New from Church House

• Diocese of Leeds Open Day 2024
• 2024 Diocesan Church Buildings Grants and Loans scheme now open
• Racial Justice Sunday - Sunday, February 11
• Parish Returns deadline extended
• Sign up for 50 daily devotions!
• Finding and Working with Interns – A Conversation
• TEND 2024 events
• Resourcing and supporting parishes
• Ministry with Children and Young People course
• Staying connected
• Diocese of Leeds looking for a new DAC Chair
• Carers Retreat 2024
• Lay Training courses
• Rhythm of Life Lent Retreats 2024
• Modern Slavery Awareness
• Diocesan Property Team update
• Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme – Updates
• Parish Giving Scheme Information Sessions
• Parish Share 2023 certificates
• CCLA Investment Statements
• Money for Mission: Issue 54
• Service to celebrate Self Supporting Ministry and Self Supporting Ministers

Key Dates for 2024

Resources

Vacancies

Other Useful Links and Information

Diocese of Leeds Open Day 2024

The Diocese of Leeds is hosting a special open day on Wednesday, March 6. At this event ordained ministers can meet senior clergy, ask questions and explore ministry in our unique diocese.

To register your interest please email jill.marsh@leeds.anglican.org. Please do download the flier above and share with your networks!

2024 Diocesan Church Buildings Grants and Loans scheme now open

Our 2024 Diocesan Church Buildings Grants & Loans Scheme is now open! The revised application form and guidelines are now available for download at the links below:

Grants & Loans for Church Buildings Application Form 2024 (Word Version)

Grants & Loans for Church Buildings Application Form 2024 (PDF)

The grant application has been revised to reflect additional funding into the scheme, received from the Church of England in January 2024. The first application deadline for the grants scheme will be Sunday, March 17, 2024.

Full details on the eligibility criteria for applicants can be found in the documents above. For queries regarding the Church Building Grants and Loans Scheme please email ResourcingParishes@leeds.anglican.org or telephone Janet Edmond (Senior Stewardship Officer) on 07376 525684 or Alena-Rose Douglas (Church Buildings Support Officer) on 07933 509860.

More information can also be found here.

Racial Justice Sunday - Sunday, February 11

Racial Justice Sunday on February 11 is for all churches to reflect and give thanks for the gifts and beauty of human diversity, and to commit to end racism and acts of discrimination, says Bishop Smitha. She has recorded a video messsage encouraging all churches to take advantage of the resources for Racial Justice Sunday produced by the Church of England and Churches Together in Britain and Ireland.

You can find out more by clicking here.

Parish Returns deadline extended

The deadline for churches to complete their parish returns has been extended until Sunday, March 17. If you need any help with this, please contact parishreturns@leeds.anglican.org.

Sign up for 50 daily devotions!

During the 50 days from Easter to Pentecost, you can subscribe to receive a daily devotion to help mark the 10^th Anniversary of the Diocese. Each day a reflection, written by a different member of our diocese, will be emailed to you. As we journey through the Book of Acts, every reflection will be linked to one of the areas of focus in our Rhythm of Life initiative: encourage, share, create, pray, rest, celebrate, reflect. There will also be ideas for activities and links to good news stories.

To sign up, click here. For more on the Rhythm of Life initiative, click here.  

Finding and Working with Interns – A Conversation

Come and join us in a conversation about finding and working with interns on Wednesday, February 21, 2.30pm - 3.30pm, online (Zoom).

This is an opportunity to:

• hear about our Diocesan intern scheme which equips young adults for life, work and leadership as disciples of Christ through placements in churches and training;
• find out about the process of finding and recruiting potential interns and how we can support this, what it looks like to invest in an intern over a year and what your church would need to commit to.

Whether this is something you are considering now, have a vision for in the future, or maybe have personal experience of, we would be delighted to welcome you in the conversation as we look to grow more disciples and leaders across all parts of the Diocese through the internship scheme.

To join the conversation, please email the Internship Co-ordinator katharine.greathead@leeds.anglican.org for a Zoom link.

If you are unable to join us on Wednesday, February 21 but would like to be part of our next ‘Finding and working with interns – a conversation’ after Easter (date TBC) please also email Katharine.

We very much look forward to hearing from you.

TEND 2024 events

We are delighted to invite all children, young people and families workers, leaders and volunteers to attend one of our TEND events this year.

This year’s theme is Encouraging Confidence and the days will include workshops, speakers, worship, reflection and the opportunity to meet others involved in ministry with and to children, young people and families. The dates and venues are:

• Saturday, March 9 at St Matt's Leeds
• Saturday, April 27 at Holy Trinity Ripon
• Saturday, June 8 at Dewsbury Minister

Please click here for more details and to book.

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

Engaging with your Community on Tuesday, February 27, 7pm – 9pm, is designed to help parishes think about the different opportunities to engage with their local communities and will cover a number of possible opportunities, highlighting ways to get started.

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

Ministry with Children and Young People course

Saturday, February 24, 2024, All Saints Ilkley, 9.15am - 12.30pm

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.

Diocese of Leeds looking for a new DAC Chair

We are looking for someone to become the new Chair of the Diocesan Advisory Committee for the Care of Churches (DAC). The Chair will be joining at a moment where the diocese is working to drive forward Barnabas: Encouraging Confidence. The DAC is closely involved with the buildings support strand of Barnabas and the Chair will play a key role in helping the DAC to align with its overarching aims to support churches to move forward in mission, ministry and sustainability.

The post is voluntary and the time commitment is approximately 18 half days a year, primarily focused around chairing of formal DAC meetings (which occur every two months) and occasional site visits. The DAC Chair will be supported by the DAC staff, who are diocesan officers with substantial experience and knowledge of the practicalities and legalities relating to the faculty system and care of church buildings. The Chair will collaborate with staff to ensure that the operation of the faculty system operates smoothly, minimising delays and releasing energy for parish volunteers to focus on mission. 

For further information, please see the advertisement on the non-clergy diocesan vacancies page here. Expressions of interest are invited until Monday, March 4 and should be emailed to the DAC Secretary, Lisa McIntyre: lisa.mcintyre@leeds.anglican.org.

Carers Retreat 2024

Friday, June 7, 4pm to Sunday, June 9, 3pm, Parcevall Hall, BD23 6DG

This retreat is especially for those who live with, or care for, loved ones who struggle with physical or mental health challenges. There will be space to rest and time to receive from God, and opportunities to learn from Scripture and other spiritual resources about compassion and love for those who care deeply for others. The retreat is led by Revd Henriette Howarth.

More details and booking information can be found here.

For more information please contact henriette.howarth@leeds.anglican.org.

Funeral Ministry Training for Licensed Lay Ministers (St Philip’s Church, Scholes, Saturday, March 2, 10am - 4pm)

Licensed Lay Ministers (Readers) are authorised to conduct an Anglican funeral service but not all feel equipped to do so. In this training we’ll be looking into the 'how-to’s' of compassionate and dignified funeral ministry.

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.

Licensed Lay Ministry (Reader) Training starting in September 2024 – Now open for initial inquiries

The Invitation Pack documents may be downloaded here (scroll down the page to the 'Taking this further' box). The deadline for initial enquiry forms is Friday, March 1, 2024. The application pack will only be sent out after your initial enquiry form has been received – so the earlier you express your interest, the earlier you will get the application pack. Expressing interest via the Initial Enquiry form does not commit you to applying.

More details and the Application Timeline can be found here from which the initial enquiry form for 2024 may be downloaded (scroll down to the Taking this further box).

Introduction to Theology Summer 2024 (monthly in-person at the Trinity Centre, Bingley. Sundays: March 17, April 21, May 12, June 9, 9am – 4pm)

A 12 session journey looking at the Christian faith, your own faith journey and developing theological skills. All students will be encouraged to create a portfolio showcasing their new skills. Attending an ITT course is a pre-requirement for Licensed Lay Ministry training. Potential LLM candidates need to submit a complete portfolio for review by Friday, June 21, 2024. This date is compatible with applying to start LLM training in September 2024. If you are successful at a selection interview for LLM training, a conditional place will be offered subject to a review of your portfolio. 

Further information and the booking link can be found here: Summer 2024

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

Rhythm of Life Lent Retreats 2024

A time to pause and reflect on the rhythms of our lives. Each retreat will be led/hosted by one of our Area Bishops.

• Bradford EA – Saturday, February 17, 10am - 1pm (Bradford Cathedral)
• Ripon EA – Saturday, February 24, 10am - 2pm (Ripon Cathedral)
• Huddersfield EA – Saturday, March 2, 10am - 1pm (Dewsbury Minster)
• Wakefield EA – Saturday, March 9, 10am - 3pm (Community of the Resurrection, Mirfield)
• Leeds EA – Saturday, March 9, 10am - 3pm (Leeds Minster)

Please click on the individual events in the listing here for further details and booking information.

Modern Slavery Awareness

Thursday, February 29, 9.30am - 2pm, St George’s Centre, Leeds

A half-day event to raise awareness of Modern Slavery in its various forms, to give you confidence to spot the signs and know what action to take and what further training and resources are available to support you and your colleagues. Free - lunch will be served at the end of the event. Please book your place here.

Diocesan Property Team update

We are currently working on important property initiatives that will help our clergy in 2024. At the centre of our Property Business Plan is the aim ‘to provide a good quality property and estate service that supports our clergy so that they can concentrate on ministry’. A full Property Team update packed with useful information can be accessed here, and an accompanying explanatory letter can be accessed here.

To ensure that any queries are dealt with as efficiently as possible, we ask that all communications to Property are directed through the following email address: property@leeds.anglican.org.

Other relevant updates will be posted on the Diocesan website property pages.

Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme – Updates

The Listed Places of Worship Scheme has been updated in recent months to enable VAT refund claims to be made through an online portal.

Another important change is that invoices used to submit a VAT refund claim must be under 12 months old from the date of issue to the date the grant claim is received in order to be eligible.

Some churches have already missed out on their VAT refunds due to their invoices being older that 12 months.

You are strongly advised to read through the updated LPW guidelines at the link here.

Service to celebrate Self Supporting Ministry and Self Supporting Ministers

Sunday, April 28, 3pm, St Mary's Garforth

A service to Celebrate Self Supporting Ministry and Self Supporting Ministers will be held at St Mary’s Garforth, at which Maeve Sherlock will be preaching. If you would like to attend, please contact Helen Allison at helen.allison@leeds.anglican.org as light refreshments will be served, please let us know if you have any dietary needs.

Diocese of Leeds Synod:

• Saturday, March 16
• Saturday, June 15 
• Saturday, October 19

Church of England General Synod:

• Friday, February 23 - Tuesday, February 27
• Friday, July 5 - Tuesday, July 9 
• Monday, November 18 - Wednesday, November 20



Racial Justice Sunday: Sunday, February 11

Lent 2024: Ash Wednesday, February 14 to Thursday, March 28

Easter 2024: Sunday, March 31

Thy Kingdom Come: Thursday, May 9 - Sunday, May 19

World Environment Day: Wednesday, June 5

Ordination of Priests: Saturday, June 22

Ordination of Deacons: Saturday, June 29

Creationtide: Sunday, September 1 - Friday, October, 4

Diocese of Leeds Generosity Week: Sunday, September 22 - Sunday, September 29

COP 29: Monday, November 11 - Friday, November 22

First Sunday of Advent: Sunday, December 1

Christmas 2024: Wednesday, December 25

Project Coordinator (Fixed Term for three years) - Every Good Work

We are looking for a gifted, experienced and skilled coordinator to take an operational and administrative lead on the new project Every Good Work: Reaching Children, Youth and Young Adults in Wakefield. The project coordinator will be based at St Catherine’s Belle Vue and will work across all three churches and with a variety of other stakeholders including local schools. The post is critical to enable the growth of the project and facilitate the delivery of its vision to develop young disciples in the city of Wakefield. The post holder will be expected to provide creative and strategic insight, problem solving skills and information tracking for the project. Find out more about this role here.

Revd Malcom Young to be Associate Priest (SSM) in the Benefice of Haworth and Cross Roads cum Lees in the Bradford area

Meg Munn to be Ecumenical Canon of Ripon Cathedral

Revd Dr Kathryn Goldsmith, Precentor-designate of Wakefield Cathedral, to be Capitular Canon of Wakefield Cathedral

Revd Sarah Hancox, Team Vicar of St Oswald’s, Methley with Mickletown and St John the Evangelist, Oulton with Woodlesford, to be Priest-in-Charge of St Luke the Evangelist, Brislington in the Diocese of Bristol

Revd Dorothea Bertschmann to be Associate Priest in the Benefice of Dewsbury in the Huddersfield area

Revd Tim Thomas to be Area Dean of the Inner Bradford Deanery in the Bradford area, alongside his role of Vicar of St John’s Bowling

Revd Lindsay Southern, currently serving as Vicar of St Anne's and Holy Trinity in the Parish of Catterick and Tunstall in the Ripon area, has been appointed as Interim Change Minister in the Diocese of Durham

Revd Nigel Wright has been granted PTO in the Diocese of Leeds

Revd Martin Tanner has been granted PTO in the Diocese of Leeds

Revd Nicholas Clews has been granted PTO in the Diocese of Leeds

Revd Philip Tait has been granted PTO in the Diocese of Leeds