St John's in Shildon was shortlisted as a finalist from over 360 entries.
Ecclesiastical held the nationwide competition to identify the best community projects being run by Anglican churches.
Bar Hill Church, another winner.
Michael Angell, Church Operations Director for Ecclesiastical, tells Premier what they looked for in winners.
He said: "Many, many of the entries have great merit. But we just felt that these were the six that had greatest merit for whatever reason - either imagination, or doing a lot with very little in terms of support and help, or getting right into the community in one way or another."
The competition received entries from around the country and included a wide range of activities that are helping churches add value to the communities they serve.
The five finalists each receiving a prize of £2,000:
- Bar Hill Church, Ely, Cambridgeshire
- St Stephen's Church, Dulwich, London
- St John the Evangelist, Angell Town, London
- All Saints, Kilnwick, York
- The Diocese of Guildford (Due to the sensitive nature of this entry the church and Local Authority have requested that they remain anonymous)
St John The Evangelist Church, another winner.
Michael Angell said that "every church is very different in how it approaches things and we obviously have to take into account the size of the church, the size of the congregation and what they're doing, and what we've had to do is whittle down some fantastic 300-plus entries, to six."
Listen to Premier's Hannah Tooley speak to Michael Angell here:
