the employment of an Estates Youth Missional Lead, and a Vocations Outreach Officer.
The PMO process entailed extensive consultation — a critical element of the “Travelling Well Together” principles set out under the leadership of the Bishop of Chelmsford, Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani. She has spoken of a desire to “tip the standard organisational hierarchy on its head, to enable and empower local churches and worshipping communities to discern for yourselves what it means to be God’s people in your particular a part of the world”. Funding proposals might be submitted for Colchester and Bradwell Areas in the end.
The SMMIB funding of virtually £15 million follows awards of Strategic Development Funding (SDF) totalling £9.695 million between 2014 and 2020. This week, the diocese’s Dean of Mission, Ministry and Education, Canon Rob Merchant, outlined a few of the lessons learnt from the projects, including “the importance of clear communication, especially when working in partnership with parishes”, and “managing grant funding well and having the organisational agility to reply to change effectively”. When working in areas of latest housing, it was necessary, he said, that “parishes have a transparent sense of ownership and might be supportive of pioneer project work”.
“Well-being is important and project leads and other people involved need support and to know where that support comes from,” he said. “Good governance matters since it offers accountability and transparency.” What sustainability looked like within the planning “may change because the project gets under way”, he said. “Never pre-judge what you think that the mission of God is in a selected area; be open to the unexpected and surprising.”
In 2017, £2 million of SDF was awarded to support work in 4 areas of latest housing, including Barking Riverside (News, 20 January 2017). Aims included sponsoring two latest church schools. Approvals weren’t secured, but this week a diocesan spokesman said that “strong working relationships with existing schools” had been developed. A goal to grow regular congregations of about 120 in each location inside five years was “found to be unrealistic, and the projects were reset in conversation with the project leads”.
A pioneer minister and team had established a worshipping presence on the Beaulieu housing development, Chelmsford, but, like other projects, the Covid-19 pandemic had had an impact on this, “alongside quite a lot of other challenges”. A social food-pantry was established and continued to serve the local people. The project funding ends in December 2025.
In 2019, £3.85 million was awarded to ascertain 11 latest congregations and a “School for Church-Planters”, modified to a “School of Pioneer Ministry”, which has developed a training provision for lay people to develop their skills in pioneering. In Southend, St John the Baptist received a church-plant from St Michael’s, Westcliff-on-Sea, an Evangelical church that has also planted a “revitalising team” at Christ Church, Southend.
Another aim was an Anglo-Catholic plant at St Mark’s, Southend. The SSM at St Mark’s is supported by the incumbent of the benefice, the Revd Neil Dalley, who, the spokesman said, had “pioneered a partnership with the local LGBTQI+ community and developed work with children and native families with strong connections around art and music”. The parish appointed an LGBTQ+ chaplain last month.
St Alban’s and St Martin’s, two churches with traditional Catholic roots, were to plant a latest congregation at St John’s, on the Becontree Estate in Barking and Dagenham, once the most important council estate in Europe. While it had not been possible to sustain services at St John’s, owing to “the design and site of the constructing”, it had “turn out to be the guts of the parish community for social motion, and is constructing good lasting connections through its ongoing work”.
The spokesman confirmed that a Pioneer Curate had been appointed to enable the work of St James’s, Clacton, a Catholic church, to increase to St Christopher’s, Jaywick, which had been refurbished. The fruits of investment in Walthamstow had included successful youth work within the local estate communities.
In 2020, £3 million was awarded for “Renewing Newham”, within the Barking Area. This included a plan to create 4 latest Spanish and Portuguese congregations, with 300 latest worshippers, by 2026 (News, 17 June 2022). The project had been greatly affected by the sudden death of the project lead, the Revd Marco Lopes, the spokesman said. But there had been excellent local support and leadership throughout the East Ham Mission and Ministry Partnership, and latest priestly leadership was now in place.
“Behind each of our SDF funded projects is the story of wonderful gifts of service and ministry from clergy and laypeople responding to the needs of their communities and the decision of God’s mission to serve them,” Canon Merchant said.
The SMMIB grant has been received against a backdrop of economic challenges mirrored elsewhere within the Church. Last month, Canon Merchant presented a paper on “sustaining ministry” to the diocesan synod. A ten-year plan, under which the variety of stipendiary posts was on account of fall to 215, will end in December (News, 4 December 2020). While a diocesan-synod motion was carried in support of all parishes’ being a part of a “Mission and Ministry Unit” (MMU) by the tip of 2021, the Travelling Well guide states that “where MMUs haven’t proved possible or fruitful there should still be an awareness that the longer term is about partnerships.”
Between 2015 and 2025, the diocese’s population grew by 15 per cent, while the variety of adults worshipping fell by 31 per cent, to 25,321 (0.77 per cent of the population). In the identical period, the variety of stipendiary posts fell from 300 to 235. The paper says that “congregations are finding it increasingly difficult to support the prices of maintaining their church constructing, let alone supporting other costs comparable to costs of parish clergy through parish share.” Last 12 months, the parish-share shortfall stood at £3.1 million. If contributions remain at this level — lower than the national average — 187 posts might be “financially sustainable — all else being equal”, the paper says.
Canon Merchant said this week that it might not be right to suggest that further stipendiary cuts were likely. The paper proposed a means of “shared discernment” over the following 12 months, with a view to developing “reimagined models of ministry”. There were “considerable missional opportunities”, Canon Merchant said. “SMMI missional funding helps us reply to a few of the challenges and opportunities, nevertheless it doesn’t provide the reply; we’d like to discern that along with the resources God has given us right now.”
