Announcement 22 March 2026

We are delighted to announce that the parish of St Leonard Hollington (Church in the Wood) will be joining St Matthew’s Church and St Ethelburga’s Church to create a new family of churches later this year.

As part of this new partnership, the Diocese of Chichester will be investing £168,000 to help subsidise a second full time member of clergy and £200,000 to help fund two new lay workers over the next 6 years.  The first of these two lay roles will be a full time Families and Schools Worker to be based at St Matthews but with a brief for outreach to schools across the parishes and the second will be a full time Families and Community Worker to be based at Church in the Wood but with a brief for community outreach work across the churches.

We are also excited to announce a new partnership with Ashburnham Trust to help provide a new weekly community café in Hollington which will start later this summer.

We believe that this investment and the appointment of new staff will help us significantly as we seek to put into action the Diocesan Vision of helping people know, love and follow Jesus. 

We are very grateful to God for all our partners who have helped make this project possible and we trust the LORD that he may be at work among us in the years ahead.