Equipping our Ministers for Mission

The way we package our training is set to change! Underpinning our three priorities is a fourth – the importance of ensuring all our ministers, both lay and ordained, are properly equipped for mission. 

Our clergy and lay leaders are amazing, and it is through their ministry and mission that lives are changed and communities transformed across Worcestershire and Dudley.

The diocesan team supports them in that role, providing a range of coaching and training opportunities to enable them to grow. This programme is developing and growing as it enters its second phase under the priority heading Equipping Ministers for Mission (EMM).

The diocesan Mission and Ministry Team take the lead in this work, led by our Director of Mission and Ministry Joseph Diwakar. The team have set out three strands to EMM: accompany, equip and develop.

Accompany

Ministry, in a changing church in a changing world, can be hard. We want to see that all our clergy and lay leaders are well-supported and that nobody feels that they are doing ministry in isolation. The accompany strand of EMM will ensure our ministers have access to a whole suite of one-to-one and group resources, such as coaching, counselling, mentoring and pastoral supervision, building on the work that Janet Fox has been doing as our Clergy Development Officer.

“The Mission Accompaniers programme was a great example of how using a coaching model can make a big difference,” said Joseph. “It is clear from Janet’s work how much people appreciate the opportunity to talk through ministry with someone from outside of their parish context.”

Equip

Ministry is complex, the world is complex, and the pace of change is rapid. Through our training programme we want to equip churches with the right tools in the right hands at the right time. We aim to provide a clear and accessible menu of the best regional, national and local training to grow and develop the skills needed in the Church today. We are also working towards overhauling our system of working agreements and personal learning plans across curacy training and MDRs to enable people to access the best and most timely training opportunities for them, and to build a culture of lifelong learning and formation.

“There is so much good stuff out there,” said Joseph. “We want to develop robust and agile mechanisms for getting people onto the right course or into the right classroom at the point at which they need it most. We want to bless our churches with the most helpful skills, knowledge and opportunities for self-reflection.”

Develop

The new and most exciting strand of Equipping Ministers for Mission focusses on discerning and raising up the next generation of leaders, both lay and ordained.  We are working towards establishing a Worcester School of Leadership which will invest in discipleship, vocations and training across the diverse ministry contexts of our diocese.

We will deliver new opportunities for study, such as a new-look Bishops Certificate, a revamped Ministerial Experience Scheme and an updated programme of training for our curates. We have also appointed a Young Vocations Champion and are exploring launching a Young Leaders programme and a centre for urban ministry in Greater Dudley.

 “The future leadership of the church has least three levels: discipleship, vocation and training. We need churches full of hopeful disciples. Of those, each will have a vocation, and some will have a vocation to church ministry of some form. Once those vocations are discerned, we want the highest quality training to give those who have been called the best start in ministry. This is a decades long project, but we are planning initiatives across all three of these areas,” said Joseph.

In the coming months, expect to see the training and development materials on the diocesan website and in mailings given a new structure and a new look to reflect our EMM programme and it’s three streams: Accompany, Equip and Develop.