The City Church Fund

A report by the Church Commissioners on the use of the funding in 2008-10

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Contents
1 Introduction 2 Background 2 The Central Fund 2 The City Church Fund 3 Use of the funding by the Church Commissioners 4 Use of the funding by the Dioceses 17 Use of the funding by the City Churches

Introduction

Six dioceses in and around London and all of the Church of England churches in the City of London are the beneficiaries of the City Church Fund. The use of the funding is overseen by the Church Commissioners and the City Churches Grants Committee. This report, published by the Church Commissioners, sets out the background to the City Church Fund. It explains how the funding is allocated and gives an overview of the ways in which the dioceses and City Churches have used the funding in 2008-10 in support of the Churchs ministry and mission in London. The Church of England is very grateful for the generous support it receives from the City Church Fund.
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Background
The City Church Fund is one of two funds managed by the Trust for London formerly the City Parochial Foundation. The Trust was formed in June 2010 on the amalgamation of the City Parochial Foundation with its sister charity the Trust for London. The Trust for London exists to reduce poverty and inequality in London and to support the Church of England in London. The Trusts assets originate from the philanthropy of the people of London. The parishes of London held many separate gifts and bequests. The income from them was for the benefit of the churches or, more often, for the poor of those parishes. The City developed into a world financial centre in the 19th century and the income from the charitable gifts and bequests increased hugely. At the same time, the number of poor beneficiaries fell some parishes had no residents at all. The City of London Parochial Charities Act 1883 therefore provided that the bulk of the endowments should be administered as a new charity with a corporate trustee. The endowments were split into two funds a Central Fund and a City Church Fund. Together, the two funds make up the Trust for London.

The Central Fund

The Trusts assets are split between the Central Fund and the City Church Fund on a 60:40 basis. The Trust uses its Central Fund to tackle poverty in London by making grants to the voluntary and community sector and others, and also uses its own expertise and knowledge to support work that tackles poverty and its root causes. More information about the Central Fund, and about the work of the Trust for London, can be found at www.trustforlondon.org.uk or by e-mail to [email protected]

The City Church Fund

Through the second of its funds the City Church Fund the Trust provides generous support for the Church of England in London within the area of benefit shown in the map opposite. The money payable from the City Church Fund is divided into two parts. One third is allocated to the City Churches Grants Committee for the support of the fabric and contents of the City of London Churches. Two-thirds is shared between the Church Commissioners and the six dioceses which are situated, wholly or in part, within the area of benefit they are (in descending order of the proportion of funds received): London, Southwark,

Chelmsford, Rochester, St Albans and Guildford. The principal objective of this funding is to advance the ministry of the Church of England. The City Church Fund is used to support the Churchs ministry in many different ways. It has played an enormously important role in keeping the City Churches in good repair, thus enabling Christian communities to continue to witness to the Gospel in the heart of the capital. It has helped to fund a variety of specific projects in the dioceses, ranging from vital church repairs to supporting the Ascension Eagles Cheerleaders which started life as a church outreach project to young people living in one of the most deprived areas of Chelmsford diocese. And the Fund has helped to support the costs of clergy stipends and training, which has in turn released the clergy and lay leaders and congregations in their mission and ministry to the communities they serve, many of which suffer high levels of deprivation.

Contains Ordnance Survey data Crown copyright and database right 2011.

Use of the funding by the Church Commissioners

At the Church Commissioners direction, a small portion of the monies available from the City Church Fund is paid to the Commissioners for direct use. In 200810 these payments totalled 296,400. From them, the Commissioners: made fixed grants totalling 2,179 in 2008-10 to a small number of City benefices. These grants date back to the terms of the City of London Parochial Charities Act, 1883; and met the cost of supporting the Office of the Dean at Kings College London, including salary costs which are in line with academic pay scales, housing etc. These payments have their origin in earlier grants made from the City Church Fund to various theological colleges, including Kings College London. In 200810, these payments totalled 294,585. The remainder of the City Church Fund monies available in 2008-10 was allocated to the six dioceses, on the Commissioners direction, on the basis of the size of their population within the area of benefit. For further information about the Church Commissioners role in relation to the City Church Fund please contact: [email protected]
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Use of the funding by the Dioceses

In 2008-10 a total of 8,447,933 was payable to the dioceses as shown in the table below: Diocese % received of grant payable to dioceses from the City Church Fund 44.37 29.05 15.30 6.18 2.83 2.27 100 Total amount payable in 2008-10 () 3,748,348 2,454,124 1,292,534 522,082 239,077 191,768 8,447,933

London Southwark Chelmsford Rochester St Albans Guildford TOTAL

The Diocese of London

The diocese of London uses the resources generously given to it by the City Church Fund to enable and strengthen the Churchs physical presence in every community, regardless of the ability of those communities to pay. This is the Churchs bias to the poor. These values of the Gospel are very much the values which are needed today, and the diocese of London is investing in its clergy its community champions to work in the most marginalised communities and help deliver change and opportunity. Andy Brookes, the Chief Executive of London diocese, said:

This involves time, patience, commitment, and a spirit of being a servant leader. We live and work in our communities, experiencing the realities of life, and agitate for change where we can, help deliver that change where we can; all to better our common life as community. Every day we see the real value, in human and financial terms, created by this sustained investment and we are grateful to the Trust for London for their generous provision to us, and our partnership with them in seeking well-being in all of Londons communities, particularly the disadvantaged. With great respect for the pioneering work done by the Trust to alleviate poverty across London, we are encouraged to deepen our relationship, as our work clearly has many shared aims. I am grateful to all my colleagues who work so hard to deliver change in our communities, to proclaim our faith anew, and to ensure we all work well together to deliver opportunity to all.
For further information please contact: [email protected]
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Case studies The Church of St Mary the Virgin, Tottenham

St Mary the Virgin in Tottenham is in one of the most deprived areas in London diocese. The City Church Fund has helped the diocese to support the vicar and assistant, when the community has been historically unable to do so. This sustained investment has enabled the church, under the leadership of the Revd Luke Miller (incumbent from 1994 to January 2011), to pursue long-term projects at two of its buildings, transforming them into hubs for the community whilst, at the same time, generating much needed income for the church, supporting both community and voluntary sectors as well as faith-based work. The first project involved the lease of the church hall site to a housing association to provide good quality housing. The association agreed to erect a community centre building in lieu of paying for the lease. A Single Regeneration Budget application subsequently won 50,000 to install catering facilities and a stair lift. Today, the Kemble Hall throngs with life. It is in daily use by the community and voluntary sectors for regular and one-off activities, generates 16,000-18,000 income p.a., and contributes to a greater sense of engagement and confidence in the community. The second project was the restoration of a mission building in another part of the parish. The building had been leased out but had fallen into disrepair. The church reclaimed it with a dilapidation settlement of 111,000 and restored the interior. The upper floor is leased to an artist for a studio and to afterschool club providers tutoring children struggling in Key Stages 2 and 3. The ground floor has been converted to a chapel which, within weeks of opening in September 2010, was attracting a congregation of around 30, of whom over half were newcomers. The church engages with the community in many other ways. Volunteers from the congregation help staff the Haringey Churches Winter Night Shelter which provides beds across the borough for the homeless every night for four months. The churchs clergy have been closely involved with local schools and, in 2010, Father Luke completed his ninth year as Chair of the Board of Governors at Mulberry Primary School. He has led the Governors in the appointment of a new head teacher and helped the school to drive up standards. And the church is working to help ensure that a Christian presence is felt at the heart of the Hale Village regeneration scheme in Tottenham as part of the dioceses strategic response to areas of large scale development change. The churchs service to the community is rooted in its faith over 200 people worship there every week. And it is exemplified in the ministry of Father Luke, whom the local ward councillors describe as a real Community Champion. None of this service to the local community would have taken place without the support of the City Church Fund. This investment in good leadership has also reaped material rewards the church is now close to being financially sustainable.
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St. Andrews Church, Fulham Fields

St. Andrews church, Fulham Fields, which featured in the 2005-07 report on the City Church Fund, continues to go from strength to strength with the help of the City Church Fund, illustrating the benefits of the diocese of Londons policy of sustained investment. The parish is in the top 10% across England for Indicators of Multiple Deprivation. North Fulham is a challenging community in which to minister, with significant poverty and an above average incidence of mental health issues. A previous incumbent was tragically murdered by a caller to the vicarage. Through these tough times the diocese has supported full-time ministry with the help of the City Church Fund. Under the leadership of the present vicar, the Revd Martin Eastwood, the congregation has more than doubled over the last three years to an average of 140, and is well on the way to becoming financially self supporting. From the firm base which the support from the City Church Fund has helped to provide, which has in turn helped in leveraging other funding, work has now begun on an exciting project to create a new multi-purpose community facility and reordered church space expected to open in November 2011. With the support of grants from North Fulham NDC and the Governments Community Builders Fund managed by the Social Investment Business, the new facility will cater for the ever-expanding range of community services now being delivered on site including the feeding of 120 homeless people each Saturday, flourishing Mums and Toddlers groups, Streetdance classes, a lunch club, a Fruit and Vegetable co-operative, innovative art and music projects and much more. The charity IntoUniversity will also be taking a space in the new community centre to operate their hugely successful after-school clubs and mentoring projects, providing outstanding support to children of school age particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds. The plans have taken three years to develop and have attracted over 1.4m in public sector funding. The development will return St. Andrews to its original proportions and will include the construction of three large community areas, a caf, a muchneeded new kitchen, and office space. Thanks to the many years of support from the City Church Fund, St. Andrews is now in a much stronger position for mission and ministry to the local community of North Fulham.

St Pauls Church, Rossmore Road, North Marylebone

St Pauls church, Rossmore Road, is situated in a parish which has the highest Index of Multiple Deprivation score in the Diocese of London. The cost of ministry at the church which comprises a worship and community centre is supported by the diocese with the help of the City Church Fund. Under the present vicar, the Revd Graham Buckle, the innovative use of this small but very flexible church centre continues to develop in response to the changing needs of the local community. There are strong links with the local Church of England primary school Christ Church Bentinck (85% Muslim). The centre is used by recreational groups for line dancing, keep fit and martial arts as well as by support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous. There are innovative relationships with local community projects such as the Church Street Over 50s Drop in Centre, which was opened by the parish, and an ongoing partnership with the local mental health trust which staffs the mental health support groups. In response to the closure in 2008 of the Patterson Wing at St Marys Hospital, the church welcomed the Association for Pastoral Care in Mental Health which now runs twice weekly Barnabas support groups. Many of the community groups are subsidised by the church centre, and eventually some are able to increase their contribution towards the centres running costs. Church members are the volunteers at the heart of this community ministry, and out of this experience new expressions of what it means to be a worshipping community develop from time to time including Pub Church, Faith and Film nights, Sacred Space and Experiential Worship. Week by week the church centre provides, in the midst of this busy part of London, an important and necessary oasis of support and peace.

The Diocese of Southwark

In 2008-10 the diocese of Southwark channelled its City Church Fund grants through the diocesan budget to the primary purposes of paying, housing and training the clergy. Funding from the City Church Fund was also used to assist with repairs to church buildings. Examples of the Churchs mission to the community in Southwark carried out by churches which benefit from the support of the City Church Fund include prison visiting, youth drop-ins, advice and support for families being threatened with eviction, an ecumenical project providing financial and volunteer support to the homeless, a chaplaincy at Greenwich Community College and work with children and young people. The diocesan secretary, Simon Parton, said:

In Southwark there are many inner city parishes in some of the highest areas of deprivation and the provision of clergy in these areas, supported in part by the grant from the City Church Fund, enables and empowers parishes in their mission... Without their dedication the community of the inner city in the diocese of Southwark would be much the poorer.
For further information please contact: [email protected]

Case studies Christ Church Camberwell

Funding from the City Church Fund has helped to support the Churchs ministry at Christ Church Camberwell (known locally as Christ Church Peckham). This small parish has a population of around 2,100 households and comprises almost entirely of three large housing estates, suffering significant levels of deprivation. In addition to the ministry which it carries out within the church building to a growing congregation, Christ Church offers a Healing on the Streets mission initiative, established in 2007, which takes the church out into the community which it serves. A team of church members goes to a location in the parish near shops and a caf and offers to pray with those who have physical, emotional or financial needs. The team has prayed for anything from three to twenty five people in each session and has seen many answers to prayer. The initiative has raised the profile of Christ Church and has also increased the churchs confidence in its ministry.

This ministry of prayer is also carried into the annual summer fun day which Christ Church organises and which is attended by two to three hundred local people. There is a barbecue, crafts and competitions but the prayer ministry is also a key part of this day and in 2010 the team prayed constantly for a stream of people over a period of four hours. The Revd Hugh Balfour says that in recent years at Christ Church:

.there has been a move in emphasis from trying to build a church to seeking to bring the values of the Kingdom of God to Peckham. This has resulted in a much greater desire to love the poor and marginalised, a shift in the focus of ministry to healing and deliverance as well as preaching and teaching, and a more active seeking after the presence of God. The Church of St John the Evangelist, Angell Town, Brixton
The City Church Fund has helped to support ministry at St John the Evangelist, Angell Town. This church is situated in a parish which consists of five large housing estates and suffers high levels of youth crime and anti-social behaviour. The church takes community outreach especially to young people very seriously. In 2008 it set up a Christian-based annual summer scheme, open to all young people in the community. Parents and carers attend the summer schemes for around half the time, gaining the opportunity to support the children in their learning as well as new experiences for themselves. The schemes encourage young people to give as well as receive - there is a major prize at the end and participants understand that they need to work in a team and to plan in order to win. The church hosts numerous other community activities, some in liaison with the local school, many of which are held on the church green thus ensuring that the churchs ministry is highly visible. The church is involved with the local Ebony Horse Club charity, which provides affordable access to horse riding and mentoring for disadvantaged children and young people. The charity is based in another part of the estates and initially struggled to reach out to Angell Town. The church was instrumental in encouraging over 15 children from its congregation and the local school to join the Club, thus acting as a bridge for the community. St John the Evangelist also participates in the Word for Weapons scheme. It has a knife bin on site to encourage those who carry weapons to give them up in exchange for an All I Need pack which includes a Bible. In 2010, a charity cycle ride by the

young people of the church raised 400 for the scheme. The priest in charge, the Revd Dr Rosemarie Mallett, says that the knife bin is having an impact on the young people in the church and in the community and commented:

In an area such as this, with high levels of youth crime and anti-social behaviour, such activities are very important the scheme is a witness to the community that the Church stands for peace and will promote peace in any way it can.
In summary, the City Church Fund is helping to support the ministry of a church which is active in engaging with and helping to overcome the problems faced by the community it serves.

The Diocese of Chelmsford

Within the City Church Funds area of benefit, the five East London boroughs of Barking & Dagenham, Newham, Redbridge, Waltham Forest and Havering, which together make up the Archdeaconry of West Ham in the diocese of Chelmsford, have a combined population of 1.25 million. Funds from the City Church Fund are administered by the London Over the Border Council, which comprises Area Deans and Lay Chairs from the five boroughs and is chaired by the Archdeacon of West Ham. The Council meets regularly throughout the year to consider applications. The emphasis is on encouraging the Church to be local, outward-looking and participating as outlined in the Faith in the City report. Grants are targeted at parishes where there is a significant level of deprivation. As diocesan funds become less available for lay workers, grants have tended to shift from capital projects to revenue support, and often to highly innovative and imaginative projects designed to enable and support the mission of the church. For further information please contact the Archdeacon of West Ham at: [email protected]

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Case studies Ascension Eagles Cheerleaders

Funding from the City Church Fund is meeting part of the salary costs of the Director of the Ascension Eagles Cheerleaders, via a three-year grant of 15,000 p.a. beginning in 2009 awarded by the London Over the Border Council. The Ascension Eagles Cheerleaders was founded in 1996 by its Director, Shara Brice, wife of the then vicar of Ascension Church, Victoria Dock, as part of the churchs outreach into the community. Shocked by the high levels of violence in the community, and believing the problem to be exacerbated by a lack of facilities for young people, Shara Brice offered to teach local youths to dance and to cheerlead. Her aim was to give young people in one of Chelmsford dioceses most deprived parishes the chance to participate in an activity that would improve their fitness, social skills and self-esteem. The young people took up her invitation and the Ascension Eagles were born. Despite being placed last in their first competition in 1997 they persevered. Fifteen years on, the Ascension Eagles have firmly established themselves as the best of British cheerleading, consistently coming top in this fast growing sporting activity. Ascension Eagles have entertained over 300 million people, and have won over 400 trophies. In 2010, they represented England at the Cheerleading World Championships, in which only the worlds top 1% are invited to compete. They ranked third overall in the Nations Cup World Final. Shara Brice and her team are recognised as having created one of the UKs most ethnically diverse and effective youth programmes. As the young people grew up in the AEC program, they wanted to give back to their community. In January 2010, Ascension Eagles opened Londons first cheer gym, Talent Central, at Gallions Reach Shopping Park. Within a month of opening, the Ascension Eagles leaders were serving 1000 young people weekly. In June 2010, Big Talk announced that the Ascension Eagles story will be made into a worldwide cinema release film in the summer of 2012. Shara Brice, who won a Woman of the Year award in 2010, commented that the funding from the City Church Fund, via the London Over the Border Council, not only made the work of the Ascension Eagles possible but:

[the funding] came at a key time in our development, and provided the confidence-boosting endorsement that the Church is proud of our young people.
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The Church of St John the Baptist, Leytonstone

In 2005 a storm punched five holes in the roof of the church of St John the Baptist in Leytonstone. Inspection revealed that the roof was in a very poor state and needed to be replaced. Repairs to the tower were also needed. Five years of fundraising followed. A grant of 50,000 awarded in 2009 from the City Church Fund via the London Over the Border Council was of great encouragement to the church. Towards the end of the repair programme, the need for further work essential to meet health and safety standards was identified, costing an additional 65,000. At this stage a second grant, this time of 25,000, awarded from City Church Fund monies was deeply appreciated by the church. St John the Baptist has been pursuing a community engagement programme for the last eleven years. It is very supportive of the local business community, which is predominantly Muslim. For example, with the help of the Chief Executive of Waltham Forest Borough Council, the church helped to set up the Leytonstone Business Forum which provides a voice for local businesses. From the success of the Forum, the E11 Bid (Business Improvement District) company emerged. The company has been successful in leveraging Government funding and its work is described by the vicar of St John the Baptist, the Revd Raymond Draper, as a blessing to our community. Other examples of St John the Baptists outreach to the community include an Arts Ministry Group which offers free concerts; a nature trail in the churchyard which is used by local schools to support Key Stage 1 and 2 projects; and a club for older people. The church has also developed strong links with the local mosque (which occupies the churchs former church hall) and has helped to set up a local Churches Together group. The Revd Raymond Draper commented:

This is a town centre church with a wide vision and seeing it restored at a time of cutbacks is a vote of confidence in this community which everyone can see and is grateful for and is a sign that the Church of England is committed to all people here in good times and in bad. This investment through the City Church Fund is a major investment in community cohesion, in our witness here and in our commitment to people of all faiths and none.
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St Pauls Church, East Ham

The Fit and Healthy Elders project, run by the Bonny Downs Community Association (founded by the Bonny Downs Baptist Church), coordinates activities for elderly people at The Well Community Centre and at three local churches, including St. Pauls church in East Ham. The City Church Fund is helping to support the project at St Pauls church via the London Over the Border Council which has made a grant of 7,500 spread over three years, beginning in 2009. The grant is currently being used for line dancing and a ballroom dancing class. The vicar at St Pauls church, the Revd Merrin Playle, said:

Newham is a very young borough where older people can easily become isolated. A relatively little money has gone a long way in providing a range of activities that aid the physical, social and mental wellbeing of an often-neglected sector of the community. The Diocese of Rochester
The diocese of Rochester allocates its funding from the City Church Fund through a group comprising the Bishop of Rochester, the Archdeacon of Bromley and Bexley and the diocesan secretary. In 2008-10, grants were made towards the cost of clergy stipends, for training, for parish grants and mission projects and towards discretionary funds for the Archdeacon of Bromley and Bexley. The discretionary funding has been used to enable clergy to go on retreats, sabbaticals and courses that were beyond the remit of the diocesan training department. It has also supported a number of clergy in need of medical treatment or counselling in order to deal with health problems that they were facing. The funding has enabled clergy families to get away for holidays or short breaks, sometimes for strong pastoral reasons as well as financial. Improvements to vicarage security have also played a key part in the use of the funding. Commenting on the discretionary funding in 2010, the Archdeacon said:

The over-riding principle was to improve the quality of support for parish clergy. All the funding was used for this endeavour and ranged from the practical to the pastoral, thus ensuring that those working at the coalface were given as much support as was possible, depending on their particular circumstances. We believe that this funding has made a huge difference to the
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morale of many of the clergy who received grants, and we are very grateful to the City Church Fund for making this possible.
For further information please contact the diocesan secretary, Louise Gilbert, at: [email protected]

Case study The Church of St John the Evangelist, Penge

A grant of 3,000 awarded in 2010 from the City Church Fund has been used to create a new office space for a Princes Trust team worker based at the church of St John the Evangelist in Penge. The church is situated on the High Street of Penge in the midst of a very diverse community. The relatively new incumbent has been working hard to develop community engagement. Since September 2009, a Princes Trust Team Programme has been based at the church. The Programme is for young people aged between 16 and 25 who are unemployed. It is free and does not affect the Jobseekers Allowance. Participants have the opportunity to take on community projects of their choosing, spend a week away and have two weeks work experience. The Team Programme at St John the Evangelist has been very successful. The church has been closely involved in supporting the work of the Trust not only through the development of its building but also through the provision of work placements. The Archdeacon of Bromley and Bexley commented that:

[The City Church Fund grant] has helped to provide a warmer, safer, better lit and hence more productive work space in which the Princes Trust team can work and perform its daily administrative functions. The Diocese of St Albans
The diocese of St Albans distributes the monies from the City Church Fund in grants. Decisions on applications for funding are considered by the relevant Archdeacon and the diocesan secretary who then make recommendations to the Bishop of St Albans. In 2008-10, the diocese has used the City Church Fund to support clergy stipends, help fund repairs to churches, make provision for disabled facilities in churches, carry out organ repairs and for work to parsonage houses. The diocesan secretary, Susan Pope, said:

The City Church Fund has been invaluable in supporting mission and ministry by contributing towards the cost of posts in parishes as well as enabling buildings to be better equipped for worship and community use.
For further information please contact Susan Pope at: [email protected]
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Case studies The Church of St Mary the Virgin & All Saints, Potters Bar
Having embarked on a period of fundraising for the renovation of the church hall, St Mary the Virgin and All Saints in Potters Bar was greatly encouraged by a generous grant of 25,000 from the City Church Fund which boosted the renovation fund to 58,000 at the end of 2008. The improvements to the hall focused on the areas in most urgent need of attention. As the work progressed, additional costs arose and a further grant of 25,000 from the City Church Fund awarded in 2010 was welcomed. The funding has been used for a range of essential improvements, including new gas, electric and water services, refurbishment of the toilets, re-wiring and exterior building works. The hall is regularly used by a variety of local community groups as well as for parish functions and the improved facilities have enabled the church to accommodate the uniformed guide, brownies and rainbow groups. The main project is now completed although there is some work still to do and fundraising events are continuing. The churchwarden, Geoff Foster, commented:

We already have a much improved hall which is available for hire by local people and is helping to further the work of the parish church in our town.

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Parish of Elstree and Borehamwood

The City Church Fund has been helping to support the Churchs ministry in the parish of Elstree and Borehamwood. The parish has a population of around 34,000 which is showing an increasing diversity, both with regard to ethnic origin and to faith. There are some notable pockets of deprivation. The parish contains four districts, each with its own church St Nicholas in Elstree, and All Saints, Holy Cross, and St Michael in Borehamwood. Finding the resources to meet the cost of the diocesan parish share presents an ongoing challenge. Even though the diocese has been providing support in this, and two of the clergy are no longer full-time, it has only been possible to pay the parish share in full as a result of grants from the City Church Fund amounting to 10,000 (2008), 15,000 (2009) and 15,000 (2010). Three grants made from the City Church Fund between October 2009 and May 2010 have also helped to maintain the church building at Holy Cross by providing 3,000 for a new hall floor; 5,862 for repairs to the East End window; and 6,000 to replace a flat roof above the meeting room, vestry and toilets. Examples of the parishs community engagement include its involvement with a Forum of Faiths, chaired by one of the team vicars, which brings together representatives of local churches, synagogues, the two Muslim groups in the town and the Bhaktivedanta Manor Hindu community. Another initiative is the Messy Mass offered at St Nicholas church. Messy Mass grew out of a request from several families who found it impossible to attend church on Sundays but who wanted to have an experience of church. Around 25-45 people gather for each Mass (held weekly during term time) to sing, play, celebrate communion, engage in craft activities and eat and drink and talk together. It is a noisy, happy, friendly and spiritual experience. The grants from the City Church Fund have been vital in supporting a team committed to the spiritual and pastoral needs of the community it serves and the challenge of relating faith to life today.

The Diocese of Guildford

The diocese of Guildford receives the smallest proportion of the City Church Fund monies available for dioceses 2.27%. In 2008-10, the diocese allocated the City Church Fund funding to clergy stipends. A revised parish share system, introduced in 2007, enables the diocese to target the City Church Fund grants to the needier parishes. For further information please contact: [email protected]

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Use of the funding by the City Churches

In 2008-10, 4,278,746 was paid from the City Church Fund for the benefit of the 38 Church of England churches in the City of London. The funding was used for essential repairs and maintenance of the buildings and for other items such as insurance. Without this very significant support many of the churches all of which are listed Grade 1 could not have been kept open. A small portion of the funding totalling 93,420 in 2008-10 is paid annually in small sums to 30 City Churches. The remainder is applied by the Bishop of London, on the advice of the City Churches Grants Committee (CCGC). The CCGC is chaired by the Archdeacon of London and its members are the Area Dean of the City, the lay Chair of the City deanery synod, the Chief Executive of London diocese and the Chairman of the London Diocesan Finance Committee. When looking at how to recommend to the Bishop which grants to award, the CCGC is mindful not just of need but also of the extent to which the church is used (outcomes and impact), and of the opportunities for the building to generate income that supports its wider objectives of mission and charitable endeavour. The CCGC tries to ensure that, in awarding its funding, it promotes good business planning that leads to sustainability. The City Churches are well used buildings, both for faith-based activity and for a wide range of secular activity by third sector partner organisations. They are the only real community venues in the City and they host or provide counselling services, blood donor sessions, twelve-step groups, social enterprise projects with the homeless, police surgeries and much else. Over 40,000 people visit a City Church each week for a non faith reason. With the growth of the Big Society agenda the City Churches are looking to further strengthen their partnerships and the work they already do in educational attainment, debt and housing advice and mentoring of excluded young people. They are proud that their work with the City of London Corporation enabled the Corporation to become one of the first accredited Fairtrade local authorities. In addition the work of JustShare based at St Mary-le-Bow has directly led to, amongst many other things, the creation of a microfinance initiative (Arcubus) in Sub-Saharan Africa. All of the work of the City Churches is enabled through their own fundraising and there is no Government support. The City Churches spend over 1m on their buildings annually over and above the funding provided by the City Church Fund and it remains a constant challenge to maintain them. The Churches are fortunate that a proportion of the necessary repairs can be funded by the City Church Fund, thus helping to free up their clergy, lay leaders and congregations in their mission and outreach in the City. For further information please contact the Clerk to the City Churches Grants Committee, Martin Sargeant, at: [email protected]

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Case studies The Church of St Sepulchre, Holborn

In recent years over 500,000 has been awarded from the City Church Fund via the CCGC to the church of St Sepulchre Holborn, and this has enabled a complete transformation of the building. The development work has included installing a new heating system, adding new office space in the north-west corner of the church to complement the existing meeting room, undertaking some re-ordering of the altar, choir stalls and pulpits to their pre-1932 positions and creating a larger usable space in the main body of the church for concerts and recitals and a more intimate space for smaller services, and adding additional toilet facilities. A second phase of development, planned for 2011/12, will include a complete internal redecoration of the building and re-ordering the north-east corner to provide further facilities. Much work has been done to develop the ministry and outreach of the church. The church council has been revitalised and, hand in hand with the repair programme, there has been a business plan to ensure adequate income streams to maintain the building and achieve long term sustainability. This church now operates at about the break even level in financial terms, is regularly open to the public and is expanding its community outreach. There is still work to do to finish the necessary building works but what was, ten years ago, a locked and almost derelict church is now a much in demand central location which is used for worship and by charities and community groups. The church is recognised today as a centre of musical excellence with its own teaching programme and is known as the National Musicians Church.

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The Church of All Hallows by the Tower

Over the last few years the City Church Fund, via the CCGC, has given large grants of over 300,000 to the church of All Hallows by the Tower for essential repairs to stonework, the tower and the crypt. This has enabled the church to remain open, with a ministry to tourists and local workers and residents, and, also importantly, to build up its work with education and social enterprise. All Hallows is home to a highly successful series of Arts in Education programmes for London primary schools, staged in partnership with Clios Company. Each year, the church works with nearly a thousand children and teachers, a high proportion of whom are from Tower Hamlets, Hackney, Camden and Southwark areas including some of the most economically disadvantaged wards in the country. In recent years All Hallows has been active in brokering and playing a leading role in partnerships that deliver substantial public benefit. These range from low cost counselling in partnership with other City Churches, the Westminster Pastoral Foundation and the Wakefield Trust, to a social enterprise training homeless people in catering skills delivered in partnership with the Beyond Boyle Foundation and the St Mungos Charity. These partnerships are not easy, and sometimes break down, often because long term funding is difficult to secure, but they demonstrate the importance of the City Churches both their buildings and their clergy and lay leaders in helping to deliver these important initiatives.

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The Church of St Mary-le-Bow

Generous grants from the City Church Fund via the CCGC to the church of St Mary-le-Bow have, over the last three years, helped ensure the stability of the building and the safety and comfort of the congregation and the many others who use the church facilities. Grants of 35,000 in 2008 and 48,000 in 2009 completed a programme funded by the City Church Fund to secure and then replace all of the wooden louvre boards (which had begun to fall in 2004 and were a danger to the public) on the four faces of the church tower. A further generous grant in 2010 enabled the installation of a lift allowing the disabled and wheelchair bound access to the body of St Mary-le-Bow for the first time. These, and other, vital grants from the City Church Fund have secured the fabric of this church for the foreseeable future and ensured safe access for all. This has in turn enabled the ministry at St Mary-le-Bow to flourish. The churchs outreach work includes support for the work of JustShare a coalition of churches and charities committed to global development and social justice. JustShare is based at St Mary-le-Bow which hosts many of its events. In 2010 JustShare established Arcubus, a new charity which encourages the City to support and fund microfinance projects in Africa. The PCC of St Mary-le-Bow employs a JustShare Co-ordinator for two days a week and gives the Co-ordinator office space and equipment free of charge and has seconded the Co-ordinator to Arcubus for one of those days. Another charity to emerge from the support of the PCC is the St Mary-le-Bow Homeless Project which takes up to ten homeless people, aged 18-24, from Londons hostels and the streets into large and safe flats owned by the Peabody Trust. The Project provides a range of support services to the young people with the aim of helping them to lead an independent life. None of the young people whom the Project has helped in the twelve years of its life has reverted to the streets and homelessness. St Mary-le-Bow remains grateful for the support of the City Church Fund.

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For more copies of this report, please contact: The (Resource) Strategy and Development Unit Church Commissioners Church House Great Smith Street London SW1P 3AZ Telephone: 020 7898 1620 E-mail: [email protected] www.churchofengland.org/about-us/structure/ churchcommissioners.aspx The Church Commissioners are a registered charity number 1140097 For further information about the work of the Trust for London, please contact the Trust at: 6 Middle Street London EC1A 7PH Telephone: 020 7606 6145 E-mail: [email protected] www.trustforlondon.org.uk Charity Registration Number: 205629

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