New from Church House

• Safeguarding information on parish websites
• Property Team - winter update
• Parcevall Hall 2025 brochure
• Resourcing and supporting parishes
• Ministry with Children and Young People course
• Online workshops
• Staying connected with our Children, Young People and Families Team
• Lay Training
• Scargill House 2025 programme
• Parochial Fees for 2025
• Five Top Tips for saving money and the environment this Advent
• Give To Go Green Round 3 - applications now open!
• Generosity at Christmas
• Next Treasurer Forum meeting
• Money for Mission: Issue 64
• Fairtrade in the diocese
• Leeds@10 booklets during Advent and Christmas

Key Dates for 2025

Resources

Vacancies

Other Useful Links and Information

Safeguarding information on parish websites

On the homepage of all parish websites there must be a clear link to safeguarding information, including the person to contact in the parish to get safeguarding help, and the details of the Diocesan Safeguarding Team. Further information on this can be found here. Thank you to all parishes that have already done this. If your parish needs any assistance with this work, please contact the Safeguarding or Communications Teams in the diocese, at safeguarding@leeds.anglican.org or communications@leeds.anglican.org.

Property Team - winter update

Please click here to read the latest update from our Property Team, with information on our Stock Condition Survey, heaters and boilers over winter, gutters, and guidance for PCCs looking to manage properties.

Parcevall Hall 2025 brochure

Parcevall Hall is the retreat house for the Diocese of Leeds. The Parcevall Hall 2025 brochure is now available, featuring a range of retreats and Quiet Days throughout the new year. We hope they have something for everyone - Quiet Days and a Retreat for Extroverts, Creation Celebrations, Prayer and Fitness weekends, and Poetry and Poustinia retreats too. More information is available on their website. If you would like a printed brochure, please let them know on admin@parcevallhall.org.uk.

Emergency First Aid Course for Children and Youth volunteers and workers (Monday, January 20, 2025, Church House Leeds)

This Emergency First Aid (EFAW) Level 3 Award, is delivered in conjunction with the Health Development Unit at Wakefield MDC.

Starting a conversation about children and young people

A workshop for parishes wondering about starting something for children, young people and families.

Admitting Children to Communion before Confirmation Workshop

For parishes interested in exploring Admitting Children to Communion before confirmation.

For more information, and to book onto any of these courses, please contact the Team at childrenyouth@leeds.anglican.org.

Ministry with Children and Young People course

This is an in-person course designed for everyone; whether you’ve been working with children and young people for a long time or you are just starting out, and it aims to help you develop and refresh skills and knowledge so you can serve children and young people well.

For more details, and to register your interest for the course, see here.

If you require any specific help or information, please do contact us at childrenyouth@leeds.anglican.org.

Online workshops

Messy Church Learning Community (Tuesday, January, 2025)

All involved in Messy Church are welcome to join our session sharing good ideas, best practices and encouraging each other in our different contexts.

Youthscape Essentials Fortnightly Tuesdays Course (begins Tuesday, February 4, 2025)

All round training for youth leaders.

Toddler Teams Learning Community (Wednesday, February 12, 2025)

This online group is to support and encourage everyone involved in church toddler groups; this session will be thinking about managing challenging behaviour.

If you would like to find out more, and to book your place on any of these, please contact childrenyouth@leeds.anglican.org.

Staying connected with our Children, Young People and Families Team

If you would like to receive the Children, Young People and Families Team newsletter, please subscribe to the Digital Learning Platform here and be sure to tick the ‘Children & Youth’ and ‘Sign me up’ boxes! In addition we host a Facebook group for anyone involved in children, young people and family ministry where people share details of events, resources, activities and training and also ask questions, debate ideas and learn together. As always, if you require any specific help or information, please do contact us on childrenyouth@leeds.anglican.org.

Lay Training

Saving Creation Silver (Tuesday, March 11 - Tuesday, May 20, 2025, with a break for the Easter Holiday, online via Zoom)

This Silver level course is for anyone wishing to:

• Gain an understanding of various aspects of the environmental crisis including: climate change, biodiversity loss, implications for social justice, animal welfare issues, issues of waste and water.
• Gain an understanding of the nature of Mission and how environmental mission fits within them
• Gain an understanding of the role of lifestyle choices in both discipleship and effecting change
• Gain an understanding of how to implement the Church of England Net Zero Target Strategy, and Eco-Church in a local parish context
• Consider how the resources provided nationally and by the Diocese can be used in a parish context
• Receive training in the skills required to be an effective Parish Environment Officer

More details and booking information can be found here.

If you require any specific help or information, please do contact us at layministry@leeds.anglican.org.

Encouraging Lay Leadership

Do you have potential leaders in your congregation? Are there those who are wondering what theology means and how to study it? Please encourage them to sign up to this free and updated course. In recognition of travel and internet accessibility issues, we are introducing a new hybrid version of the course. It will take place in Leyburn and Gargrave in–person with a local host/facilitator and the teaching sessions will be via zoom.

Introduction to Theology (ITT) is a 12-session journey looking at the Christian faith, thinking about your own faith journey and developing theological skills. This is a great place to start when considering where God is calling you. Attending this course is a pre-requirement for Licensed Lay Ministry training in the diocese of Leeds and is also useful for those considering any of our other Lay Ministry pathways.

Spaces Still Available:

Ripon area hybrid course: Booking deadline is Sunday, February 9, 2025

Bingley in-person course: booking deadline is Sunday, March 9, 2025

Do you have someone in your congregation/chaplaincy Team who would make a good Licensed Lay Minister (Reader)?  

Now is the time to suggest they start exploring a vocation to Lay Ministry with you, your Episcopal Area Warden of Readers and/or the diocesan Vocations Team. Expressions of interest are invited for LLM training with a start date of September 2025.

Eligibility criteria, discernment information and details of the application process together with an expression of interest form have been sent to all incumbents, chaplaincy team leaders, PCC Secretaries and Churchwardens in September 2024. A reminder will be sent in early January 2025. The deadline for an Expression of interest is Monday, March 3, 2025 (but sooner is better). 

Application/sponsor/referee forms are only sent out after an expression of interest has been received.

More details and the Application Timeline can be found here.

If you require any specific help or information, please contact the School of Ministry administrator at shuna.hartley@leeds.anglican.org.

Scargill House 2025 programme

The 2025 programme for Scargill House is now available, and can be found here.

Parochial Fees for 2025

The 2025 Parochial Fees have recently been published by the central Church of England. We are currently updating our forms and these will be made available on the diocesan website shortly. If you have any questions regarding parochial fees please contact fees@leeds.anglican.org.

Five Top Tips for saving money and the environment this Advent

1. Check your Church heating timers! Are they programmed correctly for the weather and service times? Funding is available for wireless heating control upgrades so you can turn the heating on and off without being in the building.
2. Create an eco friendly advent wreath! Are your floral displays sustainable? Beautiful and festive displays can be made without the use of harmful floral foam. Tips on how to do this can be found here.
3. Turn off the lights! Are all the Church lights turned off when not in use? Take time to make sure nothing is left on unnecessarily when the church is empty. Installing PIR sensors can help with this; these only turn on lights when movement is detected and are great for offices, toilets and little used rooms.
4. Keep warm! Can you keep a chilly congregation warmer without turning up the heating? Offering a basket of blankets by the door for the congregation to borrow can help everyone feel more comfortable. Heated pew cushions are a great way of warming people further and are available through Parish Buying. You can also source blankets and jackets heated with battery packs to heat the person not the space.
5. Make giving easy! Can you use this season to encourage donations from your congregation and wider community to help reduce the carbon footprint of your church? Contactless giving is a great way to allow people to donate without using cash. Help and support are available here.

Give To Go Green Round 3 - applications now open!

The next round of Give To Go Green has started and we are encouraging all churches, those already on their Net-Zero Carbon journey as well as those just starting out, to get involved. 

Give To Go Green is a match-funding grant project from the National Church, matching locally raised donations for carbon-reducing building projects.

Applications are open now, and will close in March 2025. Further information, including the Application Pack, is available at the link below.

The GTGG team are holding two information webinars in January for churches to find out more and ask questions about the project. You can register for these at the links below.

Find out more about Give to Go Green and apply:

• Register for GTGG Information webinar - Tuesday, January 14, 7pm
• Register for GTGG Information webinar - Wednesday, January 15, 12.30pm

Generosity at Christmas

Christmas is nearly here, and the church calendar is filling up with different services and events. This is the time of year where we see increased attendance in our church buildings, with visitors typically feeling more generous. There are many resources designed to equip churches on how to celebrate and encourage giving and generosity over Christmas. The birth of Jesus, one of the greatest acts of generosity, is a great time to consider how we can live out generous lives, inspired by a generous God

The National Giving Team have put together two check-lists to help make sure you are set up and ready to make the most of this generous season. See the checklists at the links below: there is a Generous Christmas checklist, with ideas on how to invite people to give, and how to make giving easy and accessible. There is also a Digital Giving checklist going through the process for making digital giving easy and visible to givers in your church.

• View & Download the Generous Christmas Checklist
• View & Download the Digital Giving Checklist

Fairtrade in the diocese

The Diocese of Leeds is committed to sharing and supporting Fairtrade, and has launched a refreshed website page with resources for parishes. The refreshed Fairtrade page has information and resources for parishes. The diocese aims to take steps to ensure that all deaneries, parishes and schools are encouraged in sourcing Fairtrade products, promoting Fairtrade principles and participating in Fairtrade campaigns. Find out more here.

Leeds@10 booklets during Advent and Christmas

As Advent and Christmas approach, please prepare to share your remaining Leeds@10 booklets that were delivered earlier this year. The content is designed to be relevant throughout the 10th anniversary of our diocese and is a great way of showing all that we do to those visiting our churches, minsters and cathedrals during the festive period.

Diocesan Synod

• Saturday, March 22
• Saturday, June 14
• Saturday, October 18

General Synod

• Monday, February 10 to Tuesday, February 18
• Saturday, July 5 to Wednesday, July 9
• Tuesday, November 18 to Thursday, November 20

Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent: Wednesday, March 5

Palm Sunday: Sunday, April 13

Good Friday: Friday, April 18

Easter Sunday: Sunday, April 20

Ordination of Priests: Saturday, June 21

Ordination of Deacons: Saturday, June 28

Great Yorkshire Show: Tuesday, July 8 to Friday, July 11

Season of Creation: Monday, September 1 to Saturday, October 4

First Sunday of Advent: Sunday, November 30

Christmas 2025: Thursday, December 25

School Adviser (Primary) - Diocese of Leeds

Are you ready to inspire confidence, transform communities, and make a difference that lasts a lifetime? If so, we invite you to apply for this transformative role as a Primary School Adviser in the Diocese of Leeds for an Easter or September start in 2025. As a Primary School Adviser, you will play a pivotal role in encouraging confidence, fostering collaboration, and driving excellence across our 236 schools. Your work will not just support schools; it will shape the futures of countless young people and their communities. This is your chance to step into a career that challenges and rewards you daily, combining the best of your leadership expertise with the opportunity to make a profound, lasting impact. Find out more about this role here

Youth Worker - Every Good Work

Every Good Work is a project growing new young disciples across the city of Wakefield. The Project involves the Diocese of Leeds is working in partnership with three local churches who have a strong track record of serving their local communities. National funding has been made available for us to work together with other local partners to engage with young people in schools and other settings, to work with them in developing social justice projects, and to develop new worshipping communities that are shaped by and ultimately led by young people. We are seeking a youthworker who will help us deliver this vision alongside committed church leaders and a broader support team. The youthworker will be based at a St George’s Church, Lupset and will work with the team to develop and deliver the project over five years. Find out more about this role here

The Revd Nathanael Poole has been appointed to the full-time post of Priest in Charge of Farsley in the Leeds area

The Revd Philippa Slingsby-Lunn has been appointed at Priest in Charge of St Luke’s Eccleshill (0.5) in the Bradford area

The Revd Charlotte Truman has been appointed Incumbent for the Hipswell Benefice in the Ripon area

The Rt Revd Nick Baines, the Bishop of Leeds, is pleased to announce the following appointments at Bradford Cathedral:

Honorary Canons

The Revd Phil Arnold

The Revd Jonathan Cain

The Revd Jenny Ramsden

The Revd Jude Smith

The Ven Cat Thatcher

Ecumenical Canon

Pastor Oliver Evans

The Revd Lindsay Pearson, who is currently serving as Interim Priest in Charge of St Michael and All Angels Cottingley and Associate Priest of Holy Trinity Bingley with St Wilfrid Gilstead in the Bradford area, is to be appointed as Priest in Charge of St Michael’s Cottingley and also Priest in Charge of Holy Trinity Bingley with St Wilfrid Gilstead

The Revd Denise Hayes is to be licensed as Vicar (0.5) of St Mary the Virgin, Oxenhope in the Bradford area

The Revd Katrina Robinson-Brown, who is currently serving her curacy in St Mary Honley and St George Brockholes in the Huddersfield area, to be Assistant Curate at St Aidan’s Skelmanthrope (0.5) and the Emley Moor Parishes (0.5)

Fr David Povall, who currently is serving as SSM Curate at St Wilfrid’s Harrogate in the Ripon area, is to be re-licenced in his new role as SSM Associate Priest at St. Wilfrid’s Harrogate