The Pioneering Parishes learning community gathers three times a year.

When is it?

Take a look at our Eventbrite page to see upcoming sessions.

Book via Eventbrite

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Who is it for?

This is for anyone who has completed First Steps and/or Culture Change in Practice and are embarking on making pioneering integral to parish life.

What can I expect?

We share case studies, experiences and wisdom. We discuss issues and ideas.

Each community of learning session is two and a quarter hours and contains a case study presentation from a member of the group and break out rooms.

Connect with Pioneering Parishes:

Get in touch

The post Community of learning appeared first on Church Mission Society (CMS).

A series of four webinars for church leaders grappling with the challenge of turning their parish inside out. Challenging what may be a bias towards those who are already present, and shifting the energy of the whole church outwards. Participants receive tools to enable lasting culture change.

Next course

Take a look at our Eventbrite page to see upcoming courses:

Book via Eventbrite

Sign up for our newsletter to stay informed.

Who’s it for?

It is suitable for anyone looking to join in with the Holy Spirit’s re-imagining of a new way of being church together, particularly PCC members, area and lay deans, parish priests, diocesan advisers, pioneers – lay and ordained. If you have previously completed the First Steps course this course is the perfect follow up. However, you don’t have to complete the First Steps course to take part. If you’re not sure if the course is suitable for you, please email us: pioneering.parishes@churchmissionsociety.org

What can I expect?

Each webinar is 90 minutes and contains teaching and a time in break out rooms, all in an informal, warm, fun and open environment that draws on all the wisdom in the room. As we listen to one another we’ll listen for God’s voice and trust the Holy Spirit to be leading each of us in our unique contexts.

What content will be covered?

• Session 1: Life Cycle and Leadership
• We begin by considering what time it is in our congregation in terms of its life cycle and the way in which church leadership takes on a different expression at each stage. Together we consider a framework which shows leadership is shaped by the cycle of development within a church congregation

• Session 2: Perspective from the margin
• Drawing on the insights from innovation within the charity sector, we look at change from the perspective of pioneers and how church leaders can support their unique contribution to God’s work. We will look at our current landscape through the eyes of the pioneers, gaining understanding which enables church leaders to collaborate with them.

• Session 3: What kind of innovation do we want?
• Offering a tool for conversation which helps leaders and congregations discern what kind of innovation we want. Some forms of change will only sustain what already is, while some innovation helps unlock the possibilities of the future.

• Session 4: An Abundant Mindset
• Offering a tool from the charity sector which helps leaders and congregations to have constructive conversations about our capacity to do things. This tool helps us to have conversations about what we need to stop doing and how we can release energy for things which enable us to engage the unconnected people we want to attract.

How much does it cost?

We would hate cost to be a barrier to anyone attending so we charge just £10 for the four webinars in total.

If you bring a team, the maximum your church will pay is for five spaces (£50), any additional participants are free.

The real cost for the facilitation and materials is much higher, so if you feel able to contribute a little more you will be helping to support the continuing work of Pioneering Parishes.

Previous participants’ comments

Fantastic course – well worth doing! Will be recommending churches in Diocese of Bristol to engage with all of Pioneering Parishes material.
Rosy Ashley, Adviser for Parish Development, Diocese of Bristol

Very helpful course in providing different ways of conducting conversations around change.
Ali Middleton, Pioneer Oversight Minister, Cornerstone Mission, Rotherham.

Feedback from our previous courses shows that more than 80 percent of attendees said they were likely or highly likely to recommend it to someone else.

Connect with Pioneering Parishes:

Get in touch

The post Culture change in practice appeared first on Church Mission Society (CMS).

A series of four webinars which help clergy, lay leaders and congregations discover pioneering; what it is and why it’s integral to parish life.

First Steps offers an introduction to a do-able congregational discipleship journey that clergy, lay leaders, and congregations make together with Jesus, who calls us to lose our church lives for the sake of reaching unconnected people for the Kingdom of God. In First Steps, congregations are invited to step out beyond the walls of church to make spiritual care possible for a wider range of people as pioneering people do. Case studies and ideas are shared along with practical tools, enabling churches to have honest conversations which will help shift the energy of the congregation out towards those who are not yet connected to God in Christ. This begins an effective re-wiring of the existing church system.

Next course

Take a look at our Eventbrite page to see upcoming courses.

Book via Eventbrite

Sign up for our newsletter to stay informed.

Who’s it for?

PCC members, parish clergy, diocesan or parish support staff, people exploring a pioneer call, and anyone searching for tools to help them shift the energy of the parish outwards beyond the church walls. If a group of people come from one church, they have the advantage of being able to share their learning and build on it together.

What can I expect?

Each webinar is 90 minutes and contains teaching, guest speakers and break out rooms. Explore what it means to become a pioneering parish in an informal, warm, fun and open environment that draws on all the wisdom in the room and practices the skill of communal spiritual discernment. First Steps may involve challenging customs, attitudes, practices and activities in your church which hold a bias towards those who are already present. Watch this short video to get a flavour of one of our in person sessions.

What content will be covered?

Over the four webinars, we will have conversations about the key strategic tasks for parish life:

• Session 1: Jesus the Pioneer
• Jesus constantly generated newness in his life on earth. Drawing on Hebrews 12:2, we take Jesus as our pioneer and look at the common characteristics found in other pioneering individuals in Scripture, church and society. We consider the relationship between the time-honoured and the new, and ask how they can mutually enrich each other.
• Session 2: Values
• As we seek to hold distinctive forms of church together, we explore how shared agreed values rooted in the life of Jesus can help a congregation collectively answer the question ‘Who do we want to be for God and our community?’ and form a healthy foundation from which to make decisions about community life.
• Session 3: Pioneer advocacy
• We share what we believe are the required postures of a leader who is able to hold space and shape understanding, to allow both long-standing and emerging forms of church to flourish alongside each other and contribute to the whole.
• Session 4: Creating capacity
• A key area of decision-making is about how to unlock enough resources in what appears to be a world of scarcity. We suggest postures, practices and tools which help create an attitude of abundance in place of a scarcity mindset, and release capacity in people and generate resources from unexpected sources.

How much does it cost?

We would hate cost to be a barrier to anyone attending so we charge just £10 for the four webinars in total.

If you bring a team, the maximum your church will pay is for five spaces (£50), any additional participants are free.

The real cost for the facilitation and materials is much higher, so if you feel able to contribute a little more you will be helping to support the continuing work of Pioneering Parishes.

Previous participants’ comments

‘Inspirational!’

Ali Mascarenhas, PCC member, St Mary’s Brighstone churchyard project

‘It’s been incredibly helpful. The… training… did a lot of the heavy lifting in the culture shift to think missionally. It was very eye-opening for the congregation on what can be achieved, that you can do a bit of thinking outside the box, and you can respond to God in a way that’s not prescriptive to the way we’ve always responded. We’re starting to see people take responsibility for changes and not being fearful or defensive.’

Rev Tim Solosy

Connect with Pioneering Parishes:

Get in touch

The post First steps appeared first on Church Mission Society (CMS).