In 2025, our Diocese took steps towards developing a new diocesan strategy. They employed a Head of Strategy, Ella Sibley (pictured above), who understood that to develop a meaningful strategy and embed it properly within the organisation, one had to start at the bottom.
So, over the last 8 months or so, she has had more than 200 one-to-one conversations and several group meetings with clergy and lay people across the Diocese. “Hearing from you about your calling, hopes for the future, and ideas for change has been a huge privilege and deep joy”, she writes.
If you visit our Diocesan website, and search for the Diocesan Strategy, it will take you to a document called “Walking Together in Faith”. This is a rather beige document, covering the things almost any Diocese would say they do, namely building up the churches, evangelism, working for a just & sustainable world, working for reconciliation, and resourcing our ministry. This is a good strategy, but it doesn’t say No to anything and isn’t targeted enough at the key issues which face us, the things we should put our energies into and the things we should probably not. I presume this is a previous strategy.
But there is then another page on the website, which you will find here, which points towards the new strategy which is being developed, and this is the process in which the Diocese is now engaged. Clergy across the Diocese have been emailed by Ella with an update on the strategy process so far, including a short form for people to feed into the process, here. Equally you can contact Ella Sibley by email, here: ella.sibley@churchofengland.org.
Why is this important for us? Because if an effective and meaningful strategy results from this process, it will require of the Diocese to make tough decisions as to where they wish to invest their resources. That may put pressure on certain Chaplaincies and may offer wonderful opportunities to others. We need to ensure our own mission to build the body of Christ here in Malaga, in the new and engaging ways that we are envisaging, is one of those areas where they can see fresh expressions of faith and new opportunities for growth.