Saving the Parish… now and for the future

Save the Parish is here to help you fight for your parish.

Advice for parishes facing an uncertain future

Welcome

Chief among the treasures of the Church of England is its parish system: the church, embedded in communities across the nation, served by priests dwelling among the people they serve, resourcing the laity who come to hear “the pure Word of God preached and the sacraments be duly ministered”.  

Save the Parish is a grassroots movement working to resource the parish system across the nation, ensuring the poorest communities are not abandoned, and that dioceses and the national church have, at their core, the call to put their parishes first.

By returning the billions of Church Commissioners’ assets to the funding of ordinary parish ministry, and streamlining the bloated costs and duplicated activities of dioceses, the Church could reignite a passion for Christ across the nation, bubbling up from the thousands of communities to which she ministers.

The Revd Marcus Walker, Chair of Save The Parish

NEW!

Save The Parish Leicestershire

Save The Parish – Leicestershire is launched!  
Opposition to ‘Minster Communities’ gathers strength. Read more

Latest News

A Parish Success Story

“The task of maintaining the individuality of our small parish church was daunting in a time when churches are amalgamating and closing countrywide, but to us our medieval church isn’t just a building, it’s the focal point of the village for generations past and present.

Graham and Susie Dunn, Dowland PCC
St Peter's Church Dowland

Our Purpose

That the church and its leaders recognise in deed and word that its greatest treasure is the parish system – composed of its people, clergy, and churches – and pledge to redirect the resources necessary to its flourishing, both in this generation and for the generations to come.

We will achieve this through:

  • Building public support through all forms of media, traditional and social.
  • Supporting PCCs and parishioners under threat.
  • Operating within General Synod to enhance the position and security of parishes & the parish system and to seek to block or diminish any threats to the parochial system.
  • Educating church, media, and public in the financial arguments for how the mission of the church can be revived by investment in the parish system and the priests to resource it.
  • Countering diocesan plans to create ‘mega-parishes’.
  • Identifying and seeking to eliminate diocesan waste.
  • Raising Parliamentary awareness and reinvigorating Parliamentary oversight of the CofE.
  • Building networks and connections with stakeholders in the Church of England.

Quotes of Support

You are not alone – parishes matter and people who love the parish are speaking out:

Can you help by making a donation?