National Funding Boost To Develop Island Churches

Church of England parishes on the Isle of Wight have been given extra funding in a broad initiative to support and develop their congregations.

A five-year, £2.7m project aims to renew church life in Ryde, including the launch of a brand new family-friendly congregation alongside existing ones.

It would also involve more engagement with schools and new ways to serve the local community.

The national Church of England has announced that it will invest more than £1.2m of its strategic funds in the project.

The other £1.5m would come from the Diocese of Portsmouth to fund clergy positions. This is the first part of a larger bid to encourage and develop churches across the whole diocese in 2024.

This project aims for All Saints Church, Ryde, to grow from its current faithful congregations to welcome up to 300 new worshippers attending different styles of church service.

That would include a new family worship service planted with the help of Harbour Church in Portsmouth, plus a Café Church, traditional Eucharistic worship, and an intern scheme for young people.

The five C of E churches in Ryde – All Saints, St John’s and St Michael’s in Ryde itself, plus St Peter’s, Havenstreet and Holy Cross, Binstead – would work together to engage with the seven schools across the town.

They’d also work with local community partners and churches of other denominations to serve the local area better.

This would be the first stage of plans to revitalise Church of England churches across the Isle of Wight.

Within the five years of this project, it is hoped that All Saints, Ryde, would be able to transfer worshippers to other C of E congregations on the island, to complement worship and mission initiatives happening elsewhere.

The Archdeacon of the Isle of Wight, the Ven Steve Daughtery, said:

“The Island has a lot of churches – one for every 2,700 people – and many of them have small, faithful congregations.

"Ryde has the island’s largest population, and church attendance there represents less than one per cent of its residents. It’s also the gateway to the Island, so seems a good place to start.

“We are delighted that plans for the revitalisation of the parishes in Ryde have received support."

Some of the £2.7m funding will be spent on providing the four clergy for the five Ryde churches – a team rector, two team vicars and one curate.

The team vicar who will take charge of traditional, inherited worship, the Rev David Morgan, was appointed in September and other appointments will follow.

The national Church’s funding also allows for other staff to be recruited – a chief operational officer, worship/youth leader, children/families leader, part-time administrator and four interns.

Some of the funding will also be spent on work to church buildings, so they can be used for a variety of worship styles and community activities.

The project also fits in with the diocese’s vision and strategy for the future, which aims for all people to be given opportunities to become disciples of Jesus via a variety of styles of worship and prayer.