On 4th September 2025, the Second Church Estates Commissioner, Marsha De Cordova MP, gave the following written answers to questions from an MP:
Church Services: Internet
Andrew Rosindell MP (Con, Romford): To ask the hon. Member for Battersea, representing the Church Commissioners, what funds the Commissioners allocate to parish churches for the enabling of online church services.
Marsha De Cordova MP (Lab, Battersea): Since 2018 the Church of England has provided specialist training and resources for parishes on how to use digital channels to grow their worshipping communities, through a programme called Digital Labs. With weekly blogs, regular webinars, and on-demand videos, this content has been seen more than 90,000 times a year. Bespoke in-person training and Digital Labs Clinics, where churches receive one-to-one advice and support, are also available.
Building capacity and expertise through the work of Digital Labs has helped parishes across the country to share their services online. In 2024, our church-finder site www.AChurchNearYou.com(opens in a new tab) listed 2,444 online services for the public to watch.
The National Church Institutions also provide a weekly national online church service. This service airs every Sunday at 9 a.m. on the Church of England’s Facebook page, YouTube channel, and website. It is an essential resource for housebound individuals, those with caring responsibilities, and shift workers. It continues to be viewed over 150,000 times a week. The Church also offers services and prayer resources available through the Daily Prayer app, smart speakers and the free Daily Hope telephone line.
Clergy
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the hon. Member for Battersea, representing the Church Commissioners, how many ordinations to (a) the diaconate and (b) the priesthood there have been in each year since 1993.
Marsha De Cordova: The National Church Institutions only hold limited central data on the number of ordinations of deacons and priests. Diocesan bishops, together with some area bishops and Diocesan Directors of Ordinands, are responsible for assessing the vocations of candidates for the priesthood and deciding locally which are ready for deaconing and priesting. What information is available centrally is regularly published as part of ministry statistics on the Church of England website (under ‘About’, then ‘Data Services’)
The initial formation period for candidates is part of a discernment process, and not every candidate who begins training will complete it within a fixed timeframe or be considered ready for ordination as a deacon or priest at the end. Because vocations and ordinations are personal, comparing data year-on-year is usually less helpful than examining longer-term trends.
The trend seen in the centrally available data shows that since 1997, the number of deacons ordained has roughly doubled, and since 2007, it has stayed relatively steady. Efforts are already underway to address the recent decrease in the number of candidates for deacon.
Level of Ordination by year (Deacons)
1997: 262
2001: 295
2002: 313
2003: 333
2007: 552
2008: 574
2009: 564
2010: 563
2011: 504
2012: 494
2013: 484
2014: 500
2015: 498
2016: 484
2017: 488
2018: 503
2019: 580
2020: 580
2021: 610
2022: 540
Level of Ordination by year (Deacons and Priests)
2023: 513 Deacons, 519 Priests
2024: 462 Deacons, 508 Priests
The Church of England in Parliament 
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