We support the delivery of the Church of England’s six bold outcomes through the lens of the 20% most income deprived parishes in which over 22 million people live.

Learn more about our plan of action for estates evangelism.

We have a detailed list of ‘estate parishes’ across the country (i.e., parishes with 500 or more social housing homes) and have mapped those areas where church life currently appears to be weak or non-existent. We are using this data to target where we can work with a range of partners at national, regional and local level to address the gaps. If you would like a copy of the data, please contact [email protected].

You can find out the percentage of homes that were social housing (Council and Housing Association) in your area at the 2021 census by looking at the map here: Tenure of household - Census Maps, ONS. You can zoom in to local super output area and out to council areas. Please note that we don’t yet have the data at parish level.

We have worked with the National Estate Churches Network and Church Army Research Unit to review the lessons from four leadership identification/formation pathways from Birmingham, Blackburn, London and York specifically aimed at growing leaders from estates. The report was launched at a fringe event during February 2023 General Synod. Read more in the Growing Leaders on Urban Estates report.

Take a look at some of the fantastic work that’s happening across the Mustard Seed Community by those who have completed the Diocese of York’s Stepping Up Pathway.

We have developed partnerships with diocesan focal leads across the mainland and organisations who share our commitment to renewing church life on estates. Partner organisations include mission agencies, resource and training providers, other denominations via the Churches Together in England Urban Mission Group.

A key partner is the National Estates Churches Network (NECN), an ecumenical charity that provides a support network and useful resources for estate leaders, both lay and ordained.

Dave Champness works as the EETG’s part-time Project Officer. Part of his work is to collect examples of good practice in estates evangelism and share these with others. He is available to support dioceses and others engaged in this work and can be contacted via [email protected].

The Estates Theology Project brought together pairs of practitioners and theologians to ask the question, ‘Finding the treasure: What is the good news from the estates?’ You can listen to some of their findings in the mini-podcast series here.

‘The accompanying book, Finding the Treasure: Good News from the Estates by Al Barrett, was published in April 2023 by SPCK.

The EETG are keen to identify and share innovative ideas that may be of help to leaders of other estate parishes. Here are a few examples: 

1. Parish Twinning - the estate parish of Over Darwen near Blackburn, Lancashire twinned with the financially wealthier semi-rural parish of Brindle some 9 miles away resulting in positive outcomes for both communities. Watch a video about this project.
2. Perfect Peace - funded by SMMI Innovation funding - is a new project based in the estate parishes of Ipswich that will bring a fresh approach to encouraging discipleship in parent and toddler groups.