Diocese of London gears up for church-planting drive
Nineteen London Anglican churches have been named as 'resource churches' aimed at become centres for growth and church-planting.
The move is part of the Diocese of London's strategy aimed at revitalising parish churches and starting new worshipping communities.
The churches that have been selected will receive a 'planting curate', a three-year posting that will see them trained in the resource church before planting another.
These curates will be prepared to start new worshipping communities or help revitalise parish churches around the diocese, as well as being fully trained to incumbent status and deployable throughout the Church of England.
Among the churches are All Souls, Langham Place and St Martin-in-the-Fields. Holy Trinity Brompton and St Helen's Bishopsgate are classed as National Resource Churches.
A grant awarded to London from the Strategic Development Fund will finance 15 of these posts. In addition, the Diocese of London will assign curates from their existing diocesan allocation as planting curates in these resource churches over the next six years.
The Bishop of Islington, Ric Thorpe, is working to expand the scheme over the next few years, including in partnership with other dioceses.
He said: 'I am so excited to see churches in London that feel called to give away leaders, people and resources to bless and grow the wider Church. These resource churches will join in with our strategy to grow and plant churches in new places, in new ways, to reach new people. I look forward to seeing this first stage implemented as we support churches across the diocese to multiply disciples and congregations.'
The Bishop of London, Sarah Mullally, said: 'London is a wonderfully diverse diocese, growing in both depth and breadth of ministry. I've been encouraged to witness how churches of all traditions and sizes are exploring different ways to reach out to their communities. London resource churches will play a key role in continuing to revitalise, expand and support mission and ministry in parishes across the capital.'
