Diocese of Chichester

Rural Development

Around 70% of the Diocese of Chichester is designated as rural. This brings with it a series of opportunities and challenges in what is church is and its place within its community. We offer support for rural parishes through working one to one with clergy and PCCs, to help them to develop vision and plan a way forward. Contact Rural Officer for help in this.

For national resources and support, Germinate at the Arthur Rank Centre is an independent ecumenical charity that helps UK rural communities flourish by inspiring, encouraging and equipping local churches. They do this in three distinct but overlapping ways:

• Church Life: supporting congregations with resources for worship, discipleship and the maintenance and creative use of buildings
• Mission: helping communities flourish by equipping rural churches to identify and meet local physical, social and spiritual needs
• Training: developing leaders and church members through training programmes, events, conferences and learning communities