21 January 2026
Funded by the Mission Opportunity Fund, the "Discover the Bible" course at Holy Trinity, South Woodford, will run six Saturday mornings across the year to help partcipants grow their knowledge of the bible.
At the heart of Chelmsford' Diocese's Travelling Well Together, is a commitment to enabling and empowering parishes and worshipping communities to discern how they are to be God’s people in their own very different local contexts and as part of one diocesan family.
The Mission Opportunity Fund (MOF) was established as an integral part of our Parish Share Scheme in 2023 and is available for deaneries to apply to in order to support locally discerned missional work across parish boundaries within their deanery. Since its introduction, many deaneries in our diocese have successfully applied for funds to support cross parish mission and ministry within their deanery.
In recent months we have shared several good news stories from deaneries, including from the deaneries of Chelmsford and Colchester.
The Rev'd Abi Todd, Vicar of Holy Trinity South Woodford,in the Redbridge Deanery explains more about a new bible course hosted at her church which is funded by the MOF:
"We have been thrilled time and again in the last couple of years to celebrate new people coming to faith with baptisms, confirmations and professions of faith at our church, Holy Trinity South Woodford. We praise God for all that He is doing! We are finding that many people, whether new believers or not, want to grow in their knowledge of the bible, and that biblical illiteracy is holding them back from being truly confident as disciples.
"As I shared these thoughts at our deanery standing committee meeting, others around the table were experiencing similar situations - the joys of new believers and the challenge of helping people get to grips with the bible - regardless of churchmanship. This is truly a God-given opportunity! At Holy Trinity, we put together an application to the Mission Opportunity Fund to run six Saturday mornings across the year called “Discover the Bible”, and we are starting this weekend.""We would love to welcome anyone from across the diocese to join us for these mornings, lay or ordained, and whether new Christian or mature believer. We are well located on bus and tube routes, and have a car park and free on-street parking at weekends. Thanks to MOF we are offering every session free of charge (and providing coffee and croissants!) If you would like printed leaflets for your church, please let me know (abi.todd@htsw.org.uk) and I will post some to you. Please join me in praying for these sessions, that they will truly equip the body of Christ for mission and deepen our love for God and his word.
The first of these sessions took place on Saturday 17 January. The next session is taking place on Saturday 14 March, you can sign up here.
