Anglicare, the welfare arm of the Sydney Diocese, has announced major changes to its division responsible for church-focused services.

The re-thinkof the Diocesan Services Division was announced by Anglicare yesterday.

The announcement follows an article in this month's Southern Cross which reported that Anglicare was facing a potential $3 million deficit this year.

The changes - to come into effect at the end of 2006 - will primarily impact Anglicare’s cross-cultural ministry training, strategic planning services, demographic research services and the National Church Life Survey (NCLS).

"Anglicare is committed to continuing financial support for these services through until 2006," Anglicare Chief Operating Officer Peter Gardiner told sydneyanglicans.net.

"We will endeavour to find another location for them," he says.

Mr Gardiner explains the Anglicare Council will seek to "rehouse' these ministry services with other organisations.

He added that Anglicare will work as hard as possible to ensure any staff cuts are kept to a minimum.

Anglicare's two other main services for churches " support of parish-based ESL classes and emergency services management and training " will be merged into "the broad mix of welfare services that Anglicare provides', Mr Gardiner says.

The budget for hospital and prison chaplaincy will also be reduced by $500,000.

Mr Gardiner says this will result in "a small number of positions to go and slight changes to property'.

Mr Gardiner also says any changes to Anglicare’s Aged Care Division will be announced in October.

Council affirmed that aged care is a core business, but requested that financial modelling be undertaken to see what changes are needed in the way Anglicare does this business.

Peter Gardiner says Anglicare's six community aged care services were not part of this review.

A formal statement from Anglicare's CEO Peter Kell, explaining the changes, has been posted to Anglican parishes today.

Mr Kell says, "These decisions, and indeed the entire review process, are the result of careful consideration of what Anglicare does and why it does it, in the context of an ever- expanding community need for our services and increased demands on our resources."

In his statement Mr Kell adds that it is "deeply regrettable that some review decisions would negatively impact some members of the Anglican community, and staff in particular.”

“However, Council's preparedness to make such difficult decisions underpins a commitment to a strong, vibrant and financially viable Anglicare over the longer term.”

Earlier this week Archbishop Peter Jensen, chairman of Anglicare, responded to the Southern Cross article about the funding crisis, emphasising his commitment to Anglicare and ensuring it is "strengthened in the life of this Diocese'.

"There are some people who have assumed that our commitment to the Diocesan Mission means that we give no priority to acts of compassion and mercy in our witness and discipleship, both for individuals and for our corporate entity," the Archbishop says.

"Nothing could be further from the truth - biblical teaching will not allow us to hold such a superficial view of Christian witness."

Click here to read the full-text of the Archbishop's comments.