The Church in Wales is investing nearly £10m in four major projects to promote growth in church attendance across the country.
Projects in north east Wales, Swansea and Monmouthshire will be given multi-million-pound grants to develop new initiatives, centres and church communities.
The grants are being made from the Church Growth Fund, in which the Church is investing £100m to support projects in a once-in-a generation opportunity to resource confident and consistent evangelism throughout Wales.
One of the four new projects is for six new ‘Mission Hub Churches’ in the diocese of St Asaph, which has already successfully established four such Hub projects since 2021. Each Hub is designed to be a centre of excellence for running and growing a church, with people encouraged to come into their church for a range of worship and other activities.
Just over £1m will also be invested in the region to create a team of Pioneer Missioners in rural areas, to support mission in church congregations as well as in schools and pubs, and through social and rural events.
The Bishop of St Asaph, Rt Rev Gregory Cameron said: “I’m excited to see the Church in Wales backing the good work we’re doing in Saint Asaph to renew and develop our Church life. Churches can be a centre of faith, hope and love in all our communities, and these initiatives underline and cement our commitment to serve the people of north east and mid Wales effectively.”
As well as a £2.8million investment in St Mary’s Church Swansea to enable it to become a Minster church, funding of more than £1million is being given to the Diocese of Monmouth to help grow new worshipping communities by building stronger relationships with schools.
The five-year project focuses on relationship-building with primary and secondary school-age pupils, their parents, teachers and the wider school family in a manner which goes beyond school assemblies.
The Archbishop of Wales, Most Rev Andrew John, said: “The Church Growth Fund represents a transformative step forward in our mission to reach communities across Wales with the love and hope of the Gospel. This significant investment will enable churches to grow, innovate and become vibrant centres of faith. I am excited to witness the gospel in action and the positive impact we will make in our communities because of our significant investment in evangelism.”