A couple of months ago I did a survey of all 43 Diocesan websites in the CofE, looking for
a) evidence of engagement with Fresh Expressions, and FX work in the diocese
b) resources on mission that could be used by anyone, not just folk in that diocese.
Particularly with 'b' my hope was to save the reinvention of the wheel - there are lots of goodies out there that can simply be linked to, rather than created from scratch in 43 different locations.
Anyway, Matt Wardman has put all the research together as a pdf, with an introduction. It contains the raw survey info from each diocese, as well as summary pages on Fresh Expressions and Mission Resources. It just so happens that the mission pages on our own diocesan website are under review at the moment, so it might come in very handy!
Please feel free to download, copy, and use as you want. Many thanks to Matt for putting this together, brilliant.
Showing posts with label diocesan website survey 09. Show all posts
Showing posts with label diocesan website survey 09. Show all posts
Friday, August 28, 2009
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Best Mission Resources from 43 Diocesan Websites.
The last post (cue trumpet) in this diocesan website survey series, here's a list of
a) The best mission resources I could find on diocesan websites
b) Material that could be held by any diocesan website, with minimal local tweaking.
Any diocese renewing its website at any stage could simply cut and paste these things as useful mission resources for their own readers.
(For a site-by-site summary, and a summary of how widely Fresh Expressions is found on Diocesan sites, use the link above.)
I've tried to categorise the resources, sources in brackets.
Children/Schools
1. a 13 page resource booklet on how churches and schools can work together, packed with good ideas on mission and engagement. (Bath & Wells)
2. resource papers for childrens work, with 1-2 sides of A4 on everything from after school clubs to Easter drama (Chelmsford)
3. website devoted to youth ministry, with sections for young people, and for youth leaders. (Gloucester)
4. tips for welcoming children (Southwell)
Communication
1. Communications section, with a ‘communications health check for parishes’ and downloadable fliers on copyright, media relations, noticeboards, how to make your story ‘news’ etc. (Chester)
2. Liverpool also has a good communications section, with concise and good advice on publicity, leaflets, noticeboards, photographs, magazines, new media etc.
3. Manchester has a superb communications home page, which helpfully sets out all the main local media in the Diocese, and which area they cover, as well as what communications the Diocese is sending out and who to.
Enquirers
1. Several examples of pages aimed at people asking questions. E.g. Exploring Faith which covers what a Christian is, testimonies, FAQ’s, how to find out more, books to read etc. (Birmingham)
2. Several dioceses also have pages for those enquiring about baptism, (London) and links to the excellent yourchurchwedding site.
3. a link to egodparents
Mission
1. A ‘local projects’ section which lists the community/mission projects run by local churches, with a contact name (Birmingham) - would need local tweaking, and ongoing maintenance to keep it up to date.
2. Church Planting Policy (Bristol) - every diocese should have one, though obviously it needs praying through first, not just copying from Bristol!!
3. Youtube videos on local fresh expressions (Bristol) - and if you don't have your own, simply link to those dioceses which do, it's still a great way to see something in action, even if it's not within your county.
4. A Back to Church Sunday section with tips on being welcoming, publicity etc. (Bristol). Another diocese has a BTCS resource page with case studies of parishes which did it, and a timeline of what to do when (Oxford).
5. survey of resources of what's on the market for discipleship courses, children and young people's discipleship, small groups, faith sharing, enquirers courses. (Chester, but several other dioceses have versions of this). Oxfords survey of Nurture Courses focuses on the four most popular (START, Alpha, Emmaus, Essence), with a full review of each, and several stories from people who have used them.
6. Mission Fund: have the criteria for mission fund applications, downloadable application forms, and lists of who's recieved grants and what for. (several dioceses)
7. Mission planning statistics - neighbourhood census and demographic stats organised parish by parish, to help parishes understnad their mission context. There is a pack for each parish with maps and key local stats. (Manchester - would need some time and resources putting into it)
8. Experience Easter, ideas about how to make the most of Easter as an outreach opportunity (Manchester)
9. Handy gospel illustrations (Portsmouth).
Parish Development.
1. There are lots of good Mission Action Plan resources, if you're really interested in these, many of them are linked from the ChurchMaps website.
2. a ‘resources directory’ listing resource people/networks around the Diocese in a variety of areas (Blackburn) - needs local tweaking and keeping up to date, but it's a way of sharing expertise without everything going through the Diocese. Blackburn has I.T., Men, interfaith etc.
3. Along similar lines, X-Change section, for online sharing of ideas and resources. Covers things like worship, buildings, stewardship, debt, tourism, children, publicity etc. Each of these has subsections – e.g. Children has Holiday Clubs, Godly Play, Schools links etc. (Carlisle). Similar idea in Chelmsfords Making ConneXions section (covers marriage prep, harvest fun day, deanery curate, fundraising, you name it)
4. a 1-page worship audit questionnaire (Chelmsford)
5. Discovering Your Spiritual Gifts questionnaire (Exeter)
6. a 'Christians at Work' section with a free, downloadable 4-session small group course on the issue. (Hereford)
7. resources from ACTS : (joint TEARfund/Liverpool) which takes parishes step by step through embarking on a new project for the benefit of the community, from building a community centre to running a fun day. Great resource for action planning.
8. liturgical resources section. Not just section, entire website. (Southwell).
9. Some of the Peterborough leaflets, most notably Providing a Welcome, and ministry with the elderly.
There. I hope that saves a lot of people a lot of work. I'm staggered by how much duplication there is out there, when a bit of resource sharing would increase the quality of resources and advice available to everyone. Ideally this should be owned and brokered by the national CofE website.
And a big thankyou to the people who've compiled all the above resources and made them available, I hope I've done you justice.
a) The best mission resources I could find on diocesan websites
b) Material that could be held by any diocesan website, with minimal local tweaking.
Any diocese renewing its website at any stage could simply cut and paste these things as useful mission resources for their own readers.
(For a site-by-site summary, and a summary of how widely Fresh Expressions is found on Diocesan sites, use the link above.)
I've tried to categorise the resources, sources in brackets.
Children/Schools
1. a 13 page resource booklet on how churches and schools can work together, packed with good ideas on mission and engagement. (Bath & Wells)
2. resource papers for childrens work, with 1-2 sides of A4 on everything from after school clubs to Easter drama (Chelmsford)
3. website devoted to youth ministry, with sections for young people, and for youth leaders. (Gloucester)
4. tips for welcoming children (Southwell)
Communication
1. Communications section, with a ‘communications health check for parishes’ and downloadable fliers on copyright, media relations, noticeboards, how to make your story ‘news’ etc. (Chester)
2. Liverpool also has a good communications section, with concise and good advice on publicity, leaflets, noticeboards, photographs, magazines, new media etc.
3. Manchester has a superb communications home page, which helpfully sets out all the main local media in the Diocese, and which area they cover, as well as what communications the Diocese is sending out and who to.
Enquirers
1. Several examples of pages aimed at people asking questions. E.g. Exploring Faith which covers what a Christian is, testimonies, FAQ’s, how to find out more, books to read etc. (Birmingham)
2. Several dioceses also have pages for those enquiring about baptism, (London) and links to the excellent yourchurchwedding site.
3. a link to egodparents
Mission
1. A ‘local projects’ section which lists the community/mission projects run by local churches, with a contact name (Birmingham) - would need local tweaking, and ongoing maintenance to keep it up to date.
2. Church Planting Policy (Bristol) - every diocese should have one, though obviously it needs praying through first, not just copying from Bristol!!
3. Youtube videos on local fresh expressions (Bristol) - and if you don't have your own, simply link to those dioceses which do, it's still a great way to see something in action, even if it's not within your county.
4. A Back to Church Sunday section with tips on being welcoming, publicity etc. (Bristol). Another diocese has a BTCS resource page with case studies of parishes which did it, and a timeline of what to do when (Oxford).
5. survey of resources of what's on the market for discipleship courses, children and young people's discipleship, small groups, faith sharing, enquirers courses. (Chester, but several other dioceses have versions of this). Oxfords survey of Nurture Courses focuses on the four most popular (START, Alpha, Emmaus, Essence), with a full review of each, and several stories from people who have used them.
6. Mission Fund: have the criteria for mission fund applications, downloadable application forms, and lists of who's recieved grants and what for. (several dioceses)
7. Mission planning statistics - neighbourhood census and demographic stats organised parish by parish, to help parishes understnad their mission context. There is a pack for each parish with maps and key local stats. (Manchester - would need some time and resources putting into it)
8. Experience Easter, ideas about how to make the most of Easter as an outreach opportunity (Manchester)
9. Handy gospel illustrations (Portsmouth).
Parish Development.
1. There are lots of good Mission Action Plan resources, if you're really interested in these, many of them are linked from the ChurchMaps website.
2. a ‘resources directory’ listing resource people/networks around the Diocese in a variety of areas (Blackburn) - needs local tweaking and keeping up to date, but it's a way of sharing expertise without everything going through the Diocese. Blackburn has I.T., Men, interfaith etc.
3. Along similar lines, X-Change section, for online sharing of ideas and resources. Covers things like worship, buildings, stewardship, debt, tourism, children, publicity etc. Each of these has subsections – e.g. Children has Holiday Clubs, Godly Play, Schools links etc. (Carlisle). Similar idea in Chelmsfords Making ConneXions section (covers marriage prep, harvest fun day, deanery curate, fundraising, you name it)
4. a 1-page worship audit questionnaire (Chelmsford)
5. Discovering Your Spiritual Gifts questionnaire (Exeter)
6. a 'Christians at Work' section with a free, downloadable 4-session small group course on the issue. (Hereford)
7. resources from ACTS : (joint TEARfund/Liverpool) which takes parishes step by step through embarking on a new project for the benefit of the community, from building a community centre to running a fun day. Great resource for action planning.
8. liturgical resources section. Not just section, entire website. (Southwell).
9. Some of the Peterborough leaflets, most notably Providing a Welcome, and ministry with the elderly.
There. I hope that saves a lot of people a lot of work. I'm staggered by how much duplication there is out there, when a bit of resource sharing would increase the quality of resources and advice available to everyone. Ideally this should be owned and brokered by the national CofE website.
And a big thankyou to the people who've compiled all the above resources and made them available, I hope I've done you justice.
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
How Fresh is Your Diocese?
In the course of the last month, I’ve been looking through all 43 Diocesan websites for resources in the areas of mission and Fresh Expressions. The full research is here:
Based on diocesan websites alone (which I’m aware don’t give the full picture), the level of engagement with Mission Shaped Church, Fresh Expressions, and the Mixed Economy church is mixed. Several Dioceses give it a high profile, some don’t mention it at all.
However, this isn’t an indicator of how seriously the dioceses take mission: for example both Southwell and Manchester have plenty going on, but neither gives FX a very high profile.
For simplicity, I’ve grouped all the Dioceses (excluding Sodor and Man, which has a very skeleton website) according to what level of profile they give to Mission Shaped Church, Fresh Expressions etc.
High Profile
The following dioceses use their websites to draw attention to particular Fresh Expressions in their area, and provide background on what Fresh Expressions is:
Bristol, Chichester, Exeter, Guildford, Liverpool, Oxford, Ripon and Leeds.
Of these I would say that Bristol, Exeter, Guildford and Oxford exemplify the level of engagement and fruit that would be good to see in every diocese.
Medium Profile
The following Dioceses (typically) have a Fresh Expressions page, run the Mission Shaped Ministry training course, and have some level of encouragement for Fresh Expressions, perhaps with examples of a particular project.
Chelmsford, Ely, Gloucester, Norwich, Peterborough, Southwell, Truro
Low Profile
Fresh Expressions material consists mainly of links to other sites, no evidence of any work in the Diocese.
Bath & Wells, Blackburn, Bradford, Chester, Coventry, Durham, Leicester, London, Manchester, Portsmouth, St. Albans, St. Edmunsbury & Ipswich, Sheffield, Southwark, Wakefield, Winchester (but a new appointment here, so would expect profile to rise), York.
No Profile
Nothing on the site to do with Fresh Expressions or Mission Shaped Church.
Birmingham (though the ‘local projects’ section has examples of what you’d call Fresh Expressions), Canterbury, Carlisle, Derby, Hereford, Lichfield, Lincoln, Newcastle, Rochester, Salisbury, Worcester
Based on the above, the majority of Dioceses (29 of 43) give low or no profile to Fresh Expressions on their websites.
Though in some Dioceses, mission is a clear priority with or without Fresh Expressions, a glance at the list above will show that for many of them, Fresh Expressions has made little or no impact on their public face as shown through the Diocesan Website – which is also now a prime place for archiving resources, stories and training materials.
I'm sure that there is plenty more going on than the diocesan sites record, and the reasons for this not feeding through to the sites could be many and varied! This information is accurate at the time of writing, based on what I can find on the websites. There may be hidden gems, but they’re too well hidden to find! As websites will change, it’s true as a snapshot, but not as a moving picture.
Based on diocesan websites alone (which I’m aware don’t give the full picture), the level of engagement with Mission Shaped Church, Fresh Expressions, and the Mixed Economy church is mixed. Several Dioceses give it a high profile, some don’t mention it at all.
However, this isn’t an indicator of how seriously the dioceses take mission: for example both Southwell and Manchester have plenty going on, but neither gives FX a very high profile.
For simplicity, I’ve grouped all the Dioceses (excluding Sodor and Man, which has a very skeleton website) according to what level of profile they give to Mission Shaped Church, Fresh Expressions etc.
High Profile
The following dioceses use their websites to draw attention to particular Fresh Expressions in their area, and provide background on what Fresh Expressions is:
Bristol, Chichester, Exeter, Guildford, Liverpool, Oxford, Ripon and Leeds.
Of these I would say that Bristol, Exeter, Guildford and Oxford exemplify the level of engagement and fruit that would be good to see in every diocese.
Medium Profile
The following Dioceses (typically) have a Fresh Expressions page, run the Mission Shaped Ministry training course, and have some level of encouragement for Fresh Expressions, perhaps with examples of a particular project.
Chelmsford, Ely, Gloucester, Norwich, Peterborough, Southwell, Truro
Low Profile
Fresh Expressions material consists mainly of links to other sites, no evidence of any work in the Diocese.
Bath & Wells, Blackburn, Bradford, Chester, Coventry, Durham, Leicester, London, Manchester, Portsmouth, St. Albans, St. Edmunsbury & Ipswich, Sheffield, Southwark, Wakefield, Winchester (but a new appointment here, so would expect profile to rise), York.
No Profile
Nothing on the site to do with Fresh Expressions or Mission Shaped Church.
Birmingham (though the ‘local projects’ section has examples of what you’d call Fresh Expressions), Canterbury, Carlisle, Derby, Hereford, Lichfield, Lincoln, Newcastle, Rochester, Salisbury, Worcester
Based on the above, the majority of Dioceses (29 of 43) give low or no profile to Fresh Expressions on their websites.
Though in some Dioceses, mission is a clear priority with or without Fresh Expressions, a glance at the list above will show that for many of them, Fresh Expressions has made little or no impact on their public face as shown through the Diocesan Website – which is also now a prime place for archiving resources, stories and training materials.
I'm sure that there is plenty more going on than the diocesan sites record, and the reasons for this not feeding through to the sites could be many and varied! This information is accurate at the time of writing, based on what I can find on the websites. There may be hidden gems, but they’re too well hidden to find! As websites will change, it’s true as a snapshot, but not as a moving picture.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Fresh Expressions, Diocese by Diocese (virtually)
After trawling through all 43 Diocesan websites, it's very clear that the whole 'Mission Shaped Church' agenda has had a varied impact, if the sites are anything to go by. Bishops, prayers, and rules on buildings are an ever present reality, but there's a much patchier picture on 'fresh expressions of church'.
The 'average' diocesan site has some mention of the Mission Shaped Ministry course, with a link to the national site, and (in some cases) to forthcoming local MSM courses. A few have a description of what Mission Shaped Church/Fresh Expressions is all about, and a handful (see below) actually showcase examples of Fresh Expressions in their Diocese.
At the other end of the spectrum, there are some websites which have no mention of any of the above. In some cases it's because the Diocese is putting its resources elsewhere than the website (fair enough, things are tight). But to find that getting on for a third of Diocesan websites don't really mention it at all is a bit worrying. One or two of these have a strong mission message already, but on some sites the absence of anything about Fresh Expressions is part of a general absence of much to do with mission.
In passing, it's interesting that Mission Action Planning (which hasn't been a national initiative) is much more common than Fresh Expressions, and much more high profile in many diocesan strategies.
Most worth a visit (in alphabetical order):
1. Bristol: a selection of Youtube videos on local fresh expressions and a diocesan Church Planting Policy. The whole website is very mission flavoured.
2. Chichester has a full list of registered Fresh Expressions in the diocese
3. Exeter a substantial Mission section, includes Fresh Expressions in Devon, with details of specific local fx's, plus local examples. 2 Cathedral based fresh expressions Life on the Beach is a mission partnership between Exeter Cathedral and local churches, using the Cathedral green for a Saturday open-air outreach/festival. Nightchurch is a new outreach based in the Cathedral on Friday nights, aimed at Gen X and Y. Mission Downloads include generic fx presentations for parishes/deaneries to preview, and a very good paper on Pioneer Ministry.
4. Guildford: a concise list of every fx in the diocese, grouped by type (alternative, workplace, cafe etc.) with details of when and where. Also a 20 page thesis on the difference between fx and traditional outreach.
5. Liverpool: lots of good things, but highlights: ACTS a joint initiative with TEARfund to take parishes step by step through embarking on a new project for the benefit of the community, from building a community centre to running a fun day. A way in for community based fresh expressions. Their latest report on the diocesan strategy identifies a resource church for pioneer ministry, and summarises church plants and pioneering projects.
6. Norwich: simple pages explaining Fresh expressions and alternative worship, with links to local examples and a page on alternative and creative worship, from all-age to 'liquid', with links to blogs, books and resource sites. Couple of good case studies of redeveloping churches as community centres.
7 Oxford: The Encouraging Evangelism page has a selection of vid clips on the practicalities of evangelism, no. 5 focuses on the Jigsaw fresh expression of church in Witney. Oxfords Cutting Edge project (2002-8) resourced 6 pilot new congregations, there's a summary of the fruits here, and the full report on the project is well worth a read if you are looking to set up a Fresh Expression within an Anglican diocese, very very helpful. The Diocese has also produce a concise 'Beginning, Nurturing and Sustaining Fresh Expressions' booklet, which is available as a pdf.
8.Ripon and Leeds: has FX section, and great to see that there are 4 video clips of different FX in the diocese, plus an intro from the Bish. However, they need to link the vids from the fx page! Also has a policy document on mission and ministry in UPA parishes, worth reading.
9. Southwell: nothing explicitly on fresh expressions, despite pages on Sports Ministry, and Car Boot Sale ministry, and a link to iChaplaincy (an internet chaplaincy/workplace chaplaincy in the Nottingham area.
At least as many other dioceses have fresh expressions pages, some which mention local projects but without much detail (Truro).
You'll notice that not all of the above are actually going great guns on Mission Shaped Church. Southwell and Liverpool are there partly because they are things that look like fresh expressions of church, but don't use the label. Based on websites alone, you'd have to say that only Bristol, Exeter, Guildford and Oxford have really got the bit between their teeth, but you wonder how many people even in these places are holding the reins (to mix equine metaphors).
It's also interesting that a planned General Synod review of Mission Shaped Church has been shelved. I really do hope it's not for long: despite Rowan Williams clear leadership on this, and the remarkable changes embraced by the church in recent years, the evidence from the online presence of the various dioceses is that the job is by no means done.
The 'average' diocesan site has some mention of the Mission Shaped Ministry course, with a link to the national site, and (in some cases) to forthcoming local MSM courses. A few have a description of what Mission Shaped Church/Fresh Expressions is all about, and a handful (see below) actually showcase examples of Fresh Expressions in their Diocese.
At the other end of the spectrum, there are some websites which have no mention of any of the above. In some cases it's because the Diocese is putting its resources elsewhere than the website (fair enough, things are tight). But to find that getting on for a third of Diocesan websites don't really mention it at all is a bit worrying. One or two of these have a strong mission message already, but on some sites the absence of anything about Fresh Expressions is part of a general absence of much to do with mission.
In passing, it's interesting that Mission Action Planning (which hasn't been a national initiative) is much more common than Fresh Expressions, and much more high profile in many diocesan strategies.
Most worth a visit (in alphabetical order):
1. Bristol: a selection of Youtube videos on local fresh expressions and a diocesan Church Planting Policy. The whole website is very mission flavoured.
2. Chichester has a full list of registered Fresh Expressions in the diocese
3. Exeter a substantial Mission section, includes Fresh Expressions in Devon, with details of specific local fx's, plus local examples. 2 Cathedral based fresh expressions Life on the Beach is a mission partnership between Exeter Cathedral and local churches, using the Cathedral green for a Saturday open-air outreach/festival. Nightchurch is a new outreach based in the Cathedral on Friday nights, aimed at Gen X and Y. Mission Downloads include generic fx presentations for parishes/deaneries to preview, and a very good paper on Pioneer Ministry.
4. Guildford: a concise list of every fx in the diocese, grouped by type (alternative, workplace, cafe etc.) with details of when and where. Also a 20 page thesis on the difference between fx and traditional outreach.
5. Liverpool: lots of good things, but highlights: ACTS a joint initiative with TEARfund to take parishes step by step through embarking on a new project for the benefit of the community, from building a community centre to running a fun day. A way in for community based fresh expressions. Their latest report on the diocesan strategy identifies a resource church for pioneer ministry, and summarises church plants and pioneering projects.
6. Norwich: simple pages explaining Fresh expressions and alternative worship, with links to local examples and a page on alternative and creative worship, from all-age to 'liquid', with links to blogs, books and resource sites. Couple of good case studies of redeveloping churches as community centres.
7 Oxford: The Encouraging Evangelism page has a selection of vid clips on the practicalities of evangelism, no. 5 focuses on the Jigsaw fresh expression of church in Witney. Oxfords Cutting Edge project (2002-8) resourced 6 pilot new congregations, there's a summary of the fruits here, and the full report on the project is well worth a read if you are looking to set up a Fresh Expression within an Anglican diocese, very very helpful. The Diocese has also produce a concise 'Beginning, Nurturing and Sustaining Fresh Expressions' booklet, which is available as a pdf.
8.Ripon and Leeds: has FX section, and great to see that there are 4 video clips of different FX in the diocese, plus an intro from the Bish. However, they need to link the vids from the fx page! Also has a policy document on mission and ministry in UPA parishes, worth reading.
9. Southwell: nothing explicitly on fresh expressions, despite pages on Sports Ministry, and Car Boot Sale ministry, and a link to iChaplaincy (an internet chaplaincy/workplace chaplaincy in the Nottingham area.
At least as many other dioceses have fresh expressions pages, some which mention local projects but without much detail (Truro).
You'll notice that not all of the above are actually going great guns on Mission Shaped Church. Southwell and Liverpool are there partly because they are things that look like fresh expressions of church, but don't use the label. Based on websites alone, you'd have to say that only Bristol, Exeter, Guildford and Oxford have really got the bit between their teeth, but you wonder how many people even in these places are holding the reins (to mix equine metaphors).
It's also interesting that a planned General Synod review of Mission Shaped Church has been shelved. I really do hope it's not for long: despite Rowan Williams clear leadership on this, and the remarkable changes embraced by the church in recent years, the evidence from the online presence of the various dioceses is that the job is by no means done.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Mission and Fresh Expressions Resources by Diocese: St. Albans - York
The final post of 4 surveying the 43 diocesan websites for useful resources on mission and fresh expressions that could be useful for anyone.
Previous posts covered:
Bath and Wells - Coventry
Derby - London
Manchester - Rochester
I'll also be doing some follow on posts: a 'top 10 resources' post, and some suggestions about what resources could, pretty easily, be held in common across all diocesan sites, and perhaps a summary of the best Fresh Expressions stuff, and how the picture looks nationally for FX based on what Dioceses have (or haven't) got on their websites. (Update: now online - follow this link for these extra posts)
so here we go.....
St. Albans: what looks like a chunky mission section, fronted by a picture which we all know is the outline of a font, or possibly a commuion cup, but might also be the outline of a toilet. I'm just telling it like it is.... However, it flatters to decieve: many of the 25 subsections are blank pages, and the first one with any content spoke of a mission training event being cancelled. The Fresh Expressions section links to two reports on Vision Days, both hosted on the national FX site.
The website is new, so I guess they've not sorted out all the content yet.
The only thing of note was a link to a Workplace Ministry project for Herfordshire and Bedfordshire - interesting to find another regional group doing this, as well as the After Sunday project in the North-East (their website is also being renewed!).
St. Edmunsbury and Ipswich Oh dear, more pop-up windows. They're about to have some events thinking about their mission as a diocese, but slim pickings in terms of mission/evangelism resources. Links worth a visit:
- 1 page style guide for powerpoint slides. Nothing really to do with mission, but v helpful.
- 'Open churches week', good idea for opening up church buildlings to the community, and some interesting things being done by churches taking part, from family tree research to fayres of various kinds.
The only FX thing on the site was a chunky powerpoint presentation (3 meg) given to their synod in Feb. It'll be familiar to anyone who's seen a presentation from the FX national team, but blends the generic stuff with some local examples. Looks like they're planning to give this more of a push in 2010.
Salisbury The only Mission link on the homepage (which has the full SiteMap) is a back to church Sunday page. Nothing on FX. There are a couple of Area groupings which are designed to resource the local church, which have their own web pages. Nothing here worth linking to, in terms of mission resources or ideas.
Sheffield Ok, we've not given Steve Croft long to make his mark, but he's already there on video on the home page with his challenge to the Diocese. 'Eat less chips'. No, not really.
There's a mission section, but the content is a bit patchy. Some good stories of mission in action from around the Diocese, and they train 'Lay Parish Evangelists', which is good to see.
Sheffield is also encouraging people to vote on 4th June to counter the BNP, and have a parish magazine article on the subject.
Sodor and Man has a website. That's about all I can say. No sign of Thomas the Tank Engine, thankfully.
Southwark clearly has a webmaster with a sense of humour, with a prominent 'what we do' menu on the home page.
- some good Communications tips via the links there (e.g. 'what are the media interested in').
Otherwise not much in the way of downloads or shareable resources, though it looks like plenty is going on in the 'real world' of the diocese.
Southwell and Nottingham ok you can wake up now. The following can be found in their Mission section.
- Bob Jackson presentation summarising some of his 'Road to Growth' findings, a powerpoint presentation you can actually understand without hearing it given in person. Good summary of Jacksons work, if you've not read his books.
- Section on Sports Ministry, good starter for 10 if you're thinking about this sort of thing.
- article on Car Boot Sale ministry, again, gives you plent of ideas if you're thinking about a church stall at a CBS.
- under Back to Church Sunday, some handy tips for welcoming children
- the Diocese had a celebration event for mission projects. Excellent way to recognise and promote what people are doing at a local level.
- Mission Development Fund material is presented in an attractive booklet form, good way of promoting it.
- 'On Course', a downloadable booklet doing a survey of what courses are on the market for Finding Faith (evangelism/nurture), Growing Faith (discipleship) and Sharing Faith (um, sharing your faith). Excellent resource, there are a few other dioceses which have a similar resource, but it should be all of them.
- a link to iChaplaincy (an internet chaplaincy) and workplace chaplaincy in the Nottingham area. Interesting idea, I'd be interested to know how well used the site/chaplaincy is.
If you're interested in where the Diocese is going, their 'Shaping the Future' vision has a good outline of what their key priorities are.
Not really on mission, but the first diocesan website where I've come across a liturgical resources section. Not just section, entire website.
After all that, nothing explicitly on Fresh Expressions, which is intriguing, though it's mentioned as part of 'Shaping the Future'....
Truro
- the Mission page gives a brief list of projects which have benefited from mission funding.
Previous posts covered:
Bath and Wells - Coventry
Derby - London
Manchester - Rochester
I'll also be doing some follow on posts: a 'top 10 resources' post, and some suggestions about what resources could, pretty easily, be held in common across all diocesan sites, and perhaps a summary of the best Fresh Expressions stuff, and how the picture looks nationally for FX based on what Dioceses have (or haven't) got on their websites. (Update: now online - follow this link for these extra posts)
so here we go.....
St. Albans: what looks like a chunky mission section, fronted by a picture which we all know is the outline of a font, or possibly a commuion cup, but might also be the outline of a toilet. I'm just telling it like it is.... However, it flatters to decieve: many of the 25 subsections are blank pages, and the first one with any content spoke of a mission training event being cancelled. The Fresh Expressions section links to two reports on Vision Days, both hosted on the national FX site.
The website is new, so I guess they've not sorted out all the content yet.
The only thing of note was a link to a Workplace Ministry project for Herfordshire and Bedfordshire - interesting to find another regional group doing this, as well as the After Sunday project in the North-East (their website is also being renewed!).
St. Edmunsbury and Ipswich Oh dear, more pop-up windows. They're about to have some events thinking about their mission as a diocese, but slim pickings in terms of mission/evangelism resources. Links worth a visit:
- 1 page style guide for powerpoint slides. Nothing really to do with mission, but v helpful.
- 'Open churches week', good idea for opening up church buildlings to the community, and some interesting things being done by churches taking part, from family tree research to fayres of various kinds.
The only FX thing on the site was a chunky powerpoint presentation (3 meg) given to their synod in Feb. It'll be familiar to anyone who's seen a presentation from the FX national team, but blends the generic stuff with some local examples. Looks like they're planning to give this more of a push in 2010.
Salisbury The only Mission link on the homepage (which has the full SiteMap) is a back to church Sunday page. Nothing on FX. There are a couple of Area groupings which are designed to resource the local church, which have their own web pages. Nothing here worth linking to, in terms of mission resources or ideas.
Sheffield Ok, we've not given Steve Croft long to make his mark, but he's already there on video on the home page with his challenge to the Diocese. 'Eat less chips'. No, not really.
There's a mission section, but the content is a bit patchy. Some good stories of mission in action from around the Diocese, and they train 'Lay Parish Evangelists', which is good to see.
Sheffield is also encouraging people to vote on 4th June to counter the BNP, and have a parish magazine article on the subject.
Sodor and Man has a website. That's about all I can say. No sign of Thomas the Tank Engine, thankfully.
Southwark clearly has a webmaster with a sense of humour, with a prominent 'what we do' menu on the home page.
- some good Communications tips via the links there (e.g. 'what are the media interested in').
Otherwise not much in the way of downloads or shareable resources, though it looks like plenty is going on in the 'real world' of the diocese.
Southwell and Nottingham ok you can wake up now. The following can be found in their Mission section.
- Bob Jackson presentation summarising some of his 'Road to Growth' findings, a powerpoint presentation you can actually understand without hearing it given in person. Good summary of Jacksons work, if you've not read his books.
- Section on Sports Ministry, good starter for 10 if you're thinking about this sort of thing.
- article on Car Boot Sale ministry, again, gives you plent of ideas if you're thinking about a church stall at a CBS.
- under Back to Church Sunday, some handy tips for welcoming children
- the Diocese had a celebration event for mission projects. Excellent way to recognise and promote what people are doing at a local level.
- Mission Development Fund material is presented in an attractive booklet form, good way of promoting it.
- 'On Course', a downloadable booklet doing a survey of what courses are on the market for Finding Faith (evangelism/nurture), Growing Faith (discipleship) and Sharing Faith (um, sharing your faith). Excellent resource, there are a few other dioceses which have a similar resource, but it should be all of them.
- a link to iChaplaincy (an internet chaplaincy) and workplace chaplaincy in the Nottingham area. Interesting idea, I'd be interested to know how well used the site/chaplaincy is.
If you're interested in where the Diocese is going, their 'Shaping the Future' vision has a good outline of what their key priorities are.
Not really on mission, but the first diocesan website where I've come across a liturgical resources section. Not just section, entire website.
After all that, nothing explicitly on Fresh Expressions, which is intriguing, though it's mentioned as part of 'Shaping the Future'....
Truro
- the Mission page gives a brief list of projects which have benefited from mission funding.
- they have a Fresh Expressions page! It mentions Tubestation (church plant for surfers) and several other projects, but the descriptions are quite brief.
- again, nothing to do with mission, but a very well organised library of downloadable forms. Everything from AGM announcements to child protection.
update: see the first comment for an ecumenical fresh expressions network in Cornwall.
Wakefield
- Some simple and attractive pages for enquirers, good layout and links, including a link to egodparents (new one on me)
- communications page links to national CofE advice on use of the
media, promotion etc.
Winchester (sorry, formatting starting to fall apart a bit! good old Blogger..)
- Evangelism page has summaries of the most popular nurture courses, as well as a summary of Lost for Words, (evangelism training course from CPAS). I do like the look of their Discipleship Department, which is focused on making adult disciples and enabling other to do so. By the look of this, they have a newly appointed Fresh Expressions enabler, who came into post in Jan '09, so watch this space.
- Has a FX page, which summarises what they are about, but no local stories or examples, and all the links are to external sites. But it's there, which is good.
- another page on Growing Churches summarises the Growing Healthy Churches and Mission Shaped church materials, but points people back to the Discipleship Department for getting into them in depth.
Worcester has a mission page, but not really any resources here to link to. Nothing on fresh expressions, apart from a couple of mentions in news stories.
York has a report on the uptake and effectiveness of Mission Action Plans in the diocese (York adopted these as part of Diocesan strategy in 2002).
- there are clearly some Fresh Expressions things going on, but not organised into a specific place on the diocesan website (do a search for 'fresh expressions' and it raises several articles). The best way to navigate the site appears to be the 'search' facility - 'mission' also brings plenty of results, but most of them seem to be news items on local projects.
So there you have it. Unless you're interested in following some of the niche links (e.g. Workplace ministry) the only site here really worth a browse is Southwell.
After all that, I hope this is some use to someone!! Follow up posts on the best resources etc. in the next week or so.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Mission and Fresh Expressions Resources by Diocese: Manchester - Rochester
Continuing the survey of 44 diocesan websites for useful resources on mission and fresh expressions that could be useful for anyone. Previous posts covered:
Bath and Wells - Coventry
Derby - London
Sheffield - York to follow next week, all being well.
At the end of the series I'll also be doing a 'top 10 resources' post, and some suggestions about what resources could, pretty easily, be held in common across all diocesan sites.
This time, we start in the land of my birth (almost)
Manchester a pretty comprehensive looking site. Interesting bits:
Mission planning statistics - the Diocese has neighbourhood census and demographic stats organised parish by parish, to help parishes understnad their mission context. There is a pack for each parish with maps and key local stats. Excellent idea.
A very good Parish Audit booklet, taking parishes step by step through the process of thinking about their local context, and how to respond to it. Great tool for thinking through priorities and direction as a parish/church.
Superb communications home page, which helpfully sets out all the main local media in the Diocese, and which area they cover, as well as what communications the Diocese is sending out and who to. Great overview, the kind of thing every diocese should do. Great. The other communications stuff is of a similar standard - there are a cluster of advice pages on publicity, news releases, media contacts, websites and magazines (use links in the sidebar from the Communications home page).
Chunky Evangelism section, which starts with a clear statement of intent: Manchester Diocese has a vision to see the local church growing: growing qualitatively in terms of spirituality, unity, generosity and discipleship. Growing quantitatively as more people are drawn to faith in our great God and his son Jesus. Within this is a page on Experience Easter, with ideas about how to make the most of Easter as an outreach opportunity. To free up time to do outreach at Easter, there's another page with bags of resources for Good Friday meditations, well worth a look (though a bit late for this year!)
If the diocese has a key outreach event, a downloadable poster is put on the site so people can access the publicity themselves. Clever.
Sadly not online, but avaible from the Diocese, are a couple of booklets on outreach with particular age groups. Luv 'em is for work with children and young people, and Silver Service for ministry with the elderly.
Newcastle
Good 'faith and life' section on baptism, weddings, funerals etc., which recognises that many visitors might come with these on the agenda. Lots of stuff here that could be easily replicated in every diocese, or indeed on your own church website.
Norwich: 'Committed to growth' says the top of the sidebar, which is encouraging. This link takes you into a suite of Mission Action Plan ('Growth Plan') resources, with a booklet introducing the idea, which would make a useful PCC resource in its own right for pretty much any church. The MAP resources are well set out, with templates, example plans etc.
Very good Mission Support Fund page, with the guidance notes for applications, a full list of projects funded so far, dates and deadlines for applications over the year. Good example for other dioceses to copy.
A booklist on Welcoming Newcomers, v helpful, with links to 2 examples of church welcome packs, one of which (hoorah!) was from another diocese. There are also simple pages explaining Fresh expressions and alternative worship, with links to local examples.
A page on discipleship courses reproduces the LICC survey of discipleship materials, helpfully adding which parishes are using certain courses for people who want to explore further. This is vital: it's so much better having someone local who can talk you through how they've done it, what's worked and what hasn't.
Helpful page on alternative and creative worship, from all-age to 'liquid', with links to blogs, books and resource sites. Helpful for people wanting to explore some popular alternatives to a standard hymn sandwich.
Easy to use Back to Church Sunday page with downloadable invites and posters, but they need to change it over from 2008 to 2009!
Couple of good case studies of redeveloping churches as community centres.
Oxford Big Back to Church Sunday splash on the home page, sends a clear message about what's important. Their BTCS resource page has some useful case studies of parishes which did it, along with the usual resources, and a 'timeline' of how to prepare.
Oxford is also sponsoring a study of how faith communities 'add value' to their neighbourhoods, the results will be interesting and will contribute to a crucial national policy debate.
The Encouraging Evangelism page has a selection of vid clips on the practicalities of evangelism, of which the most helpful are no's 3 (on running a mens breakfast), 4 (on running an Alpha/nurture course) and 5, which focuses on the Jigsaw fresh expression of church in Witney:
Oxford is one of the pioneer Dioceses in Fresh Expressions , having invested heavily in the Cutting Edge initiative several years ago. Cutting Edge resourced 6 pilot new congregations,
there's a summary of the fruits here, and the full report on the project is well worth a read if you are looking to set up a Fresh Expression within an Anglican diocese, very very helpful. The Diocese has also produce a concise 'Beginning, Nurturing and Sustaining Fresh Expressions' booklet, which is available as a pdf.
Yet another superb link: Nurture Courses - this focuses on the four most popular (START, Alpha, Emmaus, Essence), with a full review of each, and several stories from people who have used them. It also includes a handy list of books and websites on evangelism, and a useful page on how to follow up an evangelistic event so that it helps you make contacts.
There's also a brief list of useful links to sites and blogs on evangelism, and there's also a cluster of documents around 'Living Faith', the diocesan vision for growth and development. There's a clever 'Easter Ingredients' evangelistic leaflet, based around Hot Cross buns - if you can airbrush out the Oxford logo this could be used anywhere, good idea.
I mention just in passing that Oxford diocese also links to three of its bloggers...
Peterborough tough job to follow Oxford, but some very handy niche products. Under Mission downloads, there are some great little booklets on Providing a Welcome, and ministry with the elderly, and some good ideas here on options for outreach, and several documents produced for a 2007 Lent course to get churches to think about mission.
Good Back to Church Sunday section with stories of people who came back to church, a countdown, welcoming children, and ideas for BTCS at Easter and Christmas.
introduction to Parish Nursing, interesting concept: "A parish nurse is a registered nurse with community experience, who works through the church, offering spiritual as well as physical and mental care."
Portsmouth: woo, psychedelic! A site designed by an evangelist: the first 4 sections are on Jesus, stories of people who came to faith, FAQ's and life events (baptisms, weddings etc.). It's only when you get to the penultimate 'Info' panel that there's anything about the Diocese, and you end up at a site within a site with Diocesan information. Love it. They even have pretty much the entire Street Bible online at the site.
Intriguing Evangelism section, buried deep in the bowels of the site, including links on leading someone to Jesus, and this nice gospel illustrations page. Some good material here, but quite tricky to navigate.
Helpful summary of key CofE thinking on mission: Mission Shaped Church, the 5 marks of mission, Lambeth statements etc. , peculiar formatting though. Also an article reproduced from elsewhere "Questions Christians ask about sharing their faith".
The diocese have also mapped the 2001 census data onto parishes, v. helpful.
Ripon & Leeds
interesting policy document on mission and ministry in UPA parishes, of which they have several.
Has a FX section, and great to see that there are 4 video clips of different FX in the diocese, plus an intro from the Bish. Love the Saturday Night Service in particular. Otherwise fairly standard contents (what is FX, training, funding etc.) but at least it's there. Strange that the vids aren't linked from the FX page!
Rochester. The Diocesan Evangelists have their own site, complete with testimonies, FAQ's mission booklist etc. There seem to be plenty of them, which is encouraging! To be honest the navigation is bewildering - I found myself on the same site via 'Mission and Unity', which also seems to have a separate site from the main Diocesan one. Seems odd that 'unity' should be separate, but what do I know?
There may have been other helpful resources on this site but frankly I just gave up, what with new windows popping up all over the place, and bits of the site which didn't do what they said they'd do. PLEASE CAN THE NEXT BISHOP OF ROCHESTER BAN POP-UP WINDOWS.
A real curates egg of sites, though there are at least some mission/evangelism/fx resources on all of them. Just goes to show that the way you communicate is vital to whether or not you'll get your message across, no matter how important that message is.
Best bits:
Manchester communications tips
Norwich on mission funding
Oxford on FX and nurture courses
Peterborough booklets on welcome and ministry with the elderly
Portsmouth gospel illustrations
Ripon & Leeds FX videos.
Bath and Wells - Coventry
Derby - London
Sheffield - York to follow next week, all being well.
At the end of the series I'll also be doing a 'top 10 resources' post, and some suggestions about what resources could, pretty easily, be held in common across all diocesan sites.
This time, we start in the land of my birth (almost)
Manchester a pretty comprehensive looking site. Interesting bits:
Mission planning statistics - the Diocese has neighbourhood census and demographic stats organised parish by parish, to help parishes understnad their mission context. There is a pack for each parish with maps and key local stats. Excellent idea.
A very good Parish Audit booklet, taking parishes step by step through the process of thinking about their local context, and how to respond to it. Great tool for thinking through priorities and direction as a parish/church.
Superb communications home page, which helpfully sets out all the main local media in the Diocese, and which area they cover, as well as what communications the Diocese is sending out and who to. Great overview, the kind of thing every diocese should do. Great. The other communications stuff is of a similar standard - there are a cluster of advice pages on publicity, news releases, media contacts, websites and magazines (use links in the sidebar from the Communications home page).
Chunky Evangelism section, which starts with a clear statement of intent: Manchester Diocese has a vision to see the local church growing: growing qualitatively in terms of spirituality, unity, generosity and discipleship. Growing quantitatively as more people are drawn to faith in our great God and his son Jesus. Within this is a page on Experience Easter, with ideas about how to make the most of Easter as an outreach opportunity. To free up time to do outreach at Easter, there's another page with bags of resources for Good Friday meditations, well worth a look (though a bit late for this year!)
If the diocese has a key outreach event, a downloadable poster is put on the site so people can access the publicity themselves. Clever.
Sadly not online, but avaible from the Diocese, are a couple of booklets on outreach with particular age groups. Luv 'em is for work with children and young people, and Silver Service for ministry with the elderly.
Newcastle
Good 'faith and life' section on baptism, weddings, funerals etc., which recognises that many visitors might come with these on the agenda. Lots of stuff here that could be easily replicated in every diocese, or indeed on your own church website.
Norwich: 'Committed to growth' says the top of the sidebar, which is encouraging. This link takes you into a suite of Mission Action Plan ('Growth Plan') resources, with a booklet introducing the idea, which would make a useful PCC resource in its own right for pretty much any church. The MAP resources are well set out, with templates, example plans etc.
Very good Mission Support Fund page, with the guidance notes for applications, a full list of projects funded so far, dates and deadlines for applications over the year. Good example for other dioceses to copy.
A booklist on Welcoming Newcomers, v helpful, with links to 2 examples of church welcome packs, one of which (hoorah!) was from another diocese. There are also simple pages explaining Fresh expressions and alternative worship, with links to local examples.
A page on discipleship courses reproduces the LICC survey of discipleship materials, helpfully adding which parishes are using certain courses for people who want to explore further. This is vital: it's so much better having someone local who can talk you through how they've done it, what's worked and what hasn't.
Helpful page on alternative and creative worship, from all-age to 'liquid', with links to blogs, books and resource sites. Helpful for people wanting to explore some popular alternatives to a standard hymn sandwich.
Easy to use Back to Church Sunday page with downloadable invites and posters, but they need to change it over from 2008 to 2009!
Couple of good case studies of redeveloping churches as community centres.
Oxford Big Back to Church Sunday splash on the home page, sends a clear message about what's important. Their BTCS resource page has some useful case studies of parishes which did it, along with the usual resources, and a 'timeline' of how to prepare.
Oxford is also sponsoring a study of how faith communities 'add value' to their neighbourhoods, the results will be interesting and will contribute to a crucial national policy debate.
The Encouraging Evangelism page has a selection of vid clips on the practicalities of evangelism, of which the most helpful are no's 3 (on running a mens breakfast), 4 (on running an Alpha/nurture course) and 5, which focuses on the Jigsaw fresh expression of church in Witney:
Oxford is one of the pioneer Dioceses in Fresh Expressions , having invested heavily in the Cutting Edge initiative several years ago. Cutting Edge resourced 6 pilot new congregations,
there's a summary of the fruits here, and the full report on the project is well worth a read if you are looking to set up a Fresh Expression within an Anglican diocese, very very helpful. The Diocese has also produce a concise 'Beginning, Nurturing and Sustaining Fresh Expressions' booklet, which is available as a pdf.
Yet another superb link: Nurture Courses - this focuses on the four most popular (START, Alpha, Emmaus, Essence), with a full review of each, and several stories from people who have used them. It also includes a handy list of books and websites on evangelism, and a useful page on how to follow up an evangelistic event so that it helps you make contacts.
There's also a brief list of useful links to sites and blogs on evangelism, and there's also a cluster of documents around 'Living Faith', the diocesan vision for growth and development. There's a clever 'Easter Ingredients' evangelistic leaflet, based around Hot Cross buns - if you can airbrush out the Oxford logo this could be used anywhere, good idea.
I mention just in passing that Oxford diocese also links to three of its bloggers...
Peterborough tough job to follow Oxford, but some very handy niche products. Under Mission downloads, there are some great little booklets on Providing a Welcome, and ministry with the elderly, and some good ideas here on options for outreach, and several documents produced for a 2007 Lent course to get churches to think about mission.
Good Back to Church Sunday section with stories of people who came back to church, a countdown, welcoming children, and ideas for BTCS at Easter and Christmas.
introduction to Parish Nursing, interesting concept: "A parish nurse is a registered nurse with community experience, who works through the church, offering spiritual as well as physical and mental care."
Portsmouth: woo, psychedelic! A site designed by an evangelist: the first 4 sections are on Jesus, stories of people who came to faith, FAQ's and life events (baptisms, weddings etc.). It's only when you get to the penultimate 'Info' panel that there's anything about the Diocese, and you end up at a site within a site with Diocesan information. Love it. They even have pretty much the entire Street Bible online at the site.
Intriguing Evangelism section, buried deep in the bowels of the site, including links on leading someone to Jesus, and this nice gospel illustrations page. Some good material here, but quite tricky to navigate.
Helpful summary of key CofE thinking on mission: Mission Shaped Church, the 5 marks of mission, Lambeth statements etc. , peculiar formatting though. Also an article reproduced from elsewhere "Questions Christians ask about sharing their faith".
The diocese have also mapped the 2001 census data onto parishes, v. helpful.
Ripon & Leeds
interesting policy document on mission and ministry in UPA parishes, of which they have several.
Has a FX section, and great to see that there are 4 video clips of different FX in the diocese, plus an intro from the Bish. Love the Saturday Night Service in particular. Otherwise fairly standard contents (what is FX, training, funding etc.) but at least it's there. Strange that the vids aren't linked from the FX page!
Rochester. The Diocesan Evangelists have their own site, complete with testimonies, FAQ's mission booklist etc. There seem to be plenty of them, which is encouraging! To be honest the navigation is bewildering - I found myself on the same site via 'Mission and Unity', which also seems to have a separate site from the main Diocesan one. Seems odd that 'unity' should be separate, but what do I know?
There may have been other helpful resources on this site but frankly I just gave up, what with new windows popping up all over the place, and bits of the site which didn't do what they said they'd do. PLEASE CAN THE NEXT BISHOP OF ROCHESTER BAN POP-UP WINDOWS.
A real curates egg of sites, though there are at least some mission/evangelism/fx resources on all of them. Just goes to show that the way you communicate is vital to whether or not you'll get your message across, no matter how important that message is.
Best bits:
Manchester communications tips
Norwich on mission funding
Oxford on FX and nurture courses
Peterborough booklets on welcome and ministry with the elderly
Portsmouth gospel illustrations
Ripon & Leeds FX videos.
Friday, May 01, 2009
Mission Resources and Fresh Expressions on Diocesan Websites: Derby - London
Following on from the Bath and Wells - Coventry survey yesterday, a list of useful mission and fresh expression resources to be found on the 43 Anglican diocesan websites.
If I've missed something from from your site, it means that I couldn't find it after quite a bit of searching, so you may want to look again at how the website is structured!
Here we go....
12. Derby The stated vision of the diocese is to develop mission, ministry and discipleship, but there's no section on mission (or fresh expressions). Considering that it’s the first of the 3 Diocesan priorities this is very odd.
Their in the middle of a review process, which is asking some good questions and may deliver some fruit. Early days. Nothing on the site to really merit a visit from outside the Diocese.
13. Durham Colourful front page, nice.
Has a mission section, but without any spectacular content.
Oddly, the Board of Education has its own website! Not quite sure what this says… There you can find a list of children and communion resources, and some comprehensive guidelines on collective worship in schools, which is a bit chunky.
Beyond this, not much the visiting missioner to chew on.
14. Ely Good layout, substantial Mission and Ministry section, which in turn has a Fresh Expressions section. Dave Male, the FX missioner for the Diocese, publishes a monthly newsletter for them, which is brief, to the point, locally based (would apply to pretty much anyone in E Anglia) and easily skimmable.
The Mission Resources section is very brief, and could be expanded. Mission Action Planning, by contrast, has plenty of material, part of a Diocesan strategy to have a MAP from every parish for their 900th anniversary this year. Most of it is for diocesan consumption, rather than for visitors, though if you're doing MAP's, there may be something helpful.
15. Exeter 'Growing churches sit down for big lunch' turned out to be about churches which grow their own food, rather than in number!
- Substantial Mission section, including Fresh Expressions in Devon, with details of specific local fx's. Only the 2nd diocese so far (after Bristol) to list these...
- Some great mission work going on through the Cathedral: Life on the Beach is a mission partnership between Exeter Cathedral and local churches, using the Cathedral green for a Saturday open-air outreach/festival. Nightchurch is a fresh expression based in the Cathedral on Friday nights, aimed at Gen X and Y. We need more missionary Cathedrals!!!
- In the mission Downloads section you'll find a Discovering Your Spiritual Gifts questionnaire (just printed it off!), and (clever idea) examples of presentations on mission and fx which could be given to your parish/deanery by the Diocesan Missioner. There's also a very good paper on what Pioneer Ministry involveds, and changes in the way the church needs to see mission.
There's also material about 'Moving on in Mission and Ministry', the diocesan strategy, which looks like a version of Mission Action Planning.
16. Gloucester A few bits and bobs on mission. The resources section has some good titles, but some of the 'downloads' consists of just 2 or 3 sentences (e.g on 'science and religion'). It's interesting that the Vision of the Diocese is hosted in the mission section of the website. Also has an FX page with a link to feig, a local project.
Best bit: an entire website devoted to youth ministry, with sections for young people, and for youth leaders. Great resource both for them, and for any parish thinking of taking on a youth minister. Lots of stuff here that could be used by any diocese.
17. Guildford Looks to be plenty going on, the Mission and Parish Development page is well done, with a list of what they can advise on and help with, makes it easy for parishes to relate to what they're doing. It includes resources on:
- Fresh Expression: full marks to Bonnie Appleton, who's put together a concise list of every fx in the diocese, grouped by type (alternative, workplace, cafe etc.) with details of when and where. I love the idea of Songs of Rage, a church for people who like punk rock. For those with a bit more time, there's a 20 page thesis on the difference between fx and traditional outreach.
- Back to Church Sunday, with info on what's happened locally
- some very helpful profiles of team members and what they do - gets past the normally faceless view of 'the Diocese' and should help people relate more easily to what's being offered.
- A brief Sports Ministry page, great to find one of these!
- the mission deparment have produced a colourful booklet which explains what they do. Again, an excellent idea.
Finally, a booklet summarising discipleship resources (finding faith, growing faith, sharing faith, leadership), which I think is based on LICC materials. Good brief summary of each course, mirrors similar documents at Southwell and Chester. But why couldn't it be linked from every Diocese?
Well done Guildford, the kind of site you leave feeling encouraged.
18. Hereford Hides its mission resources in the Development and Training section, they took a bit of finding/guesswork.
Worth a visit:
- the first 'Christians at Work' section I've seen on a Diocesan website, with (bingo!) a free, downloadable 4-session small group course on the issue. Well done Hereford. Now on my hard drive.
- Stewardship resources under the title 'resources for mission', which is a good approach!
- a course developed by the Diocese to hep people share their faith: £5 for the DVD's and leaders notes, with a full outline of the course here.
- a fascinating page on using Mystery Plays (obviously a big thing locally) for mission.
19. Leicester Quite a few bits and pieces under mission and ministry, including the guidance notes for applications for mission funding from the diocese, which many Dioceses don't publish through their website.
Main bit of interest is the 24 page guide to nurture courses, which takes in Nooma as well as Alpha, and comments on strengths and weaknesses. Also has a section on discipleship and faith sharing courses.
Buildings for Mission, also hosted by the Diocese, might be a rebranded Diocesan Advisory Committee (planning permission people), but even so, I like their style. Oh no, they have a DAC as well.
The ongoing Diocesan strategy, Shaped By God, has a substantial mission element. 60 page booklet here, if you're interested. It's actually quite good, and peppered with case studies and diagrams. Interesting to compare and contrast this with that of my own Diocese....
20. Lichfield 'Going for growth' proclaims the headline, and the first link on the sidebar is to find out more about Jesus. However, Jonathan Gledhills head is still the first thing you notice as the site loads!!
Lichfields 'vision for growth' is spelt out elsewhere, however, none of the diocesan departments have anything on the website, and there is nothing related to mission or fresh expressions. Peculiar.
21. Liverpool This is one monster of a website, the sitemap is huge, and within it you can find:
- Good 'what does it mean to be a Christian' section, brief but comprehensive.
- Very helpful communications section, with concise and good advice on publicity, leaflets, noticeboards, photographs, magazines, new media etc. Yet another example of what could be on every Diocesan website, if only people talked to each other.
- the engine room for mission is the Vision, Mission and Growth section. There are primer pages on several topics - fresh expressions, community, ecumenical partnerships, work in deprived areas, developing your building etc.
- Liverpool also run a Going for Growth programme, at the core of which is a 'School of Leadership' for clergy, an intensive 11 week course. This looks like a great example of joined up thinking - growth and change is a process, and here is a diocese which has taken the process of moving into mission and growth seriously. (one slight glitch: two of the links point to the same page 'how do we grow our church?' has lost it's direction! There are some mission pages you can get to through the site map, but not from the mission pages!)
- Finally, a superb mini-site within the site on ACTS : a joint initiative with TEARfund to take parishes step by step through embarking on a new project for the benefit of the community, from building a community centre to running a fun day. Again, something which could be used anywhere. It includes stuff on setting up as a charity, recruitment, publicity, etc. Excellent.
The diocesan strategy includes identifying resource churches for specific ministries - their latest report (p6)talks of one for liturgy and worship, and another for pioneer ministry. Great idea - designated churches which can resource the whole diocese in specialist areas. The report also lists a number of church plants and pioneer projects: which makes it an encouraging and dynamic document, rather than a dry presentation of facts and figures.
22. Lincoln links the blogs of both bishops from its home page - the first website so far to give any profile to the blogs of its own people.
But that's about it: no sign of mission on the site map, and the closest thing - the U2charist, has been colonised by the Millenium Development Goals. Nothing on fresh expressions either.
23. London the top left hand corner of the home page starts 'Regulations and Policies' - not a promising start! However the site map is very easy to use (the best so far), and soon you'll find things like:
- A Capital Idea: study by Bob Jackson on the causes of the church growth experienced by London since the 1990s. The only Diocese so far with a research paper on its own success or otherwise in mission, the paper is an applied case study of Jacksons writing in Hope for the Church and The Road to Growth, and is well worth reading.
- nice introduction to baptism, for people enquiring about it.
- A Funding page, with the guidelines on applying for mission funding, plus other links to funding sources, and a summary of what they cover (e.g. Lottery community buildings fund).
- a substantial Mission Action Planning area, which you'd expect from the Diocese which pioneered this 15 years ago, with plenty of downloads of what it is, how to do it, worksheets helping folk to analyse their situation, a chart to plot your MAP, and 5 sample MAP's to show people what they look like. If you're looking for a good template, this is it.
Top Tips: Guildford (especially the Fresh Expressions bits) and Liverpool (both the leadership training and the ACTS process). Again, the picture is incredibly patchy, and there is plenty of scope for generic web pages which could be used by all diocesan sites.
If I've missed something from from your site, it means that I couldn't find it after quite a bit of searching, so you may want to look again at how the website is structured!
Here we go....
12. Derby The stated vision of the diocese is to develop mission, ministry and discipleship, but there's no section on mission (or fresh expressions). Considering that it’s the first of the 3 Diocesan priorities this is very odd.
Their in the middle of a review process, which is asking some good questions and may deliver some fruit. Early days. Nothing on the site to really merit a visit from outside the Diocese.
13. Durham Colourful front page, nice.
Has a mission section, but without any spectacular content.
Oddly, the Board of Education has its own website! Not quite sure what this says… There you can find a list of children and communion resources, and some comprehensive guidelines on collective worship in schools, which is a bit chunky.
Beyond this, not much the visiting missioner to chew on.
14. Ely Good layout, substantial Mission and Ministry section, which in turn has a Fresh Expressions section. Dave Male, the FX missioner for the Diocese, publishes a monthly newsletter for them, which is brief, to the point, locally based (would apply to pretty much anyone in E Anglia) and easily skimmable.
The Mission Resources section is very brief, and could be expanded. Mission Action Planning, by contrast, has plenty of material, part of a Diocesan strategy to have a MAP from every parish for their 900th anniversary this year. Most of it is for diocesan consumption, rather than for visitors, though if you're doing MAP's, there may be something helpful.
15. Exeter 'Growing churches sit down for big lunch' turned out to be about churches which grow their own food, rather than in number!
- Substantial Mission section, including Fresh Expressions in Devon, with details of specific local fx's. Only the 2nd diocese so far (after Bristol) to list these...
- Some great mission work going on through the Cathedral: Life on the Beach is a mission partnership between Exeter Cathedral and local churches, using the Cathedral green for a Saturday open-air outreach/festival. Nightchurch is a fresh expression based in the Cathedral on Friday nights, aimed at Gen X and Y. We need more missionary Cathedrals!!!
- In the mission Downloads section you'll find a Discovering Your Spiritual Gifts questionnaire (just printed it off!), and (clever idea) examples of presentations on mission and fx which could be given to your parish/deanery by the Diocesan Missioner. There's also a very good paper on what Pioneer Ministry involveds, and changes in the way the church needs to see mission.
There's also material about 'Moving on in Mission and Ministry', the diocesan strategy, which looks like a version of Mission Action Planning.
16. Gloucester A few bits and bobs on mission. The resources section has some good titles, but some of the 'downloads' consists of just 2 or 3 sentences (e.g on 'science and religion'). It's interesting that the Vision of the Diocese is hosted in the mission section of the website. Also has an FX page with a link to feig, a local project.
Best bit: an entire website devoted to youth ministry, with sections for young people, and for youth leaders. Great resource both for them, and for any parish thinking of taking on a youth minister. Lots of stuff here that could be used by any diocese.
17. Guildford Looks to be plenty going on, the Mission and Parish Development page is well done, with a list of what they can advise on and help with, makes it easy for parishes to relate to what they're doing. It includes resources on:
- Fresh Expression: full marks to Bonnie Appleton, who's put together a concise list of every fx in the diocese, grouped by type (alternative, workplace, cafe etc.) with details of when and where. I love the idea of Songs of Rage, a church for people who like punk rock. For those with a bit more time, there's a 20 page thesis on the difference between fx and traditional outreach.
- Back to Church Sunday, with info on what's happened locally
- some very helpful profiles of team members and what they do - gets past the normally faceless view of 'the Diocese' and should help people relate more easily to what's being offered.
- A brief Sports Ministry page, great to find one of these!
- the mission deparment have produced a colourful booklet which explains what they do. Again, an excellent idea.
Finally, a booklet summarising discipleship resources (finding faith, growing faith, sharing faith, leadership), which I think is based on LICC materials. Good brief summary of each course, mirrors similar documents at Southwell and Chester. But why couldn't it be linked from every Diocese?
Well done Guildford, the kind of site you leave feeling encouraged.
18. Hereford Hides its mission resources in the Development and Training section, they took a bit of finding/guesswork.
Worth a visit:
- the first 'Christians at Work' section I've seen on a Diocesan website, with (bingo!) a free, downloadable 4-session small group course on the issue. Well done Hereford. Now on my hard drive.
- Stewardship resources under the title 'resources for mission', which is a good approach!
- a course developed by the Diocese to hep people share their faith: £5 for the DVD's and leaders notes, with a full outline of the course here.
- a fascinating page on using Mystery Plays (obviously a big thing locally) for mission.
19. Leicester Quite a few bits and pieces under mission and ministry, including the guidance notes for applications for mission funding from the diocese, which many Dioceses don't publish through their website.
Main bit of interest is the 24 page guide to nurture courses, which takes in Nooma as well as Alpha, and comments on strengths and weaknesses. Also has a section on discipleship and faith sharing courses.
Buildings for Mission, also hosted by the Diocese, might be a rebranded Diocesan Advisory Committee (planning permission people), but even so, I like their style. Oh no, they have a DAC as well.
The ongoing Diocesan strategy, Shaped By God, has a substantial mission element. 60 page booklet here, if you're interested. It's actually quite good, and peppered with case studies and diagrams. Interesting to compare and contrast this with that of my own Diocese....
20. Lichfield 'Going for growth' proclaims the headline, and the first link on the sidebar is to find out more about Jesus. However, Jonathan Gledhills head is still the first thing you notice as the site loads!!
Lichfields 'vision for growth' is spelt out elsewhere, however, none of the diocesan departments have anything on the website, and there is nothing related to mission or fresh expressions. Peculiar.
21. Liverpool This is one monster of a website, the sitemap is huge, and within it you can find:
- Good 'what does it mean to be a Christian' section, brief but comprehensive.
- Very helpful communications section, with concise and good advice on publicity, leaflets, noticeboards, photographs, magazines, new media etc. Yet another example of what could be on every Diocesan website, if only people talked to each other.
- the engine room for mission is the Vision, Mission and Growth section. There are primer pages on several topics - fresh expressions, community, ecumenical partnerships, work in deprived areas, developing your building etc.
- Liverpool also run a Going for Growth programme, at the core of which is a 'School of Leadership' for clergy, an intensive 11 week course. This looks like a great example of joined up thinking - growth and change is a process, and here is a diocese which has taken the process of moving into mission and growth seriously. (one slight glitch: two of the links point to the same page 'how do we grow our church?' has lost it's direction! There are some mission pages you can get to through the site map, but not from the mission pages!)
- Finally, a superb mini-site within the site on ACTS : a joint initiative with TEARfund to take parishes step by step through embarking on a new project for the benefit of the community, from building a community centre to running a fun day. Again, something which could be used anywhere. It includes stuff on setting up as a charity, recruitment, publicity, etc. Excellent.
The diocesan strategy includes identifying resource churches for specific ministries - their latest report (p6)talks of one for liturgy and worship, and another for pioneer ministry. Great idea - designated churches which can resource the whole diocese in specialist areas. The report also lists a number of church plants and pioneer projects: which makes it an encouraging and dynamic document, rather than a dry presentation of facts and figures.
22. Lincoln links the blogs of both bishops from its home page - the first website so far to give any profile to the blogs of its own people.
But that's about it: no sign of mission on the site map, and the closest thing - the U2charist, has been colonised by the Millenium Development Goals. Nothing on fresh expressions either.
23. London the top left hand corner of the home page starts 'Regulations and Policies' - not a promising start! However the site map is very easy to use (the best so far), and soon you'll find things like:
- A Capital Idea: study by Bob Jackson on the causes of the church growth experienced by London since the 1990s. The only Diocese so far with a research paper on its own success or otherwise in mission, the paper is an applied case study of Jacksons writing in Hope for the Church and The Road to Growth, and is well worth reading.
- nice introduction to baptism, for people enquiring about it.
- A Funding page, with the guidelines on applying for mission funding, plus other links to funding sources, and a summary of what they cover (e.g. Lottery community buildings fund).
- a substantial Mission Action Planning area, which you'd expect from the Diocese which pioneered this 15 years ago, with plenty of downloads of what it is, how to do it, worksheets helping folk to analyse their situation, a chart to plot your MAP, and 5 sample MAP's to show people what they look like. If you're looking for a good template, this is it.
Top Tips: Guildford (especially the Fresh Expressions bits) and Liverpool (both the leadership training and the ACTS process). Again, the picture is incredibly patchy, and there is plenty of scope for generic web pages which could be used by all diocesan sites.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Mission Resources and Fresh Expressions on Diocesan Websites: Bath and Wells to Coventry
Occassionally I stumble across a real gem on one of the 43 Diocesan websites around the country - most recently it was Bristols' section on Fresh Expressions (see below). So I thought I'd try to gather together all the useful links on mission and fresh expressions from the Diocesan websites in one place.
It's proven to be a bit more work than I thought, so I'm going to break it up a bit. This is the first of 4 posts, the others will cover:
Derby - London (12 dioceses)
Manchester - Rochester (8 dioceses, hopefully in 2 weeks time)
St. Albans - York (12 dioceses, ditto)
A full list of diocesan websites can be found on Anglicans Online (remember them?)
Basic Ideas:
1. This is a survey of what's on a diocesan website related to mission and fresh expressions
2. If I couldn't find it in 5 minutes, it's not listed - sorry if I've missed something important!
3. Of particular interest was anything which could be used by folk outside the particular Diocese. There is a heck of a lot of reinventing of wheels going on, and plenty of scope for a common core of mission material which could be hosted in common on every diocesan website.
1. Bath and Wells: has a mission homepage, mostly centred around the 'Changing Lives' diocesan strategy. Most of the info is contacts, though an article on 'mission in our culture' is a useful summary of the mission challenge, with a brief 'starter for 10' booklist.
Main highlight of the site is a great 13 page resource booklet on how churches and schools can work together, packed with good ideas on mission and engagement.
Nothing on fresh expressions, and the 'Back to Church Sunday' link was broken. Aside from the schools booklet, there'd be little of interest if you weren't in the Diocese already.
2. Birmingham: A website which clearly expects non-Christian visitors, with a substantial section for enquirers called Exploring Faith. This covers what a Christian is, testimonies, FAQ’s, how to find out more, books to read etc. This would be an easy template for other dioceses to copy and link from their homepage.
Brief section on ‘mission strategy’ which is based on Mission Action Plans at parish level.
A ‘local projects’ section lists the community/mission projects run by local churches, with a contact name. It's a very helpful browsable list, giving an at-a-glance idea of what other churches are up to, from healthy eating cafes to projects for the housebound and those with learning difficulties. Digging around reveals a specific list of projects working with the elderly.
There’s no specific mission section, and there were no mission resources either apart from the introduction to Mission Action Planning. The local projects list is a good idea.
3. Blackburn The homepage has the diocesan vision and the Mission Action Plan (MAP) prayer. The Mission and Unity page is mostly a list of subgroups, and hasn't been updated since their missioner moved to parish ministry (I know this because his name’s still at the top).
Mission Action Plans are at the heart of the ‘Going for Growth’ diocesan strategy. The site has a substantial booklet on what MAP’s are, what the Diocesan strategy looks like in detail, and how it works at a local level.
One great idea – a ‘resources directory’ listing resource people/networks around the Diocese in a variety of areas, such as evangelistic preaching, IT, Men, fresh expression, interfaith etc. This is an excellent way of sharing expertise without centralising it. Obviously not much use if you're not in the area, but the idea is one that any Diocese could use.
Small fresh expressions section, linking to the national site and the Mission Shaped Ministry course. Finally, I have to mention the mildly dysfunctional design, in 3 columns which didn't seem to be speak to each other.
4. Bradford. A very brief mission and ministry homepage, and not much here that would help folk from outisde the Diocese. There's a decent resource on developing
Otherwise, the main resource is a section on forming Ministry Development Teams in a parish, as a way of taking forward local church ministry and leadership, which probably makes more sense if you're doing this process within the Diocese already. Nothing on Fresh Expressions.
5. Bristol. Now we're talking. It’s a neighbouring Diocese, and one where I know the bishop takes his role as ‘leader in mission’ more seriously than most. The diocese has a Growth Programme based around 4 clear principles – growth in Commitment, Partnership, Influence and Numbers. There is a fully downloadable Going for Growth Lent course with course leaders notes, icebreakers, you name it. It all seems very well put together.
But it gets better. This diocese has a Church Planting Policy and a selection of Youtube videos on local fresh expressions Even the Back to Church Sunday section has a selection of useful pdf resources on welcome, publicity etc. which could be used pretty much anywhere. Their Community section is mission focused too.
Superb. Well worth a visit, plenty of stuff here to inspire or borrow. The Back to Church Sunday section, for example, could be the nucleus of a standard offering across all Diocesan websites, to save people having to go scratching around for resources. Also a great example to any Diocese looking to attract mission-minded leaders. Many of us will use the diocesan website to give us a flavour of what the Diocese takes seriously, and if you compare the Bristol site to those of its neighbouring Dioceses, it's in a different league.
6. Canterbury The Board of Mission pages are mainly contacts, what information there is will only interest you if you belong to the Diocese already. Nothing worth linking.
7. Carlisle You don't find many Dioceses with a sidebar link to ‘Revival’! The Diocesan strategy of 'Survival to Revival’ has a section of downloads for reviewing the life of the church. These are mainly for internal consumption, but are well put together, and user-friendly. Some of the ‘resourcing revival downloads’ are an excellent example of Diocesan communication aimed at every church member.
There is also an X-Change section, for online sharing of ideas and resources. Great idea. It’s under construction, not much posted as yet, but covers things like worship, buildings, stewardship, debt, tourism, children, publicity etc. Each of these has subsections – e.g. Children has Holiday Clubs, Godly Play, Schools links etc. Something every diocese should have, but hopefully with a bit more specific content! Or even the national site....
8. Chelmsford A few little gems:
Excellent resource: a 1-page worship audit questionnaire. Lots of good, searching questions, very practical too, usable in pretty much any church.
The Making ConneXions section links to dozens of single-page summaries of ministry situations: Deanery curate, new housing estates, lay hospital chaplaincy, community outreach worker, marriage preparation, planting a new congregation, harvest fun day, etc. It has other subsections for worship, children, church organisation, and fundraising. Very good resource. There is a nice collection of 1-2 side resource papers for childrens work, from after school clubs to Easter drama.
It's a bit like browsing a second hand bookshop: you can find a lot more on the sitemap than seems to be available through the main menu buttons, including the entire RE syllabus!
9. Chester We have a winner. A recently published survey of resources which has a brief survey of what's on the market for:
- discipleship courses
- children adn young people's discipleship
- small groups
- faith sharing
- enquirers courses.
- equipping and supporting small group leaders.
Invaluable, great starter for 10 if you're wanting to do something in one of these areas but don't know where to start.
There's a small Fresh Expressions page, mostly about the 'mission shaped intro' course.
Hot off the press is the Growth Action Planning page, led by the Bishop, and launched in April 09. This is Mission Action Planning by another name.
Highly commended for being easy to navigate. Great template for other dioceses to note (Blackburn!!!)
10. Chichester A subsantial Mission and Renewal section, including:
- a full list of registered Fresh Expressions in the diocese (15 at the time I looked)
- Mission Action Planning section emphasis on growing healthy churches.
- public criteria for applying for Mission fund money. Great idea, all Dioceses should do this. They also list all the projects which ahve recieved grants, which gives a good idea of what's possible (see Paul Bayes for the full national list)
- very helpful Communications section, with a ‘communications health check for parishes’ and downloadable fliers on copyright, media relations, noticeboards, how to make your story ‘news’ etc. Yet another thing which could be copied across all 43 Dioceses.
11. Coventry Has a ‘development and evangelism’ section, but most of the pages are fairly brief.
The major thing here is a stonking 50+ page ‘shaping your church for mission’ booklet launched in 06, which pulls together material from Warren's ‘growing healthy churches’. Looks at how to develop the church in worship, making new Christians and transforming communities. It's worth looking at for the GHC stuff, which anyone could easily use in their own context, and you wouldn't need any other resources beyond this to explain what it all means and do the evaluation.
Thoughts so far:
- Fresh Expressions is a long way from being at the heart of the CofE. It's not even mentioned on some sites. The picture on mission is no less patchy.
- Some cracking resources/ideas which could be easily shared across sites, cutting down on work for everyone involved.
- Top Picks: Bristol, Chelmsford, Chichester, the Chester resources survey.
It's proven to be a bit more work than I thought, so I'm going to break it up a bit. This is the first of 4 posts, the others will cover:
Derby - London (12 dioceses)
Manchester - Rochester (8 dioceses, hopefully in 2 weeks time)
St. Albans - York (12 dioceses, ditto)
A full list of diocesan websites can be found on Anglicans Online (remember them?)
Basic Ideas:
1. This is a survey of what's on a diocesan website related to mission and fresh expressions
2. If I couldn't find it in 5 minutes, it's not listed - sorry if I've missed something important!
3. Of particular interest was anything which could be used by folk outside the particular Diocese. There is a heck of a lot of reinventing of wheels going on, and plenty of scope for a common core of mission material which could be hosted in common on every diocesan website.
1. Bath and Wells: has a mission homepage, mostly centred around the 'Changing Lives' diocesan strategy. Most of the info is contacts, though an article on 'mission in our culture' is a useful summary of the mission challenge, with a brief 'starter for 10' booklist.
Main highlight of the site is a great 13 page resource booklet on how churches and schools can work together, packed with good ideas on mission and engagement.
Nothing on fresh expressions, and the 'Back to Church Sunday' link was broken. Aside from the schools booklet, there'd be little of interest if you weren't in the Diocese already.
2. Birmingham: A website which clearly expects non-Christian visitors, with a substantial section for enquirers called Exploring Faith. This covers what a Christian is, testimonies, FAQ’s, how to find out more, books to read etc. This would be an easy template for other dioceses to copy and link from their homepage.
Brief section on ‘mission strategy’ which is based on Mission Action Plans at parish level.
A ‘local projects’ section lists the community/mission projects run by local churches, with a contact name. It's a very helpful browsable list, giving an at-a-glance idea of what other churches are up to, from healthy eating cafes to projects for the housebound and those with learning difficulties. Digging around reveals a specific list of projects working with the elderly.
There’s no specific mission section, and there were no mission resources either apart from the introduction to Mission Action Planning. The local projects list is a good idea.
3. Blackburn The homepage has the diocesan vision and the Mission Action Plan (MAP) prayer. The Mission and Unity page is mostly a list of subgroups, and hasn't been updated since their missioner moved to parish ministry (I know this because his name’s still at the top).
Mission Action Plans are at the heart of the ‘Going for Growth’ diocesan strategy. The site has a substantial booklet on what MAP’s are, what the Diocesan strategy looks like in detail, and how it works at a local level.
One great idea – a ‘resources directory’ listing resource people/networks around the Diocese in a variety of areas, such as evangelistic preaching, IT, Men, fresh expression, interfaith etc. This is an excellent way of sharing expertise without centralising it. Obviously not much use if you're not in the area, but the idea is one that any Diocese could use.
Small fresh expressions section, linking to the national site and the Mission Shaped Ministry course. Finally, I have to mention the mildly dysfunctional design, in 3 columns which didn't seem to be speak to each other.
4. Bradford. A very brief mission and ministry homepage, and not much here that would help folk from outisde the Diocese. There's a decent resource on developing
Otherwise, the main resource is a section on forming Ministry Development Teams in a parish, as a way of taking forward local church ministry and leadership, which probably makes more sense if you're doing this process within the Diocese already. Nothing on Fresh Expressions.
5. Bristol. Now we're talking. It’s a neighbouring Diocese, and one where I know the bishop takes his role as ‘leader in mission’ more seriously than most. The diocese has a Growth Programme based around 4 clear principles – growth in Commitment, Partnership, Influence and Numbers. There is a fully downloadable Going for Growth Lent course with course leaders notes, icebreakers, you name it. It all seems very well put together.
But it gets better. This diocese has a Church Planting Policy and a selection of Youtube videos on local fresh expressions Even the Back to Church Sunday section has a selection of useful pdf resources on welcome, publicity etc. which could be used pretty much anywhere. Their Community section is mission focused too.
Superb. Well worth a visit, plenty of stuff here to inspire or borrow. The Back to Church Sunday section, for example, could be the nucleus of a standard offering across all Diocesan websites, to save people having to go scratching around for resources. Also a great example to any Diocese looking to attract mission-minded leaders. Many of us will use the diocesan website to give us a flavour of what the Diocese takes seriously, and if you compare the Bristol site to those of its neighbouring Dioceses, it's in a different league.
6. Canterbury The Board of Mission pages are mainly contacts, what information there is will only interest you if you belong to the Diocese already. Nothing worth linking.
7. Carlisle You don't find many Dioceses with a sidebar link to ‘Revival’! The Diocesan strategy of 'Survival to Revival’ has a section of downloads for reviewing the life of the church. These are mainly for internal consumption, but are well put together, and user-friendly. Some of the ‘resourcing revival downloads’ are an excellent example of Diocesan communication aimed at every church member.
There is also an X-Change section, for online sharing of ideas and resources. Great idea. It’s under construction, not much posted as yet, but covers things like worship, buildings, stewardship, debt, tourism, children, publicity etc. Each of these has subsections – e.g. Children has Holiday Clubs, Godly Play, Schools links etc. Something every diocese should have, but hopefully with a bit more specific content! Or even the national site....
8. Chelmsford A few little gems:
Excellent resource: a 1-page worship audit questionnaire. Lots of good, searching questions, very practical too, usable in pretty much any church.
The Making ConneXions section links to dozens of single-page summaries of ministry situations: Deanery curate, new housing estates, lay hospital chaplaincy, community outreach worker, marriage preparation, planting a new congregation, harvest fun day, etc. It has other subsections for worship, children, church organisation, and fundraising. Very good resource. There is a nice collection of 1-2 side resource papers for childrens work, from after school clubs to Easter drama.
It's a bit like browsing a second hand bookshop: you can find a lot more on the sitemap than seems to be available through the main menu buttons, including the entire RE syllabus!
9. Chester We have a winner. A recently published survey of resources which has a brief survey of what's on the market for:
- discipleship courses
- children adn young people's discipleship
- small groups
- faith sharing
- enquirers courses.
- equipping and supporting small group leaders.
Invaluable, great starter for 10 if you're wanting to do something in one of these areas but don't know where to start.
There's a small Fresh Expressions page, mostly about the 'mission shaped intro' course.
Hot off the press is the Growth Action Planning page, led by the Bishop, and launched in April 09. This is Mission Action Planning by another name.
Highly commended for being easy to navigate. Great template for other dioceses to note (Blackburn!!!)
10. Chichester A subsantial Mission and Renewal section, including:
- a full list of registered Fresh Expressions in the diocese (15 at the time I looked)
- Mission Action Planning section emphasis on growing healthy churches.
- public criteria for applying for Mission fund money. Great idea, all Dioceses should do this. They also list all the projects which ahve recieved grants, which gives a good idea of what's possible (see Paul Bayes for the full national list)
- very helpful Communications section, with a ‘communications health check for parishes’ and downloadable fliers on copyright, media relations, noticeboards, how to make your story ‘news’ etc. Yet another thing which could be copied across all 43 Dioceses.
11. Coventry Has a ‘development and evangelism’ section, but most of the pages are fairly brief.
The major thing here is a stonking 50+ page ‘shaping your church for mission’ booklet launched in 06, which pulls together material from Warren's ‘growing healthy churches’. Looks at how to develop the church in worship, making new Christians and transforming communities. It's worth looking at for the GHC stuff, which anyone could easily use in their own context, and you wouldn't need any other resources beyond this to explain what it all means and do the evaluation.
Thoughts so far:
- Fresh Expressions is a long way from being at the heart of the CofE. It's not even mentioned on some sites. The picture on mission is no less patchy.
- Some cracking resources/ideas which could be easily shared across sites, cutting down on work for everyone involved.
- Top Picks: Bristol, Chelmsford, Chichester, the Chester resources survey.
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