The Church in Wales has announced £10 million in funding to support evangelism projects across its dioceses, as part of its first ever 'Evangelism Fund'.

The fund will be launched this Pentecost Sunday (May 20), with the aim of reaching Welsh society with 'the claims of the Christian faith in vibrant and exciting ways'. It will give grants ranging from £250,000 to £3 million for individual projects that 'crucially, will focus on people rather than buildings', the Church in Wales said yesterday.

The archbishop of Wales, John Davies, said: 'We are putting our money where our mouth is. We have long talked about growing the church and now we want to invest in projects across the country to enable that to happen. It is a radical answer to the decline we are experiencing in many places, and £10 million is a transforming amount. I am looking forward to seeing some really creative and inspiring projects that will breathe new life into some of our churches and into our mission in Wales.'

The church's lead bishop on evangelism, bishop of Bangor Andy John, said: 'This is an incredibly exciting opportunity for the whole church and will enable us to think big and change our culture. For too long, churches have been hampered in their outreach because the money simply hasn't been there or it has all gone into propping up buildings. This is now our chance to act on imaginative ideas for growth, centred around people, not property.'

John is a member of the Fund's committee, which with its collective 'expertise in church growth and business ventures' will discern the projects to support across the denomination's six dioceses, the church said.

The £10 million has been released from the church's investments, which are overseen by its representative ody. Chair of the body, James Turner, said the project was 'about investing in the future of the Church. The bishops have made evangelism and church growth their very clear priority and we are delighted to be able to respond to that by creating this substantial fund.'

Jane Heard, who is chairing the committee overseeing the fund, said: 'We are keen to give grants to effective, well-constructed projects and to ensure the Church's money is well spent.

'We will be looking for ideas, for example, that create growth among people in age groups under-represented in our churches, create new forms of church to appeal to people not currently going, and projects which lead to changes in culture or provide teaching and learning in faith all over Wales.'

Details about how to pitch bids to the fund are to be released in the coming months.