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 more 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 “some of the fastest-growing, diverse, and most societally and economically disadvantaged communities in the country”. The money will be invested in work including encouraging greater attendance of children, young people and families; increasing diversity of leadership; supporting churches to transform 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 total population of 1.4 million: larger than most C of E dioceses. In March 2024, the SMMIB awarded the diocese £2.2 million in capacity funding to develop a “Programme Management Office” (PMO) to support the development 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 traditional 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 part of the world”. Funding proposals will be submitted for Colchester and Bradwell Areas in due course.
The SMMIB funding of almost £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 some 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 respond to change effectively”. When working in areas of new housing, it was important, he said, that “parishes have a clear sense of ownership and can be supportive of pioneer project work”.
“Well-being is vital and project leads and people involved need support and to know where that support comes from,” he said. “Good governance matters because it offers accountability and transparency.” What sustainability looked like in the planning “may change as the project gets under way”, he said. “Never pre-judge what you think the mission of God is in a particular area; be open to the unexpected and surprising.”
In 2017, £2 million of SDF was awarded to support work in four areas of new housing, including Barking Riverside (News, 20 January 2017). Aims included sponsoring two new church schools. Approvals were not secured, but this week a diocesan spokesman said that “strong working relationships with existing schools” had been developed. A target to grow regular congregations of about 120 in each location within 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 a number of other challenges”. A social food-pantry was established and continued to serve the local community. The project funding ends in December 2025.
In 2019, £3.85 million was awarded to establish 11 new congregations and a “School for Church-Planters”, changed 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 local 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 new congregation at St John’s, on the Becontree Estate in Barking and Dagenham, once the largest council estate in Europe. While it had not been possible to sustain services at St John’s, owing to “the design and location of the building”, it had “become the heart of the parish community for social action, and is building 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 extend to St Christopher’s, Jaywick, which had been refurbished. The fruits of investment in Walthamstow had included successful youth work in the local estate communities.
In 2020, £3 million was awarded for “Renewing Newham”, in the Barking Area. This included a plan to create four new Spanish and Portuguese congregations, with 300 new 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 within the East Ham Mission and Ministry Partnership, and new priestly leadership was now in place.
“Behind each of our SDF funded projects is the story of amazing gifts of service and ministry from clergy and laypeople responding to the needs of their communities and the call of God’s mission to serve them,” Canon Merchant said.
The SMMIB grant has been received against a backdrop of financial challenges mirrored elsewhere in the Church. Last month, Canon Merchant presented a paper on “sustaining ministry” to the diocesan synod. A ten-year plan, under which the number of stipendiary posts was due to fall to 215, will end in December (News, 4 December 2020). While a diocesan-synod motion was carried in support of all parishes’ being part of a “Mission and Ministry Unit” (MMU) by the end of 2021, the Travelling Well guide states that “where MMUs have not proved possible or fruitful there should still be an awareness that the future is about partnerships.”
Between 2015 and 2025, the diocese’s population grew by 15 per cent, while the number of adults worshipping fell by 31 per cent, to 25,321 (0.77 per cent of the population). In the same period, the number of stipendiary posts fell from 300 to 235. The paper says that “congregations are finding it increasingly difficult to support the costs of maintaining their church building, let alone supporting other costs such as costs of parish clergy through parish share.” Last year, the parish-share shortfall stood at £3.1 million. If contributions remain at this level — lower than the national average — 187 posts will be “financially sustainable — all else being equal”, the paper says.
Canon Merchant said this week that it would not be right to suggest that further stipendiary cuts were likely. The paper proposed a process of “shared discernment” over the next year, with a view to developing “reimagined models of ministry”. There were “considerable missional opportunities”, Canon Merchant said. “SMMI missional funding helps us respond to some of the challenges and opportunities, but it does not provide the answer; we need to discern that together with the resources God has given us at this time.”
