Flourishing Congregations Making a Difference
The Gospel invites us to celebrate the good news of God’s saving love. That’s what lies behind our shared diocesan vision for Growing in God adopted in 2016. God wants us to grow as his beloved children, he wants us to grow as loving communities, he wants us to grow in sharing his love beyond ourselves in both our words and actions.
Our priorities
Growing in Depth - to deepen our awareness of God with us through prayer and vibrant worship, centring our lives on Jesus Christ through the proclamation of the Word and the celebration of the Eucharist.
Growing in Influence - to participate in God’s loving movement towards the world in partnership with other congregations, denominations and people of good will.
Growing in number - to witness to the person and way of Jesus Christ, in word and worship, in service and daily life, inviting others into the fullness of life found in him.
Growing Younger - to engage all generations, allowing them to shape how we do church and investing in them as present and future ministers of the gospel; to develop our congregations to reflect the age profile of the context in which they are set
“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth" 1 Corinthians 3:6
A series of resources will be provided to support Growing in God during 2022 - 2026 including:
| Website link | ||
| Vocations | A series of events, courses and training are being offered throughout the year highlighting different vocations. |
Search for our courses, events and resources on Insight here. |
| Plan for Growth |
Research into church growth suggests that “churches that intend to grow, tend to grow”. Therefore, we have provided new resources to help benefices create a Plan for Growth to help them flourish in their own unique context. |
Resources available here. |
| Suffolk Ministry Development Programme |
To support our existing ministers, we are investing in a 18-month programme that includes residentials, study days and ongoing support. There are currently five cohorts working at various stages of the programme, and it is intended that all leaders will have access to this in the future. |
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| Growing in God Growth fund | We are pleased to announce that the Growth fund is available for 2022 to 2026. The fund supports projects with a clear missional objective. | www.cofesuffolk.org/growth-fund |
| A refocus on Growing Younger | Funding has been allocated for innovative and inspirational work with children, young people and their families especially in areas of existing opportunities. | Growing Younger our website here. |
| INSIGHT | Website offering courses, events and resources to all audiences. Please click here to register. | Home Page - Insight CofE Suffolk |
Other projects:
The diocese received Strategic Development Funding over seven years (2019 – 2025) from the national Church of England for two major growth projects – Inspiring Ipswich and Growing in God in the Countryside.
Inspiring Ipswich, which was supported by £2.7 million, exceeded its ambitious outcomes – making 36,376 new contacts with those outside the Church, including top-up shops, school assembly and prayer spaces, messy churches and Christmas services. The size of the total worshipping community within Ipswich has increased by 20% between 2019 and 2024, showing the impact the project has had on the town’s church numbers.
The Growing in God in the Countryside project was supported by £2.3 million and aimed to grow congregations in more rural areas, especially through the small groups of the Lightwave Community. As of 2025, 41 of these small groups exist, with 19% of benefices within the diocese now having a small ecclesial group engaging in outreach.
The independent evaluation of the project can be found here:
End-of-project external evaluation by Brendan Research | PDF
