Projects which will reach children, families and young people are part of the latest round of Development Fund grants.
St Lawrence Church in Hungerford will use the grant to employ a full-time children and youth minister. The fund was established in 2019 to divulge up to £1million a year for the growing needs of communities in Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Milton Keynes. The awards announced this month feature a mix of both Tier 1 (up to £2,500) and Tier 2 (over £2,500 or employing staff).
In Hungerford, children and youth ministry has been limited while a church re-building project was undertaken. Now the works have been completed, the grant will ensure what was previously a part-time position can now be full-time.
Churchwarden Janet Cole said: “We have built the church building for the future, now we need to build the people for the future. We are also building links with the community. There are an awful lot of needs there – spiritual, emotional and practical – and we would like to build that bridge and that link to the community as well as building up the existing children and young people that we have within the church.”
In this latest round 10 parishes received funding, taking the total granted since 2019 to more than £4.9million, supporting 269 church projects.
The full list of awards is:
Walton Holy Trinity, to support our work to grow engagement with young people by employing a U18s lead
St Andrew's, Sonning, to purchase equipment for use at a youth summer camp in order to support young people's attendance at the event and help them grow in faith
St Mary's, Cholsey, to purchase resources for children and youth events and to create a Psalm 23 garden which would be a space of contemplation, prayer and care for the environment
Reading Deanery, to resource a youth day and allow more young people the opportunity to engage with faith and build stronger connections with their local church
Shrivenham and Ashbury, to buy equipment for a new youth club in Shrivenham in order to provide of a much-needed safe space for youth and the opportunity to role-model faith and encourage more people to know Jesus
St Mary's, Aylesbury, to employ a part-time Pioneer Youth Minister to run cross-parish youth expressions in Aylesbury
Cross and Stable, Milton Keynes, to develop multi-generational worship at our Family Breakfast Club and increase the numbers of young people and families attending the church.
St Leonard's, Grendon Underwood, to purchase chairs in order to accommodate bigger congregations and enable further outreach activities
St Lawrence, Hungerford, to employ a full-time Children and Youth Minister and enable us to meet more of the needs of the families living in our community and fulfil our vision to share the Good News of Jesus
Holy Ascension, Littleworth, to carry out a feasibility study for reordering the church in order to lead to greater usage, new familiarity and care for the church's mission as well as for the building.
The deadline for the next round is 31 July and criteria for applications can be found online.