Funding awarded to Church of England Birmingham from the National Church

 

We are delighted to inform you that over £17.8m of funding has been awarded for the next phase of our strategy that will support us in ‘Growing churches at the heart of each community’. This is good news for Birmingham and the region.

As Bishop Michael has previously articulated, this is to underpin the four key themes within our strategy:

Sustainability – £2.4m has been awarded to support us in becoming financially sustainable. This will include the creation of a dedicated Generosity Team to support our parishes.

Parish Growth - £3.6m has been awarded to support all of our parishes to missionally grow.

Leadership – £6.1m has been awarded to help us find, form and deploy additional missional leaders across Church of England Birmingham.

Church Planting and Revitalisation - £5.7m has been awarded for new church plants and revitalisations.

 

These figures further breakdown into specific projects and initiatives that we will be communicating about in the coming months as we move into the next level of detail and implementation for each theme. 

This strategy will both help us deliver our vision, moving us to a place of growth and sustainability, whilst also delivering against the National Church’s six bold outcomes. This is a partnership between the Church of England nationally and Church of England Birmingham including our parishes and schools. As can be seen from the figures above over 65% of the funding awarded has been designed to be of benefit to every parish within Church of England Birmingham. 

35% of the funding is for our church planting and revitalisation theme. We are encouraging more parishes to actively be involved in giving away people and resource to revitalise parishes and areas. Parishes, for this phase, are:

  • Christ Church Summerfield
  • St Barnabas Erdington
  • St John’s Harborne
  • St Luke’s Gas Street
  • St Mary’s Bearwood
  • St Philip’s Dorridge & St James’ Bentley Heath
  • St Stephen’s and St Wulstan’s
     

All have detailed plans, and we are prayerfully working with all the parishes involved, using processes that have been tried and tested in recent years. We will communicate more as progress is made in each case. 

In addition to the award outlined above, the national church is providing short term relief to help dioceses with their structural deficits and give breathing space. It is important to be clear from the outset that this award is intended to be a bridge towards long-term sustainability. 

We will be praying and working together for growth in our Common Fund, trusting God to provide through the generosity of our communities. We are already looking to recruit a Head of Generosity. This person will lead the new Generosity Team and be the Bishop’s Advisor for Common Fund. If you are interested in the role, or know anyone who would be, please visit CofEB vacancies.

Some of the amount awarded within the Leadership theme will enable us to recruit and train more curates every year for the next six years. Alongside this will be specific projects and roles to find and form new lay leaders too.

One of the streams within our Parish Growth theme will be Flourish which establishes worshipping communities in schools, building on our existing pilots with St George’s Edgbaston and St Philip’s Dorridge and St James’ Bentley Heath. 

This is an exciting time for Church of England Birmingham, and we thank the Lord and the National Church, for the provision of this resource. It will take a number of months to work through details with the National Church, and local stakeholders, before we can share all of the plans, thank you for your patience. 

The Bishop of Birmingham, Michael Volland said,

“This significant investment is a great encouragement. It will enable our Diocese to support churches across Birmingham, especially in overlooked communities, to grow in confidence, deepen faith, and share the love of Jesus Christ. I’m excited by the focus on young people, leadership, and diversity, and I pray this will bear lasting fruit for God’s kingdom."

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Increasingly the world's environmental hopes and fears are focused on the COP26 conference to take place in Glasgow in November 2021.
Bishop's Message: A Game of Two Halves
There is growing excitement across the West Midlands in anticipation of the Commonwealth Games 2022
Taize at Home 2021: 12-17  July
A Pilgrimage from your own home, a chance to punctuate your day with prayer and reflection using the rhythm of a community in Taize, France, who have been worshiping this way for decades.
Malawi container lorry
This year the lorry is to be loaded on Saturday 12  June.
Bishop's Message: May Day
Amazed at the turn of the earth for warmer days I have been more attentive to what is given and life-giving as May heralds creation and creativity. This year will it also be marked by pared-down priorities for wiser and more considerate living?
Choir stalls ...or Sesame Street
Coleshill parish church choir stall end bears a likeness to Sesame Street's Big Bird
Hidden in Plain Sight
Bishop Anne writes on modern slavery and the part our churches can play.
Energy Footprint Tool
The Church of England Birmingham is focussed on the CofE target for all parts of the church to work to become carbon 'net zero' by 2030
"Racism is a sin which disfigures God's image in us."
From Lament To Action: the report of the CofE Archbishops' Anti-Racism Taskforce is published today. The Bishop of Birmingham, David Urquhart, said in response,
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Bishop of Birmingham, +David Urquhart, joins with churches and communities across Birmingham, as the sad news is shared by Buckingham Palace, of the death of the Duke of Edinburgh
Bishop's Comment: The Transformation of Easter Day
The first century Christian disciples were not ready for Jesus' death, nor for a rapid resurrection. Twenty-first century human beings were not ready for COVID-19, nor for a long disruption.
Malawi Update: latest COVID news
Through January and early February, the South African variant caused a major spike in cases
Climate Sunday
An important part of Eco Church is making sure that our church worship helps us to be aware of our interconnectedness with all of God's creation, and encourages us to be good stewards of that creation.  
Bishop's Comment: Simpler, Humbler, Bolder
In a month that starts with St David's Day my thoughts turn across the Marches, not just to commend the Welsh rugby team's recent Triple Crown victory, but to draw deeply on poetic and biblical inspiration.
From churches closing to big hearts in parks… Langley Centre of Mission is up and running!
The Centre of Mission is a partnership between Church of England Birmingham and the Church Army, with generous support from Archbishops Council in the form of Strategic Development Funding
Why the Church should care about Housing
The goal of the CofE Housing, Church and Community Commission, launched by Archbishop Justin in April 2019, has been to re-imagine housing in our nation, and to ask, first, what the church can do to alleviate the crisis and then to ask what others might do.
The Path to Mission and Ministry with Young People, Children and Families and Young Adults - Flex
Are you in ministry with children and young people?
Encouraging Everyday Faith
As we look to the future, how are you inspiring and equipping all God's people to be following Christ in every area of life?
One year on: Church moves forward on carbon reduction target
The first findings from a nationwide study to capture carbon impacts in the Church of England have been published, a year on from a vote committing the Church to net-zero carbon emissions by 2030.
9th July 2025
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