New strategy to rejuvenate the C of E locally

They will include more informal family-oriented services, midweek worship for children based in schools, and congregations based around new children’s choirs across south-east Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. The aim is to enable new generations to experience a life-transforming encounter with Jesus, alongside faithful and valued older worshippers.The national Church of England has now endorsed these plans, and will invest around £1m a year in them for each of the next five years. This will help to fund the recruitment of new people and the revamp of the buildings needed to help C of E parishes and schools to thrive.The vision is for the diocese to become “a rejuvenating community of Jesus-centred, Kingdom-seeking disciples”. And the strategy to achieve this aims to double the number of children and young disciples in C of E churches and ensure there is a thriving ministry to children, young people and families within reach of every household.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 already joined 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. And the transfer of a handful of church planters into Christ Church, Gosport (now part of Haven Church) in 2021 sparked growth that now sees 190 people at its Sunday services including up to 50 children. Another 50 attend midweek Lego Church, and between 10 and 20 young people attend midweek discipleship groups. This new investment will allow the Diocese of Portsmouth to expand this kind of work, and to start new rejuvenating projects, including:

• Cairns, a network of local clergy and lay leaders, meeting regularly to deepen their own faith, study together and inspire each other in mission;
• Pathways to discipleship, in which parishes will be given funding to create ways of engaging and evangelising 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;
• Flourish, the creation of midweek, voluntary worshipping communities for children and families, based in their schools. Four pilot groups were launched in September in Horndean, Sandown and Bembridge;
• Major 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.

The total amount awarded by the national C of E’s Strategic Mission and Ministry Investment (SMMI) Board is £5.3m. Just over £600,000 of this will go towards strategic plans in Paulsgrove. The cash will be spent on employing a new minister specifically to work with families and young people, developing four brand new congregations there, and paying for repairs to the roof and heating system.The vicar, the Rev Hugo Deadman, said: “Paulsgrove is a great place, full of wonderful people. We’re proud to be Paulsgrove – and we know God has a special care for people in communities like this. “So we want to do more to introduce people to the love of God. We’ve got a growing, loving and supportive church family. We treasure it and the much loved traditional ways in which we worship. But we want to grow it even more - and offer much more to the many young families in Paulsgrove. “We’ve already got good links – but we want to help them explore faith and grow our church family in ways that work for them, while still within St Michael’s Catholic tradition. We’ve hit the ground running with our Friday after school club, Choir Church – and now we can look forward to doing much more. “That means building a team – a new minister and new people to add to the excellent volunteers already doing so much. And it means tackling issues with our building, so it’s the asset it should be for the whole of Paulsgrove. It’s an exciting time to serve God and Paulsgrove.” For more details about our diocese’s vision and strategy, see: www.portsmouth.anglican.org/strategy.