msm Hereford

We are delighted to make the mission shaped ministry course locally available as an effective means of training all God’s people further in mission. This is being run by Hereford Diocese, with ecumenical partners and with participation by Worcester Diocese.

We believe it will be a significant resource for the building of the Kingdom of God in this area. The course has a particular focus on the development of new areas of outreach and making such development sustainable in the long term.

The course host is the Revd Sarah Cawdell (Hereford CME Officer) and other teachers will be brought in as appropriate. Bishop Graham Cray, Archbishop's Missioner and leader of Fresh Expressions; Martyn Atkins, General Secretary of the Methodist church; Roger Morris, Archdeacon of Worcester; Jeff Reynolds, Andrew Roberts, Methodist Missioners Michelle Simms and Jeff Reynolds, Lucy Moore of Messy Church have all made themselves available to teach on this course so far.

The course material has been written by the National Fresh Expressions team members past and present.

Contact

Fiona Brooke
MDT Office, Diocese of Hereford, Diocesan Office (Ludlow), Units 8 & 9 The Business Quarter, Ludlow Eco Park, Sheet Road, Ludlow, Shropshire, SY8 1FD
mdt@hereford.anglican.org
01584 871085

Course timetable and venue

Saturday 24th April 2010
Thursday 20th May 2010
Thursday 24th June 2010
Thursday 22nd July 2010
Saturday 25th September 2010
Residential Weekend 15th – 17th October 2010 (Friday evening to Sunday lunchtime)
Thursday 4th November 2010
Thursday 2nd December 2010
Thursday 13th January 2011
Thursday 10th February 2011
Saturday 5th March 2011

Saturday sessions run from 9.30am to 4.30pm at the Parish Rooms, Bromyard, HR7 4DZ.
Thursday sessions run from 7.30pm to 9.30pm also at the Parish Rooms.
Residential weekend will be at Holland House, Pershore, Worcestershire.

The cost of the course is £200 which covers all materials, refreshments and the residential weekend.

Commendations

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

Lucinda Burns, member of an Anglican congregation

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

Revd Joseph Neil Adams, Methodist Minister

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

Revd Howard Mayell, Hereford Diocesan Evangelism Committee

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

Rt Revd Anthony Priddis, Bishop of Hereford

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

Revd Bill Anderson, Chair of Birmingham Methodist District