The Diocese of London has named 19 resource churches with a remit to drive its church-planting strategy. Each of the 19 will receive a planting curate with an expectation that these parishes will be centers of growth and resources for planting more churches.
The curates will be prepared to start new worshiping communities or help revitalize parish churches around the diocese. The well-known central London churches named in the venture are All Souls Langham Place, St Martin in-the-Fields and Holy Trinity Brompton and St Helen’s Bishopsgate, which are classed as National Resource Churches.
A national Strategic Development Fund will finance 15 of these posts. The diocese of will assign curates from their existing diocesan allocation as planting curates in these resource churches in the next six years.
Bishop Ric Thorpe of Islington is working to expand the plan in the next few years, including in partnership with other dioceses.
“I am so excited to see churches in London that feel called to give away leaders, people and resources to bless and grow the wider church,” he said. “I look forward to seeing this first stage implemented as we support churches across the diocese to multiply disciples and congregations.”
Bishop Sarah Mullally of London said: “London is a wonderfully diverse diocese, growing in both depth and breadth of ministry. I’ve been encouraged to witness how churches of all traditions and sizes are exploring different ways to reach out to their communities.”
John Martin
Matthew Townsend is a Halifax-based freelance journalist and volunteer advocate for survivors of sexual misconduct in Anglican settings. He served as editor of the Anglican Journal from 2019 to 2021 and communications missioner for the Anglican Diocese of Quebec from 2019 to 2022. He and his wife recently entered catechism class in the Orthodox Church in America.
