Diocese of Leeds Enews+ November 7

Welcome to Enews+ for November 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

Parish share requests are going out today

Guidance for completing the Statistics for Mission form

Church Revitalisation

Growing Confidence in Prayer - A Conversation tonight!
A Coaching Conversation
Finding and Working with Interns - A Conversation

Children, Young People and Families Team

Resourcing and supporting parishes
Calling Messy Church Teams
Staying connected

Church Buildings and Pastoral Reorganisation Team

Energy costs and health and safety
Understanding Health & Safety Responsibilities for Churches

Lay Training Team

Lay training courses

Environment Team

Call to prayer for COP27
Eco Advent Resources
God's Green Fingers: Issue 45
Saving Creation: Six Steps to Carbon Net Zero webinar

Stewardship and Income Generation Team

Training webinar on how to use the diocese’s grant finding database

Resources

Vacancies

Other Useful Links and Information

From the Desk of the Diocesan Secretary

Dear all,

This month’s Enews+ is jam-packed full of items which hopefully will be of interest. I know there are a lot of things coming to you at the moment, and we have tried to capture as many here as possible, but if you have got any questions please do get in touch.

Money has been a dominant feature of my inbox over the last couple of weeks. It has been great to give out the money from the Church Commissioners, and hear the many stories of churches saying this will help them a lot. If you haven’t confirmed bank details or wish to apply for the small amount of the pot for further missional activity then please do so by Friday, November 11, so we can process it all. We also plan to respond to all those who made a personal application for hardship very shortly.

Later today you will also receive the 2023 Share Request, along with information as to where share goes. Please do share this guide widely with your PCC and those in our churches. Share is always a difficult topic to talk about, but it is vital for the future of our church – if there is more we can do to help explain or support please do get in touch.

Finally, Statistics for Mission. I know this can be annoying and another task. But, if you can complete the attendance for October and submit those now, it will massively help us with understanding the wider position in the diocese and what we need to be focusing on. You will still need to do the finance inputs in the new year, but the attendance data will be there and saved so there is no extra work as such. Guidance on what to do is available – please do ask.

Thank you for all you do.

Jonathan

New from Church House

Parish share requests are going out today

This note is to make you aware that the parish share requests will be going out later today (Monday, November 7). The request will come by email, and will also include a new concise guide explaining share introduced by Bishop Nick, and a link to a new Parish Share Explained video. Please email resourcingparishes@leeds.anglican.org with any questions.

Guidance for completing the Statistics for Mission form

The 2022 Statistics for Mission form is now open on the Parish Return System. Please could you update your return with your October attendance figures in your building plus any Church at Home during that time before Friday, November 11.

The following steps offer guidance on how to add your October attendance figures:

First, gather your figures from Service registers and any other records held about your Fresh Expressions and other forms of worship, for the first four weeks of October beginning Sunday, October 2 to Saturday, October 29. If possible, keep separate figures for adults and children.
Go onto the online Parish Return System.
Sign in as usual with your username and password.
Choose the ‘Enter data’ box.
Choose the 2022 Statistics for Mission Return.
From the front-page menu, on the left side tabs, please add information into the two sections ‘October Count’ and ‘Church at home’.
Click on the ‘October Count’ tab to enter the data you have collected into the boxes for each week. Then click on ‘Save and return to menu’.
Next, click on the ‘Church at home’ tab. Add the information requested then press ‘save and return to the menu’.
Do NOT press submit at this stage. Provided you have pressed ‘Save and Return to Main Menu’ on both the October count and Church at home pages, you can safely leave the website knowing your data have been entered.

Growing Confidence in Prayer - A Conversation tonight!

It is not too late to book in for tonight’s (Monday, November 7) conversation about Growing Confidence in Prayer. This is co-hosted with Henriette Howarth and myself. We will gather online from 7.30pm - 9pm. Email charlie.scott@leeds.anglican.org for a link.

Revd Jude Smith

Director of Church Revitalisation

A Coaching Conversation

Are you experienced in coaching? We are thinking about how we might offer coaching in various settings as part of Barnabas: Encouraging Confidence. I am keen to listen for the wisdom of people who are already involved in coaching in the workplace or other volunteering settings. If you have 20 minutes to spare for a chat, please email me jude.smith@leeds.anglican.org.

Revd Jude Smith

Director of Church Revitalisation

Finding and Working with Interns - A Conversation

Come and join in a conversation about finding and working with interns on Wednesday, November, 16 from 7.30pm - 9pm, online on Zoom.

This is an opportunity to:

hear about our Diocesan intern scheme which equips young adults for life, work and leadership and as disciples of Christ through placements in churches and training;
find out how we can support you with finding and recruiting potential interns and hear from those who are currently line managing interns: what does it look like to invest in an intern over a year? What would the church need to commit to? How do we find interns?

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 the Diocese through the internship scheme.

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

We very much look forward to hearing from you,

Rev Joanna Seabourne, Director of Interns at the Diocese of Leeds

Resourcing and supporting parishes

We have two online workshops this month; our evening looking at Resourcing Advent and Christmas for All Ages is now taking place on Wednesday, November 9, so it’s not too late to book and then we have a second opportunity to join Finding Funding for your Church’s Youth Work on Tuesday, November 15.

Calling Messy Church Teams

We are working on a project to support Messy Churches to grow and flourish in their contexts and would love to hear from you if you’re interested in learning more. Please email childrenyouth@leeds.anglican.org to register your interest.

Staying connected

If you would like to receive the Children, Young People and Family 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.

Energy costs and health and safety

Many of us are making difficult choices this winter about how we might reduce energy costs in our homes, and we face similar challenges for our church buildings. The good news is, that there are various things that can be done to reduce energy needs, without causing too much disruption. The church buildings team has worked with Wellsprings to produce a cost of living toolkit which can be accessed here, and there are presentations available on the diocesan website from recent training given by the church buildings and stewardship officers.

There are also some really useful and user-friendly guidance notes and videos on the Church of England’s website, accessible here and here.

Also, a friendly reminder to ensure you keep up with maintenance of your church buildings and church halls, including having professional gutters clearing carried out after the autumn leaf fall. Water and damp getting into your building will make it colder and more expensive to heat. More on this can be found here.

With the approach of wetter and frostier weather, also make sure that your health and safety plans are up-to-date, as trips and slips can be more frequent in this weather.

Understanding Health & Safety Responsibilities for Churches

Wednesday, March 15, 2023, 2pm - 3pm; Church House, in-person session

Heather Ford, Church Insurance Consultant with Ecclesiastical will be leading this session on Health & Safety. Using easy to understand language, it will explain why managing health and safety effectively is important, provide an overview of health & legislation relevant to churches and offer a step by step guide and the tools to enable churches to feel more confident in managing their health and safety responsibilities.

To book on any of the Autumn 2022 training sessions, please contact Rob Andrews, Team Coordinator at rob.andrews@leeds.anglican.org.

Lay training courses

Self-paced course on Dementia and Faith

Immediate self-enrolment available. A new self-study course rich in resources, information and offering an opportunity to engage with others on this important topic. For people who are learning to live with dementia, for those sharing the journey with them, and for church communities looking to provide appropriate care and support. More information here.

Pastoral Assistant Training (Online) starts January 2023

The course is open to anyone who has a heart for caring for people and covers topics such as dementia care, bereavement and loss, care of families, and so on. More information here.

Spiritual Conversations course (Online) Starts Monday, November 14, 7pm

A two-session introductory course which explores how to have a nurturing and spiritually encouraging conversation with someone. More information here.

Mental Health First Aid Training (Church House) Friday, November 21, 9am - 5pm

An opportunity to learn more about the pastoral care of people with mental health problems. More information here.

Preparing to Take Funerals Saturday, November 19, St Philip’s Church, Scholes, LS15 4DL, 10.30am - 4pm

An opportunity for all Licensed Lay Ministers (Readers) to develop an understanding of, and build confidence in, funeral ministry. This is an event for any Licensed Lay Ministers who may be called upon to take funerals or are simply interested in exploring funeral ministry. More information here.

Call to prayer for COP27

Easy to use resources for daily services and personal prayer. Global action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is imperative and yet individual nations can find it hard to commit to the economic and social polices required. Each year the talks try to bring about this collaboration to protect for our global home, God’s earth. Join others across the diocese in praying daily for the COP27 international climate change talks that will be taking place from Sunday, November 6 - Friday, November 18 in Egypt. Sign up to receive our daily prayer bulletin during COP27. Sign up here. Download prayers for daily services here.

Eco Advent Resources

Advent book and prayers for services in Advent. Sleepers Wake, the Archbishop of York’s Advent Book 2022, explores the reality of climate change and how Advent is an opportunity for us to wake up, sense the urgency and begin to make radical change. With exhilaration and passion, Nicholas Holtham draws on his experience as former Church of England lead Bishop for the environment to urge us to transform ourselves, spiritually and culturally, so we can all do our part to preserve our world for future generations. Download short prayers focused around the advent ring which could be used this advent in your church services or at home here.

God's Green Fingers: Issue 45

Good news from our churches for people and planet, resources, events, ready to print magazine articles, top tips and an eco-joke. Read November’s diocesan environmental newsletter here.

Saving Creation: Six Steps to Carbon Net Zero webinar

Tuesday, November 22, 4.30pm; Wednesday, February 1 2023, 5pm; Thursday, April 27 2023, 7.30pm

This webinar is designed to help you get started on the journey to becoming a carbon net zero church, taking you through the Six Steps to Carbon Net Zero Church Toolkit. Watch the short Saving Creation video here. Webinar details and registration here.

Training webinar on how to use the diocese’s grant finding database

In early summer we reported that we now have access to one of the UK's largest funding portals called Open4Community on which can you search for local and national grant funders that could potentially fund your church’s ministry and mission.

Over the last few months we have been able to provide a number of churches with details of grant funders who could potentially help fund projects ranging from building repairs, green energy & community facility improvements.

The training webinar will show you how to search the live database yourself and will take place on Tuesday, November 15, at 2pm. Matthew Godfrey from Open4Community will lead the training and you will also have an opportunity to follow up with a free 1:1 session with Matthew to search for specific project grants.

This session is being run in collaboration with the Diocese of Manchester and all are welcome to join the event.

Please click here to register your place on EventBrite.

Resources

The Diocese of Leeds has 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.

Following a series of difficult Christmases, churches across the Church of England are hoping that 2022 offers a chance to welcome people back to services and events that haven’t been possible recently with the Great Invitation. Discover resources to invite your community back to church this Christmas. Read 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

For all vacancies across the diocese please follow the links below:

For clergy vacancies across the diocese click here.

For educational vacancies across the diocese click here.

For non clergy vacancies across the diocese click here.