Fresh Expressions

"With the encouragement of the diocese that we each take responsibility for the development of the church in our place, this is the course to inspire you and help you on your way. Not only does it give you ideas, but it gives you the where-with-all to execute them. From planning a new venture to offering the Sacraments, from personal evangelism to children's work, there is something for all of us to learn from.
I particularly enjoyed the networking aspect, meeting people from a variety of backgrounds and learning from their experiences. The weekend away brought new friendships and it was exciting to realise that many of us were on a similar journey - being called by God into our communities in new ways. For me, it was a bit like being at a traffic light. There were things I was challenged about in myself that might not be helpful to God's mission (RED), seeds planted that could lead to new outreach by our church or group of like-minded people (AMBER) and affirmation in other activities, which is always confidence boosting, that we were on the right track (GREEN).
I would recommend that you try and come with another member of your congregation so that you can bounce ideas off one another as you go along and you are also more likely to be able to bring other people on board within your parish instead of being a lone voice."

"The MSM course has been the best training I have ever been involved in. Varied speakers brought alive the different subjects, sharing with passion how God is at work & how we can recognise where & how to get involved with Him in His mission beyond the walls of the traditional Church. The best part was meeting up every month with other people on this journey. The fellowship & sharing times with the other participants & the leaders was wonderful. I can't recommend this course highly enough."

"A Mission Shaped Ministry Course offers a practical approach to mission in a wide variety of ways involving people from all sorts of backgrounds encouraging them to reach out to their local communities in relevant and exciting ways; I encourage you to get involved. "

"We all know that we need to strengthen our focus on "mission" and be more fully "mission-shaped" in our congregations. We know that it is the God of mission who entrusts his missionary work to us. But what does this mean in practice? What is the vision in our congregations? How can that vision be excited, encouraged and motivate changes and developments? What does mission mean in a village of two hundred and a congregation of ten? How can we both affirm the traditional and encourage new ways of being church, too? Where is the energy and the time to come from when we are facing the day to day issues, including care of people (and of church buildings)? What part can/should our schools play?
These are just a few of the questions that are in the minds of most of us as we reflect on being more mission focussed. This course will help provide ideas, theology, and examples, as well as give a context for exploring the difficulties as we grapple with the issues of how to develop fresh expressions in our rural context, but above all how to be the missionary people that God desires."

"Mission Shaped Ministry should be the goal of the whole church and so this course, growing out of the Churches journey in mission and ministry through fresh expressions, is a real opportunity to develop thinking and patterns of working. It could be just the moment of refreshment a minister, lay or ordained, needs. I hope we will be inundated with applications from our Methodist family."