THE Strategic Mission and Ministry Investment Board (SMMIB) has agreed £4.8 million of partnerships so far in 2025, and for the first time is funding an online gaming initiative.
Emmaus Gaming (EG), which explores digital evangelism and discipleship through online gaming, has been awarded £468,637 this year. The funding does not involve the development of an app, but will facilitate live streaming on existing platforms, in-person tournaments, and training for churches in digital discipleship.
SMMIB hopes that the investment will connect with 100,000 people across EG social media channels, as well as develop a community of 300 young people on the messaging app Discord. The aim is to reach the online gaming community in evangelism and discipleship.
A total of £11 million has been agreed by SMMIB across 2023, 2024, and 2025 and centres on partnerships that support “parishes in sharing the Christian faith with their communities” and are “particularly focused on children and young people”, they say. The funding is expected to reach 5500 parishes.
Bubble Church is another recipient of funding this year. It is an initiative set up by the Ascension, Balham Hill, which uses puppets, simple liturgy, songs, and Bible stories to introduce families to faith. The £1-million funding grant will “train 250 new local churches to run Bubble Church, having already grown from four to 75 churches with previous investment”.
In 2023, the charity Youthscape, which supports disadvantaged young people, was awarded £1,292,595 for its Launchpad scheme: an initiative that helps clergy to formulate plans to work with young people in their parishes (News, 21 May 2024).
SMMIB reports that this funding has already enabled Youthscape to work with 18 dioceses: “85% of churches that have completed the programme have started youth work where previously there was none.”
The charity has been granted £1,987,152 this year, which will give Youthscape the “capacity to work with all dioceses in the Church of England, supporting a further 950 clergy to start youth work, training 2,300 volunteers and providing materials to disciple young people in 3,500 churches”, SMMIB reports.
Alison Coulter, an appointed member of SMMIB and Vice-Chair of the General Synod’s House of Laity said: “These organisations are working with parishes on initiatives that are contributing to the Church of England’s mission to double the number of children and young active disciples by 2030. We look forward to seeing how God continues to use these programmes and projects to bring the Good News of Jesus to many more young people.”
SMMIB hopes that the partnerships will strengthen local mission through “providing training for outreach and engagement with children, young people, and their families; establishing new worshipping communities; enhancing the effectiveness of digital evangelism and discipleship; addressing pressing missional challenges; and collaborating with networks to extend their reach and share learning and resources”.