Welcome to Enews+ for February 7
The latest resources, important information and more.
This is for all clergy, Churchwardens, Treasurers and PCC Secretaries, and is your chance to find out what is going on….

In This Edition
  • From the Desk of the Diocesan Secretary
  • New from Church House
  1. Church Revitalisation: Outdoor Church
  2. Rhythm of Life: Lent Courses and Retreats
  3. Church Buildings and Pastoral Reorganisation Team: Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme extended
  4. Lay Training Team: Events
  5. HR Team: Parish HR Forum
  6. God's Green Fingers: Issue 41
  7. Environment Team: Events
  8. Money for Mission: Issue 31
  9. Stewardship and Income Generation Team: Giving Days
  10. Stewardship and Income Generation Team: Webinars
  11. Children, Young People and Families Team: Events
  12. Property Team: Reporting Property Repairs
  13. Safeguarding Team: Newsletter
  14. Communications Team: ECLAS survey on science and theology
  • Key Dates for 2022
  • Resources
  • Vacancies
  • Other Useful Links and Information
From the Desk of the Diocesan Secretary
Dear all,
 
Congratulations on making it through January! It was touch and go for a while, but we made it. 

Church House teams have worked hard over the last month to make sure they have clear plans regarding their objectives for the coming year as we look to support you in your ministry. Some of these plans are shared below, and we will continue to use Enews+ over the coming months to make you aware of resources, events and support available. As ever, if there is any assistance you need then please let us know and we will do our best to help.
 
Thank-you letters in relation to parish share will be sent shortly. We are very grateful for all your efforts. If you, your PCC or your parishioners have questions about parish share and how your generosity supports ministry then please do contact us so we can provide the answers.
 
Thank you for all you do,
 
Jonathan
New from Church House
Church Revitalisation: Outdoor Church
Whether you have always worshipped outdoors, or have discovered new ways of
being church during the pandemic, you are welcome to a conversation about what has been helpful, what to avoid and what we might do next.
This online conversation will take place on Monday, March 7 at 7.30pm. Email [email protected] for the link.
Rhythm of Life: Lent Course and Retreats
The bishops in the Diocese of Leeds invite you, during Lent, to come together for retreat days across the diocese. This is an opportunity for reflection, prayer, learning and sharing with others, whilst engaging with the diocesan Rhythm of Life initiative. It’s a chance to take time out to bring God more fully into our everyday rhythms of life. Everyone is welcome. Find out more here.

Each weekly session of our Rhythm of Life Lent Course will concentrate on one of seven areas: praying, encouraging, sharing, reflecting, celebrating, resting and creating. This is a new course, in a familiar format, including video/audio links and break-out groups. Find out more here.
Church Buildings and Pastoral Reorganisation Team: Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme extended
The Government has confirmed that the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme is extended until March 31, 2025. This three-year continuation is good news and should enable for longer-term planning for projects.
Lay Training Team: Events
Lay Eucharistic Ministry Training
The Lay Training Officers are restarting onsite training for some courses. The Lay Eucharistic Ministry (LEM) Training is scheduled to be delivered in each episcopal area over the next few months. Visit the LEM Course Page for more information. New dates and venues will be added to this page once they have been confirmed.

New Spiritual Conversations Course
A new two-hour stand-alone session on Spiritual Conversations is being trialled online and in person later this term. This is a sister course to our established Pastoral Conversations, and it looks at how to move from the pastoral to deeper spiritual needs in a supportive conversation.
HR Team: Parish HR Forum
For many clergy, recruitment and management of employees may be a new experience. The diocesan HR Team has developed resources that are available on our website for clergy and parishes to freely access. Unfortunately, sometimes things don’t go smoothly, and getting it “right” and having the correct policies and procedures in place can minimise the risk of problems arising later.  

We are looking to develop some “drop in” forums for parish clergy and our first “pilot” session is being held on Wednesday, March 16 at 12 noon, via zoom.  
This will be led by Helen Allison (Senior HR Adviser) and Sara Lo Polito (HR Advisor).  
There will be some introductory focus points:
  • Key things to consider before employing someone in the parish
  • How much it will cost
  • Recruitment process

We hope that you may find this helpful, and if this proves to be a useful and valuable resource for clergy and parishes we hope to be able to offer more informal drop in sessions on a bi-monthly basis.

Please let Helen Allison know at [email protected] if you would like to attend.  
God's Green Fingers: Issue 41
This is the place to access God's Green Fingers, the newsletter from the Environment Team. The most recent edition can be found here, with news, events, resources and more. If you would like to receive God's Green Fingers directly, you can sign up for direct mailing by clicking the link in the newsletter.
Environment Team: Events
Celebrating Environment Sunday Well: Thursday, March 24, 5-6pm
A webinar offering practical suggestions on how your church can have a good UN World Environment Day (Sunday, June 5). What kind of service could you have? What liturgy is available? What hymns and songs could you draw on for your worship? What about a church picnic or a joint activity to care for creation? Webinar details and registration

Saving Creation: Six Steps to Carbon Net Zero Webinars: Tuesday, April 5, 4pm/Tuesday, May 17, 7.30pm
Following the publication of the Saving Creation: Six Steps to Carbon Net Zero Church Toolkit, this webinar is designed to help you get started on the journey to becoming a carbon net zero church. It will include a scriptural reflection to help us understand the gospel response to climate change, then look at a practical step by step approach for churches. Watch the short Saving Creation video here. Webinar details and registration here
Money For Mission: Issue 31
This is the place to access Money For Mission, the newsletter from the Finance and Stewardship and Income Generation Teams. The most recent edition can be found here, with information including:

  • Giving Days
  • Storytelling and Giving Programmes
  • The Parish Giving Scheme
  • Grants from the Diocese of Leeds
  • Parish Share Thank You Packs
  • Ecclesiastical Fundraising in Rural Parishes
  • The Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme 
  • Training from ACAT

If you would like to receive Money for Mission directly, you can sign up for direct mailing by clicking the link in the newsletter.
Stewardship and Income Generation Team: Giving Days
The Stewardship and Income Generation team will be visiting towns all over the diocese to talk about giving this spring/summer.
Covering topics such as the National Giving Teams’ Building a Generous Church, giving reviews, online and contactless giving, grants, treasurer support and the PGS. These full day events will be of interest to Clergy and PCC members. 
More details will follow next month but for now please save the dates:

Tuesday, March 22 – Ilkley, All Saints
Thursday, March 31 – Wakefield Cathedral
Wednesday, May 11 – Huddersfield Parish Church
Wednesday, May 18 – Settle, Holy Ascension
Wednesday, May 25 – Leeds, Church House
Wednesday, June 8 – Richmond, St Cuthbert’s Church Hall, Colburn
Wednesday, June 29 – Bradford Area Offices, Bingley
Stewardship and Income Generation Team: Webinars
Telling our stories and promoting a vision. How churches can attract donations

Thursday, February 24 - 12noon - 1pm

Attracting monetary gifts for your church from congregants or the local community can seem a challenge, even though people give generously to causes they believe in. In this webinar we will explore how, by telling stories, we are promoting our vision of a better world and helping givers of faith and those of none to see that the church is a worthy recipient of their gifts. Practical ideas of how and where we tell our stories will also be discussed.

To register your place please click here.

Ways to plan & run a generous giving programme in your parish

Thursday, February 17 - 12noon – 1pm

Join Stewardship Officer Janet Edmond in this webinar for helpful guidance on running a Generous Giving Programme in your parish. We will explore ways to help you decide whether and when to run a programme, what’s involved and where to find resources that will help with planning, delivering and evaluating your programme.

To register your place please click here.
Children, Young People and Families Team: Events
The Children, Young People and Families Team would like to highlight some opportunities to help parishes think through how they look at starting/restarting ministry with children and young people as we move forward from the pandemic. 
Property Team: Reporting Property Repairs
The Property Team have introduced a new way of reporting repair requests for clergy properties. This is through the Fixflo reporting system which can be accessed via this link. Fixflo is an online reporting tool that is used by a wide number of organisations across the UK in managing property portfolios. It allows occupants to submit information, photos, and videos of repairs that are required via a web portal. More on this can be found in a letter which can be read here.
Safeguarding Team: Newsletter
The Winter Safeguarding Newsletter can be viewed via this link here. This edition gives useful information on some upcoming updates to the Safeguarding Dashboard, online training course information, the recruitment of ex-offenders and some current work taking place around support for the elderly.
Communications Team: ECLAS survey on science and theology
Clergy and lay leaders’ views on science are wanted for a new online survey by Equipping Christian Leadership in an Age of Science (ECLAS).
ECLAS led a very successful diocesan clergy study day in July 2021 and the survey is open to all communicant members of the Church of England in leadership roles.
The ECLAS project aims to support all levels of Christian leadership to engage with science and the interaction between science and faith. The data collected will help inform its policy work, resource development, and future events like the one last summer. All data will be kept completely anonymous, and no identifying details will be stored.
The questionnaire can be found via this link: https://durham.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/eclas-survey
Key Dates for 2022
  • Rhythm of Life Lent Course: Available in February 
  • Step Forward Conference: Saturday March 5
  • #LiveLent 2022: Embracing Justice: Ash Wednesday (Wednesday, March 2) to Easter Day (Sunday, April 17)
  • Deadline for receiving Living in Love and Faith (LLF) responses: Saturday, April 30 - processes of discernment and decision-making to take place in 2022 and the beginning of 2023.
  • Thy Kingdom Come: Thursday, May 26 - Sunday, June 5
  • World Environment Day/Sunday: Sunday, June 5
  • Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee: Sunday June 5
  • Ordination of Deacons: Saturday, July 2
  • Lambeth Conference: Wednesday, July 27 - Monday, August 8 
  • Creationtide: Thursday, September 1 – Tuesday, October, 4
  • Diocese of Leeds Generosity Week: Sunday, September 25 - Sunday, October 2
Resources
The Diocese of Leeds has recently launched its resources to help churches reach carbon net zero by 2030, 'Saving Creation: Strategic Action to Combat Climate Change'. These include a video, toolkit, and case studies, with more to come. Read more here.
The Rhythm of Life is offering a Lent course for parishes to run locally. With a Lenten focus, each weekly session will concentrate on one of the seven Rhythm of Life areas. It can be delivered in parishes/cathedrals on Zoom or face-to-face (using the available leaders guide, and video/audio clips). As an alternative to parish-based courses, individuals can join a diocesan-run Zoom-based option.Find out more here.
Living in Love and Faith, The Church of England’s landmark set of resources on questions of identity and which draws together the Bible, theology, science and history with powerful real-life stories has now been published. The product of three years’ work includes a 480-page book, a series of films and podcasts, a course and an online library of other publications. Find more here.
The latest edition of the Prayer Diary is now online to download.There are fresh prayers for Sudan as well as prayers for Tanzania. Download prayers here.
For information, resources and more, visit www.leeds.anglican.org
Vacancies
The Team Coordinator will work alongside the Team Leader to provide administrative support and ensure the smooth operation of all aspects of our small and busy team’s work, which encompasses the Diocesan Advisory Committee for the Care of Churches (DAC), the Area Mission and Pastoral Committees (AMPCs) and the Closed Churches Task Group (CCTG). Find out more here.
Other Useful Links & Information
For safeguarding issues, contact our advisers on:
[email protected] or call 0113 353 0257 
Carla Darbyshire - Safeguarding Team Leader
Jenny Leccardi - Safeguarding Adviser
Narinder Lyon - Safeguarding Adviser
Nikki Rose - Assistant Safeguarding Adviser
Moves and Appointments

The following were installed as Honorary Canons of Ripon Cathedral on Sunday, January 30:
Revd Dr Hayley Cabbett-Matthews
Mr Matthew Ambler

Revd Hannah Smith to be Vicar of St Helen Sandal Magna (Wakefield EA)
Revd Tracy Milne to be Priest in charge (0.5) of Bolton St James in the (Bradford EA)
The Who's Who directory lists clergy & diocesan staff (email addresses & phone numbers). Access it here 
Contact us with your news
Please contact the Communications Team with your news so we can share it with the wider diocese. Our regular Enews is published twice a month. Area news stories to [email protected]  
© Anglican Diocese of Leeds, 2022
Church House, 17-19 York Place, Leeds, LS1 2EX
 0113 200 0540

Any views or opinions expressed by the author of this email do not necessarily represent those of the Leeds Diocesan Board of Finance

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