2024 was a very busy year for grants to parishes from the diocese with a total of 47 grants being approved across the Diocesan Mission Fund, Church Fabric Fund, Church Improvement Fund, Net Zero and Offa House Spirituality Capital Fund. Projects ranged from setting up community gardens in churchyards to Lego Church and installing heat pumps to replacing AV systems. Many inspiring reports of the good work have been shared; here are a few highlights:
Church Improvement Fund
Risen Christ, Repairing entrance lobby paving stones
“We are seeing an increase in people attending activities/services throughout the whole of the week, including new church attendees and members of the local community. Now that the repairs have been completed, we have a safe and welcoming physical environment to all those entering the building and which contributes to supporting our mission and ministry. The repairs will also prevent any further damage caused by damp in the future.”
St Peter’s, Hillfields, Kitchen renovation
"Upgrades to our kitchen facilities have enabled us to contribute to improving the health and wellbeing of our local Hillfields community. Through our free food provisions throughout the week, we aim to improve the physical wellbeing of our community by providing a free, warm meal to those who would otherwise be without. In August and September 2024, 371 community meals were served. Beyond the provision of a warm-meal, we support improving the mental wellbeing of our community by providing wrap-around support for each individual that walks through our doors.This could be from appropriate pastoral care, inviting people to our other activities that take place throughout the week and, where appropriate, signposting to relevant charities and agencies for additional support. Upgrades to our kitchen has also furthered our aim of bringing people together, as following our free food provisions we provide space for a diverse group of people to come together to form friendships and build community. Approximately 600 people have benefited from the upgrades to our kitchen facilities and around 400 people have accessed additional support services. We have gained around 20 new volunteers to support our free food provisions. And a number of our Community Lunch volunteers are encouraged to gain experience and qualifications in food safety and hygiene, which has supported our attendees in future employment opportunities and Leave to Remain applications.”
St Edmund’s, Shipston on Stour, Redesigning kitchenette area
“It has enabled us to provide hospitality to more groups as its easier to use the area. We can reduce wastage by the use of the dishwasher for cleaning and fridge for storage of perishables. It is user friendly so more non-church groups are requesting to use the area, providing us with opportunities for mission and ministry.”
Net Zero
St Mathew's, Salford Priors, Replacing halogen lights with LED lights
“The higher lumen output of the LED lights has reduced the total number of light fittings from 96 to 64, this gives us a total drop in load (when the system is fully on) of 3,900 watts. This will have reduced our carbon footprint but with the general rise in energy prices it would be hard to say by how much our energy costs have been reduced. It has also reduced the need for replacing light bulbs with all the complexities of scaffolding.”
St Michael's, Claverdon, Cavity wall insulation
“The installation of cavity wall insulation (as well as installing some new windows) is considered enabling works before we install heat pumps and solar panels to the church centre. The results of these works is a ‘cosier feel’ to the building which has been commented on by many users of the church centre. It has not been possible to measure with accuracy the reduction in heating oil use in the church centre as there is no measurement equipment installed however; we estimate that we used about 20% less heating oil in 2024 than in 2022 (the last full year without cavity wall insulation) This amounted to about 600 litres of heating oil which is about 1.6 tonnes of CO2 each year.”
St George’s, Rugby, Air to air heat pumps
“In December 2024, the heat pumps needed 1280kWh energy to heat the church. In December 2023 the Drugasar heaters needed 11870kWh energy, all from fossil fuel. The heat pumps therefore saved 90% of the energy used, and all of the CO2 emissions. The church is now net zero, carbon footprint is reduced by ~7 tonnes, energy costs reduced by ~£700 per year and parishioners all very happy with the new system.”
Offa House Spirituality Capital Fund
St John’s Community Quiet Garden
“As part of the wider increased presence and openness of church and the space we have seen a number of new people join the church, mostly in their 20s and 30s, and the combined daytime sense of ‘this space is open come and join us’/welcome has drawn in a number of people who have then joined us for alpha, and some of whom have either been recently confirmed and/or are considering baptism.”
Diocesan Mission Fund
Arden Marches Churches, Family link worker
“Overall the project is going well in that the FLW has introduced new initiatives and has gained the support of some church volunteers, and we have significantly more engagement with families… One of the dads who comes to church very occasionally did the Alpha Course and got a lot out of it – and is continuing to pray and read the Bible.”
Harbury Parish Church, The Collective
“Our project is ongoing and there have been several encouragements, with people from the village and further afield who do not engage with church coming along and getting involved in meaningful discussions. Holding the event in the local pub has meant the event is non-threatening to new people, we have a high profile in the village, and it generates positive conversations. Supporting our local pub on a quiet night of the week is also appreciated. A recently bereaved gentleman who has never attended church, has come along to several discussions and we have had good, far-reaching conversations with him. A couple who have expressed their antagonism towards the established church come along regularly and engage fully in conversations and relationships are being built.”
Coventry All Saints and St Anne’s, Outreach and Alpha
“Messy Church has grown in September to 60 people and in October to 87 people. The Senior Social group has grown well. We now have 25 people on our register. Two ladies (one is 52 and her daughter 29) help at Stay & Play and Messy Church and they are now on a journey of faith.”
St Peter’s Kineton, Toddler soft play: Simply Play
“In June 2024 we had 36 children and parents registered with us who come regularly, with another 16 who have been at least once. One of our Simply Play children and his older brother (who attends Simply Sing) recently got baptised at church, and another is getting baptised in August. Three more parents at Simply Play have requested for their children to be baptized.”
St James Styvechale, Chrysalis - Engaging youth & young adults
“It has been encouraging to see a steady flow in young people coming to St James, both in number and growing in faith in Jesus - many getting involved in the wider activities of the church… Whilst most young people attending St James used to be largely ‘’home grown’’ and students attending local universities, more recently we have a richly cosmopolitan mix of young people including from Africa, Iran, India, Bulgaria, France, Brazil and Portugal… It was particularly encouraging to see four baptised on 23rd June 2024. A good number attended New Wine in 2024, including three children whose parents are not part of our church.”
St Mary Magdalen Church, Chapelfields, The Blue Roof Coffee Project
“We have seen three people come to church due to this mission and outreach project, one of whom desires to be confirmed. We consider this to be a tremendous success. We have also been able to provide free coffee for several people with no fixed address due to generous donations made by the local community... Our relationship with Hearsall Community Academy has been strengthened significantly, in that we’ve started a ‘Community Fund’ for the children of the School. Parishioners can donate money which goes directly to struggling families associated with the school. This has come out of the Blue Roof Coffee Project.”
The start of 2025 saw the revised Mission Fund and the new Buildings Fund receive their first applications using the simpler forms. Each of these funds received three applications in the first round of the year and all six were successful. We wish the parishes good luck with their projects: Mortar and Mission – Phase 1 (roof repair), RAAC Survey, Repair of gate pier, Growing our Ministry with Black Women and our Youth and Children’s Ministry, JAM CLUB, Children, Youth and Families’ Ministry and Mission. There have also been two successful Mustard Seed grants; setting up a Monthly Holy Communion at a Village Hall and Mothering Sunday Weekend Outreach. If you are feeling inspired by these stories, take a look at our application guidance and start praying about what you could do.
Do you think you could decide which projects should be awarded grants? There are currently two lay vacancies on the Grants Committee who meet 6 times a year to prayfully consider applications. We are in particular need of persons who have experience and/or skills in maintenance and management of church / heritage buildings and/or environmental sustainability / carbon reduction building related projects. If you could help, please click here to find out more.