We are a family of over 320 churches, 234 parishes, almost 100 schools and academy trusts, and a growing number of fresh expressions of Church, in villages, market towns and the city of Leicester across 10 deaneries. We often describe ourselves as a rural diocese with urban heartlands and meet in church buildings, houses, community spaces and schools, with chaplaincies extending our ministry into other areas of community life.  

With the Kingdom of God as our vision, we look to encourage every Christian in their faith, vocation, and ministry as they grow in the depth of their own faith, share their faith in conversation with others, and look for opportunities to act in loving service of others. We often describe this as "everyday faith." Our new Shaped By God Together Minster Communities framework will help our local worshipping communities to grow the Kingdom of God and live out our everyday faith. 

We encourage ourselves to live our everyday faith by focussing on “everyday prayer”, “everyday witness” and “everyday action”. 

We have adopted five strategic priorities which are: 

New Communities, Intercultural Communities, Eco Communities,  Intergenerational Communities, and Reconciling Communities 

The Avon Swift benefice has 11 church congregations and 4 church schools. Our Associate Minister, Sharon March, is primarily involved with communities and more specifically with those who are not regular church goers.