You are warmly invited to our book launch!

We are excited to share our new book: Into All The Parish: Pioneering Practices for the Local Church.

This short and practical book is distilled from Greg Bakker’s experiences in the Church of England as priest of 30 years, training incumbent of pioneering curates, nurturer of a mixed ecology of church, and pioneer development officer at the Diocese of Portsmouth. Tina Hodgett adds practical wisdom from her time as a pioneer curate, pioneer team vicar and evangelism and pioneer team leader at the Diocese of Bath and Wells. In the book you’ll find practical tools for leadership illustrated by stories from parish life.

The book has received warm and enthusiastic reviews from lay leaders, church leaders, bishops and pioneer advocates.

Please book your place via Eventbrite to attend in person or online.

What can I expect?

The event will begin with refreshments at 7:00 pm, and we will start the ‘sit down’ presentation at 7:30 pm. Finish time is 8:30 pm.

There will be a short time of worship, interviews with the authors, and contributions from people who have benefited from Pioneering Parishes training and are seeing new life in their localities as a result.

When is it? 

• Wednesday, 22 July 2026
• In-person: 7pm to 8.30pm (refreshments 7 to 7.30pm)
• Online Zoom: 7.30pm to 8.30 pm (Link provided upon registration. Please check you get the confirmation email – let us know if you don’t.)
• Cost: This is a free event

Where is it?

• Venue: Exeter Diocese, The Great Hall, The Old Deanery, The Cloisters, Exeter, EX1 1HS. The Old Deanery is located opposite the Exeter Cathedral Gardens. Accessed by an open wooden gate on Deanery Place.
• Travel by rail:
• Exeter Central Station: The Old Deanery is a flat, five minute walk from Exeter Central Station. Turn left out of the station and walk straight down Queen Street. At the end, straight ahead of you is a cut through between buildings, which leads to the Cathedral Green.
• Exeter St. David’s Station The Old Deanery is an uphill 20 minute walk from Exeter St. David’s Station. Leave the station and follow the footpath to the right of the car park. Cross over at the pedestrian crossing, and continue straight into a steep passageway called St. Clement’s Lane. At the top, turn right onto St David’s Hill. At the mini roundabout, turn left into Hele Road. At the junction with New North Road turn right and go straight on into Queen Street. At the end, straight ahead of you is a cut through between buildings, which leads to the Cathedral Green.
• Bus: Exeter City Centre is well served by local buses, you can plan your route at https://www.travelinesw.com and also find maps of the local bus network here https://www.stagecoachbus.com/maps
• Parking: There is only disabled parking for visitors at The Old Deanery. The nearest public car parks are the Cathedral & Quay off Western Way EX1 1DX or Guildhall Shopping Centre EX4 3HP. Parking for disabled visitors in the enclosed courtyard car park at the Old Deanery should be booked in advance. This must be arranged with the organiser of your meeting as the space needs to be reserved before your visit.
  • Please email: pioneering.parishes@churchmissionsociety.org or telephone Exeter Diocese: 01392 272686
  • No unauthorised vehicles should pass the Private Land sign at the top of Palace Gate as this area is coveredby Premier Park ANPR cameras on behalf of Exeter Cathedral. Remaining within this area without a ticketfor more than 15mins incurs a £100 fine.
• Park and ride: There are three Park and Ride car parks with bus links directly to the High Street. The nearest Park and Ride stops to the Old Deanery are outside John Lewis (buses from Sowton Car Park) or on Fore Street (buses from Matford and Honiton Road Car Parks). For times and locations, please see www.visitexeter.com/info-maps/travel-information/park-and-ride

Book purchase:

You will be able to purchase a signed copy of Into All The Parish: Pioneering Practices for the Local Church at the launch.

If you can’t wait, the book is also available from a range of online retailers.

Although we are not in partnership with Eden, they are currently offering a 15% discount: Into All The Parish on Eden.co.uk

Reviews:

Into All the Parish by Rev Greg Bakker and Rev Tina Hodgett is for anyone passionate about mission, community, and the future of the church. Rather than another ‘How to Grow Your Church’, this book offers something more hopeful and sustainable; working with what God has already blessed us with.

The book is rooted in scripture, with practical, lived out examples and case studies. Bakker and Hodgett share stories of ordinary churches and people discovering how God is already at work in their parish and learning how to join in.

One of the themes running throughout the book is that this is not another initiative. The authors show readers that mission is not about doing more. Instead, it is about recognising where God is moving, having an expectation that God is already at work, and responding with faith and courage. There is a genuine invitation for churches to become more adventurous; to be willing to walk with Jesus, take a risk, and do something different.

Into All the Parish places an emphasis on working in community, fostering unity and embracing diversity, encouraging churches to value the unique gifts, stories, and cultures already present within their parish thus enabling people to connect with Christianity in meaningful, and relational ways.

For leaders, dreamers, and blue-sky thinkers, this book offers plenty of imagination and possibility. It challenges churches to pay attention to where God is already active in their parish. For anyone longing to see faith become more connected, hopeful, and rooted in everyday community life, Into All the Parish offers a way to do church differently.

Rev Marie Meredith, vicar to the churches of Great Wyrley: St Andrew’s and St Mark’s

Into All the Parish is a wise and compassionate book which has at its heart a fundamental commitment to the parish and what it means to have the cure of souls in every place. Flowing from their own experience as parish clergy, the authors understand the desire to hold on to what is familiar in the face of an uncertain and unstable world; yet, as the Bible so often shows, it is precisely into places of uncertainty and newness that God draws us.

This short and lucid book is not a strategy or a programme but “an invitation to a way of being.” Rooted in the theology of dying to self this is no easy journey, but one in which we trust our fragility to the abundance of God. Here, Greg and Tina offer practical companionship for that journey. They share tools and processes that can enable it to happen with suggestions in each chapter for congregational reflection.

Long gone are the days when ‘pioneering’ was seen as being in opposition to ‘traditional’ parish ministry. Here is a clear demonstration of how cultivating a pioneering disposition enables parish church congregations to explore afresh their identity and vocation for the present time. A ‘must-read’ for all who want to see their local churches thrive!

Rev Canon Jane Maycock, Canon Missioner, Durham Cathedral

Contact: If you have any questions, please email the Pioneering Parishes Team: pioneering.parishes@churchmissionsociety.org

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