15/08/2023
Funding of £9.4 million has been approved to support dioceses with the costs of nearly 70 additional stipendiary curacy posts across the Church of England this year, has been announced.
The grant, approved by the Strategic Mission and Ministry Investment Board (SMMIB), will support 68.5 additional stipendiary curacy posts for deacons ordained this year.
The funds have been made from the Diocesan Investment Programme to ensure that there is no shortfall in the number of available stipendiary curacy posts.
A further £8.4 million of indicative funding has been approved by the Board for additional curacies in 2024.
Rev Helen Fraser, Head of Vocations and Deputy Director of the Ministry Development Team for the Church of England, said “Once again I am delighted that dioceses will receive this support in their ongoing provision of excellent training in curacy. I am grateful to training incumbents and IME2 – (second stage of initial ministerial education) officers as they nurture these new deacons in this important stage of ministry.”
Rev LJ Tiffney (pictured above) is one of 14 deacons ordained this summer at Blackburn Cathedral. She has begun work as a curate at St Thomas’s Church, an estate parish in Blackpool.
She trained at Emmanuel Theological College after having completed the Ministry Experience Scheme – a year long placement for young adults aged between 18 and 30 years - at Freedom Church in Mereside, Blackpool.
She said: “I am thrilled to be at St Thomas’s - I feel that God is calling me to be here and I see God at work through the stories of the people who live in the parish.”