Press Release

Campaigners from the group Save the Parish today celebrate one year since the formation of their group.One year ago today, the Rev’d Marcus Walker gathered members of the Church of England at his church in London. With an audience of over 200 in person and thousands online, he, alongside the Rev’d Prof. Alison Milbank and the Rev’d Stephen Trott launched a campaign for General Synod, with people committing to stand under the banner “Save the Parish.”

Campaign group Save the Parish (STP) last week (Thurs 7th July) held their summer conference in York, a day before the General Synod kicked off.

STP attracted over 100 attendees to their event at All Saints’ Pavement in the city centre,
which hosted the Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell after a last minute change to the
running order.

In an exciting, last-minute addition to their plans- Stephen Cottrell, the Archbishop of York- is to attend a conference event hosted by campaign group Save the Parish (STP) this week in York.

The conference- which is to take place this Thursday (7th July)- is billed as a day to “hear from and meet with those on the STP team, listen to some excellent presentations by friends of the campaign, and get to know fellow supporters.” It is hoped it will be a ‘rallying cry’ for the Parish campaign one day before this summer’s General Synod.

Campaigners from Save the Parish (STP) have reacted to today’s announcement by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York of a new £1.2 billion, three-year fund to deliver grant money for “the revitalisation of parish and local ministry.”

The Bishop of Truro has curtly refused to meet campaigners fighting church cuts – while setting up a costly new unit to force through controversial multimillion-pound changes in the Diocese.

The Bishop of Truro, the Rt Rev Philip Mounstephen, this week refused outright to meet supporters of Save The Parish, who called for an open, honest and transparent audit of Diocesan finances, including costly evangelical initiatives like Transforming Mission in five towns in Cornwall.