Last updated 29th July 2025

Diocesan Investment Programme

Background to the Programme

In June 2024 Bishop Philip was pleased to announce that the Diocese of Blackburn had been awarded a significant grant by the Strategic Mission and Ministry Investment Board.  You can hear what he said about this when the announcement was made here.

This grant now forms our Diocesan Investment Programme.  The programme includes funding to deliver a range of activities to support growth and mission across Lancashire.  The missional priorities for the investment will enable the Diocese to have: -

• A church that reflects the communities it serves
• A parish system revitalised for mission
• A transformed leadership pipeline

A church that reflects the communities it serves

We recognise that our communities are diverse and it is therefore vital that churches reflect the communities they serve.  To broaden the approach the goal is to develop: -

• A younger church – 30 parish-based children’s/youth/families’ leaders (Ignite Leaders) will be employed to specifically support growing the number of children and young people engaging with parishes. 
• A socio-economically diverse church – 18 parish-based lay pioneers will be employed to work in diverse communities across Lancashire and increase the socio-economic diversity of churches.  The M:Power programme that has supported ministry across urban communities will continue to offer training and assist with the development of lay leaders across the Diocese.
• A culturally-diverse church – a Canon for presence and engagement will be appointed to work across North Blackburn and an Intercultural Ministry Enabler has been employed to work in Burnley.  These roles aim to increase the level of cultural and ethnic diversity within churches and sustain a Christian presence in all parishes including those almost exclusively populated by people of other faiths.
• Parishes can apply to receive funding towards employing one of the Ignite Leaders or lay pioneers, information on how to apply for these roles can be found here. 

A parish system revitalised for mission

Growing the church across Lancashire will require parishes to have a plan for mission that works in their local context.  The funding available will support this by enabling the Diocese to deliver: -

• An expanded Diocesan Renewal Programme – a dedicated central team is in place to enable more parishes to be part of the Renewal Programme and through this access support to deliver their renewal plans and parish vision.
• Administrative support – due to specific challenges, some parishes will benefit from administrative support to enable them to focus on their mission.  Grant funding will be allocated by the Bishop’s Appointments Team to individual parishes, where deemed appropriate, to allow them to recruit an administrator.
• Plans for Accrington and Burnley – it will take time to develop our strategic missional plans for the Accrington and Burnley areas.  A consultant has been recruited to work with clergy and lay teams across these areas with the intention of developing a further investment application to fund this work at a later date.

A transformed leadership pipeline

Developing missional churches requires a pipeline of leaders, both clergy and volunteers, it will also be necessary to ensure that clergy are supported in their own wellbeing to enable their long-term ministry.  The grant funding available will be used to: -

• Provide support to clergy – through an enhanced ministry education programme running alongside a new pattern of clergy sabbaticals and retreats.
• Consider the potential for a Young Leaders Academy – the development of young people in their faith and enabling them to be faith leaders in their own context could provide vital support for parishes in the future.  A consultant will be recruited to investigate the feasibility of a Young Leaders Academy.  Should this concept prove beneficial, it will be developed into a further grant application to fund its implementation.

Enabler support

The majority of the investment available will be used specifically for missional activities in parishes across the Diocese.  However, to ensure that support can be offered to parishes in terms of HR, finance and payroll, some central roles have been recruited to offer guidance and assist in these areas.  Central project management resources have also been recruited to ensure governance arrangements are in place to gather the data and report back to the Church of England Vision and Strategy Team on what has been delivered through their investment.

What happens now?

The central project teams will work across the Diocese to ensure that the investment and support available is provided appropriately to parishes.  On a routine basis, reports will be provided back to the Strategic Mission and Ministry Investment Board setting out what has been achieved from this grant.