Reaching children, young people and families were two of the largest grants made in the latest round of Development Fund awards.
Both Wendover Parish and St Paul’s, Slough, received £60,000 to grow ministry with children and families in their respective parishes by employing a pioneer youth and children’s minister and a children, youth and families worker, respectively. The fund, established in 2019 to divulge up to £1million a year for the growing needs of communities in Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Milton Keynes, has now announced more than £500,000 of awards so far this year.
The Revd Sally Moring, Wendover parish vicar, explained: “We are looking for someone who will do some work in church to encourage families to join us. But more importantly, we are in a unique position to have an infant school, junior school, secondary school, youth centre and three nurseries all on one site.
“We want to deepen and enrich our relationship with these local schools. We know that we want to be able to reach further and help with the pastoral need that really is there.”
The pioneer minister will work to support families with the issues they have already identified, like parenting courses for first-time parents, with ongoing support; young people’s self esteem; mental health support for young people; and working with families struggling due to the cost-of-living crisis. The church will ‘match-fund’ the diocese’s contribution and it is hoped the role will be running for at least three years.
In this latest round nine parishes received funding, taking the total granted since 2019 to more than £4million. For St Giles Church in Wendlebury, the award means an opportunity to open the church up to the community with the installation of new kitchen and toilet facilities.
Churchwarden Charles Darby said: “We have a community choir which puts on four concerts a year, who rehearse in the church and at the moment they have to rent a portable loo. Our hope is these facilities will attract other users, other organisations who might find the church more comfortable for their meetings.
“The project is more likely to happen this year than next now, this grant has accelerated our fundraising for the £65,000 we need. We don’t have to spend the time trawling through small funding streams to find the additional £30K.”
The full list of awards is:
- All Saints, Bucklebury – to enhance music provision and develop more diverse worship, fellowship and outreach opportunities by purchasing a sound desk.
- St Mary's, Turville – to expand potential usage of the church, in particular the relaunch of children's and young people's work, by installing a new, accessible toilet.
- St Mary's, Banbury – to begin development of greater outreach to the Banbury community by commissioning architect's drawings for a café project.
- St Giles, Wendlebury – to be a more open, inclusive and welcoming centre for our community and increase use of the church by installing a toilet and servery.
- Holy Trinity, Henley – to carry out a feasibility study for the development of Holy Trinity Church to serve the community and congregations better.
- St Michael's, Tilehurst – to carry out a feasibility study for a new church hall to support development of the church's visionary outreach to the community.
- Wendover Parish – to grow ministry to children, young people and families in Wendover and Halton by employing a pioneer youth and children’s minister.
- West Downland Benefice – to purchase a portable microphone system to support delivery of our vision of "People, Place, Purpose" and lead to better inclusion for all.
- St Paul's, Slough – to establish and grow ministry to children and youth by employing a full-time children, youth and families worker.
The deadline for the next round is July 31 and criteria for applications can be found on the diocese website.
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Notes to Editor
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About the Diocese of Oxford
The Diocese of Oxford is the Church of England in the Thames Valley region of Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire. There are over 800 churches in 626 parishes, the largest number of churches of any diocese in the Church of England. The diocese is also home to 285 schools and academies educating some 60,000 pupils.