OUR diocese will receive a major investment of around £1m a year for the next five years, to support delivery of its rejuvenate strategy.

The national Church will inject the cash into our targeted strategic plans to employ the people and revamp the buildings needed to help our parishes and church schools to thrive. The aim is to enable new generations to experience a life-transforming encounter with Jesus Christ.

Bishop Jonathan told members of our Diocesan Synod today about the £5.3m investment awarded by the Church of England’s Strategic Mission and Ministry (SMMI) board. It has approved the entire investment our diocese had applied for, as part of our £8.75m rejuvenate strategy. The diocesan contribution to this includes clergy stipends that would have been spent on resourcing ministry in any case.

The diocesan-level vision provides a framework for the life and ministry of parishes and deaneries. It speaks of a diocese longing to be “a rejuvenating community of Jesus-centred, Kingdom-seeking disciples”. 

Bishop Jonathan said: “As a diocese we have been inspired by a vision of Christ’s Body, the Church. A prayerful community which seeks God’s Kingdom in and for the world. A community where older people are treasured as the Church of today (rather than yesterday) and younger people find their place and voice as the Church of today (rather than of tomorrow).

“The past two years have seen the extraordinary growth of Anna Chaplaincy within our diocese. By God’s grace we trust this vital ministry will go from strength to strength in the years ahead. Our rejuvenate strategy, and the investment which has now been awarded to support it, applies our collective focus and energy to the challenge of connecting with younger generations that they might discover Jesus Christ and the Kingdom for themselves.

“So, our diocese seeks to double the number of children and young disciples in our churches and ensure there is a thriving ministry to children and young people within reach of every household across south-east Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. We also want to reverse the decline in attendance and equip and encourage clergy and lay leaders in prayer and discipleship.

“The fact that the national Church has endorsed this without any qualifications is a significant vote of confidence in our ability to deliver this vision and strategy. We are both grateful and humbled.

“We should also pay tribute to those in our parishes and deaneries, as our diocesan strategy is built on the mission plans they dreamt up, submitted and discussed with us over many months.”

Our rejuvenate strategy for delivering this vision includes three main elements:

• to REVIVE the wellbeing and spiritual leadership of our diocese, by growing a host of little communities - Cairns - which create space for God's Holy Spirit by prayerful reading of Scripture, eating and studying together. Read more here;
• to REVITALISE and encourage our churches to create pathways by which those currently unconnected to church can connect with the Christian message and make their journeys to become committed disciples. Read more here;
• to RENEW the Church in areas where it currently has little presence, including the planting of new congregations and worshipping communities. Read more here.

Some of this work has already begun, with church planting over the past eight years creating new and growing churches in central Portsmouth, Southsea, Gosport and Ryde. Hundreds of children, young people, students and young families have joined thriving congregations at Harbour Church in Portsmouth, St Margaret’s in Southsea, Haven Church in Gosport, St Mary’s in Rowner, and All Saints in Ryde.

This new investment will allow us to expand this work, and to start new projects that aim to rejuvenate our diocese, including:

• Cairns, a network of sustaining and inspirational little communities meeting regularly to pray, break bread and to encourage one another in ministry;
• Pathways to discipleship, in which parishes will be given funding to create ways of engaging their communities and equipping brand new disciples for mission;
• Choir Church, a way that churches can use a love of singing to create new worshipping communities (read more here);
• Flourish, the creation of midweek, voluntary worshipping communities for children and families, based in their schools (read more here);
• Mission projects in Paulsgrove and Leigh Park, to create new worshipping communities with young people and families as the heartbeat of each congregation;
• Church plants, both in urban Portsmouth and suburban Fareham, moving towards a brand new church in the new major development of Welborne; and
• Training in youthwork from Youthscape, establishing expertise and new leaders to work with children, families and young people.