Who’s who in the diocesan office?
What is the Diocesan Office team, and what is it for?
The Diocesan Office exists to support the work of our parishes, and to ensure that the Diocese (including the registered charity called the Diocesan Board of Finance) meets its legal obligations. When we talk about ourselves, we often use the phrase “Parish Support Hub”, which describes the ethos we aim for.
What does the team do? Our main focus is on providing support and assistance in a range of areas which it would be impossible or uneconomical for parishes to cover themselves – governance and Registry, care of church buildings, clergy housing, safeguarding, training for ministry, communications and HR. There is also a specialist team which works with our Church schools and helps parishes to engage better with them: this team is mainly funded by income from the services it provides to schools.
With the exception of a contribution to the costs of the work of the Clergy Housing team, and to the support given by the Mission and Ministry Team to curate training (both of which are explicit components of the calculation of Ministry Share), the costs of the Diocesan Office are not met by Ministry Share from parishes, but by other income of the Diocesan Board of Finance as a separate charity.
A fairly recent addition to the Diocesan Office is the Transformation Support Hub, which supports the whole Diocese in working towards its strategic Transformation Priorities. This team is funded by the National Church.
Quite a number of the team work part-time. Many also volunteer in their local churches and communities, just like the volunteers in the churches we serve.
The following pages give more detail on the support provided by the individual teams, and on who is who within them.
