15/11/2021
The Church of England’s first Head of its new Growing Faith Foundation has been announced as Lucy Moore.
Lucy is a secondary school teacher by training who in 2004 began Messy Church. Originally a Fresh Expression in a church near Portsmouth, Messy Church now has more than 3,500 settings in over 30 countries.
The Growing Faith Concept began in 2019 to promote partnership between the church, school and household to encourage and nurture Christian faith in those of all ages within those communities.
This has resulted in a number of initiatives at diocesan and parish level, and a major series of ‘Faith at Home’ video resources, which were widely used during Covid-19 lockdown, including as Collective Worship for the Oak National online Academy.
The new Foundation will seek to build on and expand this work, and to be a strategic lead across the Church of England to grow a younger church and increase engagement with children and families in different settings.
The role is part-funded by a generous grant from AllChurches Trust.
The Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, said:
“We’re delighted that Lucy will bring her considerable gifts and experience to the important work of setting up the Growing Faith Foundation, which goes to the heart of the Church of England’s aim to grow younger and more diverse.
“Growing Faith has already become a key concept for engaging younger people in the home, at school and in church, and this is an exciting time as we develop resource through the Foundation, with the aim of helping more young people to encounter Jesus Christ.”
