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Parish Mission Fund

The Parish Mission Fund in action

St Chad, Beechdale

Lichfield Diocese's J Team at St Chad's, Beechdale

Southwell Minster

Children's Pilgrimage Days at Southwell Minster

Set up by the Archbishops’ Council and the Church Commissioners in 2002, the Parish Mission Fund aims to give dioceses extra resources for innovative parish work – reaching people on the margins of ‘traditional’ church.

In four years, £15 million has been put into the fund – and Manchester Diocese captures the variety of ways in which it is helping the Church express its mission across the country. A breakfast club in Halliwell, Bolton, feeds 20 children every weekday in term time with the help of £20,000 from the fund. The Revd Sarah Foster-Clark, Halliwell Team Missioner, wrote to tell Bolton MP and Education Secretary Ruth Kelly about the scheme. “A good breakfast helps kids concentrate on their schoolwork and it’s a great way for the local church to serve local people,” she said.

St Bride’s Church, Old Trafford, received £5,000 to provide life skills training for young offenders and those at risk of offending. Christ Church, Harpurhey, received £5,000 for a new sort of church ‘on the streets’ – fostering community through local events in an area of great deprivation.

Churches in Bolton Town Centre received £16,000 for a chaplain to serve workers in town centre businesses in collaboration with other faith groups. St Luke’s Church, Longsight, received £8,000 to offer mainstream and complementary therapies in the church building for the wider community. St George’s Abbey, Hey, received £12,000 for a ‘church in a shop’ in partnership with local Methodists to provide an accessible, intimate place for meeting in the local area. At Clifton £15,000 was given to help develop the ‘C’ project in Clifton Green, which offers local children positive alternatives to antisocial behaviour.

“We want to encourage churches to try new things, take risks and work in partnership with statutory and voluntary agencies,” said the Bishop of Hulme, the Rt Revd Stephen Lowe.