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Pioneer Ministry

Pioneer Ministry. “ Priority and attention needs to be given to the identification and training of leaders for pioneer missionary projects. The possibility of a call to such work needs to be specifically identified in the vocational process. It is important that they are not pressed into

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Pioneer Ministry

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  1. Pioneer Ministry

  2. “ Priority and attention needs to be given to the identification and training of leaders for pioneer missionary projects. The possibility of a call to such work needs to be specifically identified in the vocational process. It is important that they are not pressed into becoming ministers of existing churches but are deployed in pioneering contexts” MSC p134

  3. 2006 Guidelines • “Bishops Advisors should watch for candidates who have the • necessary vision and gifts to be missionary • entrepreneurs, to lead fresh expressions of church and forms • of church for an appropriate culture.” • Who they are • What they are • Allowing for variety • Encouraging vocation

  4. 2008 Guidelines for lay pioneers • Training in every region (13) • Development of vocational pathways in every Diocese.(14) • Training as part of the process for authorisation (15) • “We recommend that dioceses invest in the development of • sustainable fresh expressions of church through • supporting, resourcing and training for lay pioneer ministry • and that dioceses should make this a primary call upon • their resources.” • Recommendation 8 of guidelines

  5. Why do we need pioneers ?

  6. ‘The reality is that mainstream culture no longer brings people to the church door. We can no longer assume that we can automatically reproduce ourselves, because the pool of people who regard church as relevant or important is decreasing with every generation’ Mission shaped church report p11

  7. Post-Christendom? Church attendance 2005 65% Non Churched 26% De Churched 9% monthly

  8. Infant Baptism C of E 2007

  9. “ this majority (66%) presents a major challenge to churches. Most of them are unreceptive and closed to attending church; churchgoing is simply not on their agenda.”

  10. How have we defined a ‘searcher’? • Someone who has had cause to reconsider their core values, or think about the big issues like ‘the meaning of life’, in the last year • 2000 interviews with a nationally representative sample of UK adults, conducted 24-27th April 09

  11. Are People Searching and why? • 73% of people are searching • All ages, male and female, all but the lowest of social grades • 70% of people are searching because of either the credit crunch, concern about personal finances or job insecurity

  12. Hungry for us to be a Church that connects with every person and every community.’ + Stephen Cottrell Our call to evangelise the whole country or decline into a sect

  13. “ we understood mission one way and organised life to accomplish it. We have awakened to find out the mission moved on us. To keep focusing on mission, we have to turn the furniture around and face a different direction. We may even have to move into another room.” Loren Mead. The Once and Future Church,1992 Alban Institiute

  14. What is a pioneer ? “ a sexy moniker for anything creative, alternative and generally involving young people.” Bishop of Buckingham

  15. “Pioneers build bridges in order to create new Chrisitian ecclesial communities with those outside the church.”

  16. Spectrum of pioneering Pioneer Starter Pioneer Sustainer Sustainer Pioneer Sustainer Developer

  17. Danger of one model for pioneer

  18. ‘…do not try to call them back to where they were, and do not try to call them to where you are, beautiful as that place may seem to you. You must have the courage to go with them to a place that neither you nor they have been before.’ Vincent Donovan

  19. People who are • First • On the edge • Moving out • Bi cultural • Know when to go or stay • Know when to bring order or chaos

  20. Can you train a pioneer ? “ I never teach my pupils I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.” Albert Einstein

  21. Environment • Exposure • Experiences • Education and training • Cohort • Apostolic spirituality

  22. Conditions that might help them thrive

  23. Permission

  24. Imagination “listen to the space opened up by Jesus Christ.” Rowan Williams

  25. “Creativity is no more than looking at the same thing as everyone else and thinking somethingdifferent.” Albert Szent-Gyorgi

  26. “We cannot solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” Albert Einstein

  27. The relationship between seed and soil

  28. Understand discipleship not attendance is the measure

  29. Some possible dangers ahead

  30. Professionalize pioneers

  31. Domesticate pioneers

  32. Reproduce old paradigms

  33. Vision for the next generation of pioneers from the unchurched

  34. Resource issues

  35. A change of language does not mean a change of mindset

  36. Disturb us Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves, when our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little, when we arrived safely because we sailed too close to the shore. Sir Francis Drake

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