The youth work team that supports churches across Brighton and Hove and the wider Diocese of Chichester is to be scrapped.
The team has been sent letters telling that their posts have been deleted as part of a restructure at Church House, the diocesan headquarters in Hove.
The Church of England said that the restructuring was necessary because the diocese’s unrestricted reserves were close to being exhausted.
In a statement the diocese said: “The Diocesan Board of Finance had to announce a restructuring proposal for Church House.
“This will result in several staff redundancies. Such a decision is never easy, and is the result of the severe financial pressure experienced by parishes over the last few years.
“The loss of posts at Church House is no reflection on the competence of the current post holders nor their significant contribution to the life of the church.
“It is a very hard decision based on our current financial situation.
“Considerable anxiety has been expressed about the future of YES (You, Equipped to Serve) and youth work in the diocese.
“This will be continued within an expanded education department, a development that links and underlines our commitment to young people.
“The diocese has run at a deficit for several years and the budget approved by Diocesan Synod earlier in the month accepted a prospective deficit of £241,000 for 2014 on the proviso that everything possible would be done to minimise costs and maximise return on assets.
“Running such deficits is unsustainable as the diocese’s unrestricted reserves are close to being exhausted. The status quo is no longer an option.
“Sadly, the restructuring proposal is the practical outworking of both this decision and the need to restrict requests for contribution increases to parishes to a realistic and affordable level.
“The primary agent of mission is the local church – and where resources are limited this must be the first call on our income.
“The Diocesan Board of Finance took the view that wider pastoral reorganisation will allow us in the medium term to come to a balanced position, but that these difficult decisions needed to be made in the short term.”
The youth team leader Ali Campbell wrote an impassioned blog post about the decision. He said: “We are now in a consultation period until (Thursday) 9 January.
“The actual wording pertaining to my post reads as follows: ‘I am sorry to say that your post has been deleted in the new structure and, as you will see, a single post of youth officer has been created that will eventually be part of the education team.’”
