Reconciling Mission programme

The church currently faces a significant missional challenge:

• There is a need to respond to the polarising of society, after the end of the growth of western economies leading to increasing inequality and cost-of-living crises alongside the climate emergency and the threats of AI.
• There is also a need to address:
  • churches that still exhibit the culture and behaviours of Modernity, when the world has radically moved on;
  • the “twilight” of Christendom; and
  • unhelpful notions of leadership and change which disable the local church.

Reconciling Mission has been developed to address this context. We offer:

• A vision for the emerging future of the church participating in God’s mission;
• Capacity-building in spiritual leadership for mission, based on faithful and disruptive practices;
• An approach which connects with the enduring Anglican Five Marks of Mission; and
• An asset-based treasure-seeking approach focussed on local partnerships.

• Parish clergy of diverse theological traditions, especially those in the early years of a new ministry;
• Clergy from different ministry contexts who are not already part of a larger ministry team that meets regularly;
• Leaders wanting to explore fresh approaches to missional engagement with local communities, in a learning community with others; and
• Anglican Dioceses wanting to incorporate diverse approaches to the current missional challenge, and draw on external resourcing.

What sort of group?

• A diocesan group of 6 to 8 participants;
• Identified by the senior staff against criteria such as:
  • An even mix of genders;
  • Leaders of emotional maturity;
  • Collaborative leaders who welcome working in partnership with those outside the church;
  • Participants representing the ethnic and other diversity of their Diocese;
  • Participants in pairs or threes of relative geographical proximity, for ease of mutual encouragement.

1. A continuous five-day residential course of learning, at the outset;
2. On-going coaching and reflection over 18 months, meeting online every few weeks in small groups;
3. Two in-person 24-hour conferences, usually at Coventry Cathedral, mid-way and at the end of the process.

What’s the residential course?

A dynamic adult learning process involving:

• Reflective practice, including some theology and theory;
• Learning some spiritual practices, including reading the Bible in community; and
• Daily worship.

The venue is Bestwood Lodge, Nottingham, offering a central location in the country, a fruitful learning environment, and a space which facilitates community-building.

Facilitated by a highly experienced team:

• Alastair McKay: director of RI, with 30 years’ experience in leading adult learning;
• Nigel Rooms: a missiologist, practical theologian and spiritual director who has led accompaniment of over 150 English churches in a missional change process;
• Mina Munns: an Anglican priest and freelance facilitator, with many years’ experience of training and consulting with churches;
• Al Barrett: rector of Hodge Hill Church in Birmingham, with over 12 years’ experience in applying an asset-based approach to community development;
• Paul Wright: a community animator and street connector, with many years’ experience in community-building in Birmingham.

We find it's best if participants have:

• A commitment to learning, and to engaging with the entire process over an 18-month period;
• A curiosity about how God might be at work among local neighbours and organisations;
• A desktop or laptop computer with a webcam, for online Zoom meetings; and
• A mobile phone with the WhatsApp app, for communication with facilitators and their diocesan group.

The overall programme objectives are:

1. To introduce a vision for the church’s mission within a wider understanding of God’s reconciling work;
2. To offer key frameworks and spiritual practices to enable the church to engage deeply with local neighbourhoods, including drawing on a strengths-based approach;
3. To grow the capacity of participants in leading missional change in churches;
4. To resource participants for acting in their local context, grounded in listening to the community;
5. To identify and develop a small group of allies to affect missional change in the congregation; and
6. To nurture collegiality and contribute to a creative missional movement.

The planned learning outcomes for the residential are that participants will have:

• Reflected theologically and located the church’s mission within the arc of God’s reconciling work, connecting with the Five Marks of Mission;
• Understood the value of and be equipped to introduce spiritual practices to their congregations;
• Worked with a theoretical framework for engaging with social divisions and injustices;
• Explored an ABCD model, drawing on a community’s gifts and strengths; and,
• Identified a core small group of lay people to get on board with a new missional approach in their local context.

After the initial residential, there’s an 18-month process of follow-up coaching and reflection:

• Participants provide regular short video updates, to enhance accountability;
• Participants join online gatherings, at regular intervals, with a group from another Diocese;
• Groups meet on a rotational basis to allow dialogue with all groups in the cohort;
• Online gatherings are a mixture of action learning groups, using a structured group coaching process, and “balcony-view” groups to reflect on the process of facilitating cultural change. The groups are led by RI facilitators.

By the end of the process, each group should ideally also develop a way for sharing some of their learning with others in their Diocese.

Distinctive features include:

• A hopeful and practical missiology that addresses the deep realities of the Church’s current dilemma;
• A focus on two-way interaction at the boundary of the church and her local community, which addresses social inequalities;
• An investment in leaders who form a supportive learning community and who can share learning with others;
• Designed for small groups attending together for more effective support and follow-through; and
• A setting to develop good practice, identify next steps and move churches into a deeper engagement with their local communities.

Independent researcher, Dr Joanna Sadgrove, has carried out extensive evaluation of the completed Reconciling Mission programmes using the following sources:

1. Individual interviews, either one-to-one, or in a diocesan/provincial group;
2. Video updates submitted by each participant via dedicated WhatsApp groups, prior to the Action Learning Groups;
3. Recordings of online Action Learning Group sessions; and
4. Written concluding survey responses.

Her research has highlighted the following benefits of the programme:

• Independent research with the first three cohorts highlighted these benefits:
  • Peer support and non-competitive collegiality in the process of addressing missional challenges;
  • Connection with fundamental questions about mission, ministry and sharing good news;
  • Prioritising the work of listening, to peers, congregation members, local people and the Holy Spirit, to discern how God is at work; and
  • The evolution and development of a new engagement with local neighbourhoods, including working in partnership with a wide range of organisations outside the church.

The Executive Summary of her research on each programme is available to download:

• Reconciling Mission programme 2020 - cohort 1
• Reconciling Mission programme 2021 - cohort 2
• Reconciling Mission programme 2022 - cohort 3

(Please note that comments quoted in the reports are from programme participants, and the executive summary is the work of Dr Joanna Sadgrove. Neither necessarily reflect RI's own views.)