Our vision in our diocese is to be a Church with Jesus Christ at the heart of everything we do, a Church in which we seek God’s Kingdom, and where all are enabled to experience a life-transforming encounter with Jesus Christ in order to become disciples.

We have now crystallised that thinking into a phrase that we hope sums up what we aspire to be: a rejuvenating community [one that rejuvenates itself and seeks to rejuvenate others] of Jesus-centred [learners and followers of Jesus, with our actions shaped by him], Kingdom-seeking [including our devotion to God, our passion for social justice, our care for Creation and fellowship with each other] disciples. [we are committed to our faith, and want to keep on becoming more like Jesus] 

That vision is supplemented by two further priorities:

• We deliberately prioritise our work with children, young people and young adults, to enable a new generation to grow in faith and find their voice. They are the Church of today. Among the ways in which we will do this is Growing Faith;
• We value and treasure our older people, and ensure they are being care for holistically, by the provision of Anna Chaplaincy to support them in every parish, benefice and cluster across the diocese.

You can read more about these priorities below:

Why should a diocese have a strategy:

It is a valid question: why should a diocese have a strategy, when the Church of England's dispersed model of leadership gives authority to leaders at different levels of the Church? There is already a strategy that the national Church has put together, which you can read about here. Each of our parishes and deaneries may also have a plan for the way forward. What can 'the diocese' as a whole contribute to that?

The answer is that all of the visions and strategies at various levels inform each other and are informed by each other. A good diocesan strategy takes seriously the planning at parish and deanery level, as well as the national strategy. The diocesan strategy also becomes a framework, onto which parishes and deaneries can attach those things they feel passionate about. In an ideal world, they all influence each other. This diagram aims to illustrate what that might look like:

Our rejuvenating strategy: 
Revive, Revitalise and Renew

As a diocesan community, we are invited to take part in the strategy that we pray will guide us towards the vision described above, as we are led by the Holy Spirit. This strategy aims to tackle some of the challenges we know that we face as a diocese: declining attendances, older congregations, expensive buildings, over-stretched staff, and a gap between the costs of our ministry and our income.

So our REJUVENATING strategy aims to place children and young people at the heart of our planning, and also seeks to REVIVE, REVITALISE and RENEW our network of parishes, chaplaincies and church schools. Creating thriving churches with an emphasis on children and young people is a watermark that runs through these parts of our strategy:

REVIVE

We want to revive the spiritual leadership in our diocese, so lay and clergy leaders are vibrant disciples, whose faith is deep and attractive to others, so they can revitalise our parishes. It will involve lay and clergy leaders forming clusters (or Cairns) which can eat, laugh, learn, lament, pray and offer support together, to deepen their faith, develop more effective ministry and lead our revitalisation plans.

Read more about our plans to REVIVE here.

REVITALISE

We want to develop a culture where churches create pathways by which people might become disciples in their local congregations. It may involve encouraging church members to engage with the world, evangelise in words and deeds, establish disciples centred in Jesus, and equip those new disciples for mission. It may also involve specific initiatives, including Choir Church, school chaplains and investment in specific mission projects around the diocese.

Read more about our plans to REVITALISE here.

RENEW

In places where there is little effective gospel presence, we will seek to plant new congregations that are resourced to thrive. So we might plant brand new churches using investment from the national Church, and pilot brand new worshipping communities in schools.

Read more about our plans to RENEW here.