The Diocese of Leeds has been awarded over £11 million from the national church to significantly invest in children and young peoples’ work, developing more leaders in our churches and supporting the next wave of grafts and plants in the city of Leeds.
The funding, £7 million initially and a further £4 million in principle, has been awarded through the Church of England’s Diocesan Investment Programme (DIP) and will enable a new phase of the diocese’s long-term strategy, Barnabas, which supports churches to live out our vision of confident Christians, growing churches and transforming communities.
Our diocese is one of the largest dioceses in England, and this new funding recognises both the scale of opportunity and the scale of challenge facing churches across our diverse region, including areas of significant deprivation.
The new award builds on earlier national investment and enables us to focus on four key areas, including equipping and empowering lay leadership, reaching and discipling children and young people, planting new congregations and revitalising existing churches, and further transforming the city of Leeds.
Investment in these areas will continue to give every church the opportunity to grow in mission and sustainability.
The Rt Revd Toby Howarth, Acting Bishop of Leeds, said: “This is very good news for the whole Diocese of Leeds.
“It is a strong vote of confidence in our plans and in the direction we are travelling together.
“This funding will help us build on what is already bearing fruit, enabling confident Christians to be part of growing churches that truly transform their communities.
“We are deeply encouraged that the national church shares our confidence in this vision and in the people and parishes who are bringing it to life.”
The funding will strengthen work with children, young people and families, including investment in sustainable youth and children’s ministry through the employment of a number of workers in our parishes.
This programme aims to establish new, sustainable children’s and youth ministry projects, develop leadership pipelines and help churches become places where younger generations can explore faith and grow as disciples.
This investment will also support the development of lay leaders from historically underrepresented contexts across the diocese, starting first with a lay leadership hub in Halifax.
This nine-month programme will build confident teams and sustainable local leadership in both rural and urban communities.
The investment also allows us to add capacity to support the over 100 small new congregations that have begun in recent years, and to continue our work in developing confident parish teams to revitalise their own churches.
The funding also includes further investment in the city of Leeds, extending successful church grafting and revitalisation work across the city.
The award secures funding for the current phase of the diocese’s strategy through to 2031, while also enabling preparatory work for future investment, including further revitalisation plans in the Bradford, Huddersfield, Ripon and Wakefield episcopal areas.
We will continue to work closely with local parishes, community partners and the Church of England to ensure the funding delivers lasting benefit.
The funding also covers the costs of the team delivering this work, meaning not only that we can resource this mission well, but that it doesn't come from Parish Share, which remains fully spent on the costs of ministry.
Since the launch of Barnabas in 2023, over 60% of parishes in the diocese have engaged in at least one area of the programme, with 268 parishes participating overall.
Early evidence shows that churches involved in Barnabas are more likely to become missionally sustainable and to grow.
Previous investment in Leeds and Bradford has already led to significant growth, including the creation of new worshipping communities, the revitalisation of struggling parishes, and thousands of people engaging with church life for the first time.
To find out more about Barnabas, please click here.