Bishop Philip addressed Diocesan Synod last week (20 November 2025) and shared an update on our progress with our bid for funding from the national church. This is the money awarded by SMMIB (the Strategic Mission and Ministry Investment Board).
This follows on from the diocesan-wide consultation that was carried out earlier this year: Our Next Bid – Have Your Say – Diocese of Winchester when we asked everyone to look at the draft plans. We were so appreciative of the helpful and constructive comments we received in response. The draft bid included three strands:
- The Benefice Development Programme
- The Growing Rural Parishes Programme
- Believing in Bournemouth and Southampton
You can read the full text of Bishop Philip’s speech here which is a fulsome account of our current position, but here is an edited version which explains where we are currently with the bid:
Our plan was not as warmly welcomed by the SMIIB board as we might have hoped. While we continue to develop Believing in Bournemouth and Believing in Southampton, the concerns from the SMMIB officers were threefold:
- The lack of measurable results from the Growing Rural Parishes Programme
- Due to our desire to ensure that any bid we made reached every part of the diocese, not just a favoured few, the Benefice Development Programme was viewed as lacking focussed intention and being essentially a regranting programme
- Despite having some agreed strategic priorities, the board perceived a lack of a diocesan vision and strategy, partly due to Bishop Philip’s purposefully non-interventionist approach and his favouring the more invitational vision of Walking the Wessex Way.
We are now in the process of re-working the bid, with the aim of submitting in June 2026. We are conscious that the more care we take, the better placed we will be to ensure our bid is successful.
In addition, to help bring some objectivity and clarity to the process, the Bishop’s Office is retaining an experienced consultant (on the bishop’s account, funded by the Church Commissioners so at no cost to the Diocese). Her remit will be to clear the ground, develop a road map, and identify gaps we need to fill. She will also articulate some of the ‘sticky’ questions that we need to answer in order to proceed.
Please do pray for all involved in developing the bid, that they would hold on to ‘faith, hope and love’ as they continue working hard to submit a bid that is successful and will build up our diocesan community.
