Join the Reconciling Mission 2024 programme

Are you passionate about addressing social issues of inequality or injustice? Do you want to foster greater reconciliation within your local community?

You could do so through being part of a diocesan group that joins the 5^th cohort of our Reconciling Mission 18-month programme. This is designed to empower clergy, lay leaders and their churches to make a transformative impact in their localities.

What is the Reconciling Mission programme?

The Reconciling Mission programme is a transformative course aimed at equipping Anglican clergy and their churches to enhance their missional engagement with local communities. Developed with insights from practical theology and a focus on community engagement, this course goes beyond traditional church outreach.

Key features of the programme:

• Practical and hopeful theology: Offering a theology that inspires action and hope, rooted in the Gospel’s call to reconciliation and creativity.
• Focus on justice and community engagement: Learning to move beyond meeting basic needs to addressing systemic inequalities and fostering greater reconciliation within a local community.
• Leadership development: Equipping clergy with insight and new ways of thinking and being for the challenge of leading their congregations in engaging with neighbours and organisations in their community.
• Supportive learning community: Participating in peer learning groups using a structured coaching process to provide both support and challenge.

Programme structure:

Following an initial week-long residential course at Bestwood Lodge in Nottingham, over 18 months the programme continues with:

• Ongoing coaching: Regular online sessions to support implementation, nurture growth and provide encouragement.
• Webinars: Two online webinars focusing on specific themes relevant to mission and community engagement.
• In-person conferences: Two day-conferences held at Coventry Cathedral, providing opportunities for interaction, fresh learning and networking.

Impact of the programme:

Independent research by Dr Joanna Sadgrove highlights the significant benefits of the Reconciling Mission programme:

• Peer support: Participants report a strong sense of community and support in addressing missional challenges.
• Deep engagement with mission and ministry questions: The programme encourages participants to reflect deeply on their roles and responsibilities.
• Emphasis on listening and partnership: Through intentional listening and collaboration, churches develop impactful partnerships and outreach.
• Transformational leadership: Participants emerge equipped to lead their congregations in becoming agents of change in their communities.

Testimonials:

Bishop Rachel Treweek, the Bishop of Gloucester said: “This programme isn’t just about our local contexts; it’s about encouraging and challenging people across the wider diocese, to look at what it means for reconciliation to be part of our engagement with our wider communities, to be salt and light in the world. I commend this programme to you.”

Revd Sam Parsons from Lincoln Diocese and course participant said: “The programme for me has brought a radical mind shift in my understanding of who God is, and how he works. In the world, as of God of abundance, and not a God of scarcity. This has inspired hope and transformation in my own life, and in the parishes where I serve. And my longing is that this might also bring hope and transformation in the wider diocese.”

Join us:

The dioceses of Portsmouth and Southwark are sponsoring groups of 6 in this 5^th cohort. There is space for two more diocesan groups.

For senior staff: please do get in touch with RI’s director, Alastair McKay, at [email protected] ASAP.

For parish and Cathedral clergy: contact your diocese’s Director of Mission and Ministry (or equivalent) to see whether a diocesan group might be sponsored to participate.

For more information on a diocese sponsoring a group, visit this webpage. Or contact Revd Dr Alastair McKay at [email protected] to learn more.

The deadline for applications from all diocesan nominees is 12 July 2024, after senior staff have identified their diocesan group.