Among our faithful congregations across Church of England parishes, there is a movement of pioneering Christians who establish and grow new Christian communities where they don’t yet exist.
These new congregations can be born out of trying new ways of being church in very different circumstances and contexts, and are specific to the life and people of a particular place. For that reason, they can be extremely varied in where they meet, how they worship and how they become a ‘church’ together.
How new communities are cultivated in the Diocese of Guildford
The Parish Needs Process may highlight for your parish that a different route to Jesus is needed for some people than the traditional Sunday morning church service. Or, the local context presents a really exciting opportunity to do church very differently.
Below are the ways we can support parishes who want to take the first step to grow that ‘something out of nothing’:
Available to any parish is a tool to help them identify the ‘unploughed ground’ of unreached people or groups locally. It could help church leaders to find new pathways for every person into an accessible and contextual expression of church.
Employing the image of a farm, the parish consists of manifold fields that need utilising. The parish church is symbolised by the farmhouse, a space for family life and a hub of farm related activity with its workshops and barns.
Below are the supporting documents for using the cultivation tool. You can download and read them to see if this is an approach that would work well for your mission planning.
The national Church of England offers a tried and tested methodology to help parishes begin the process of growing new worshipping communities. It’s called Greenhouse and helps leaders to join with other like-minded pioneers locally to support and learn from each other.
Read more about Greenhouse on the Church of England’s website.
If you’d like to start or join a Greenhouse, contact Jens Mankel who will help and advise.
Sports ministry
Sporting contexts are just one example of where a contextual form of church and a new congregation could begin. It is a particularly rich ‘mission field’ for reaching children and young people.
Visit our Sports ministry page to find out more.
You might also like to visit the National Church of England’s Sport & Wellbeing web pages for inspiring stories of sports ministry.
Who to contact
If this kind of ministry excites you, and you’d like to talk through your ideas, try the cultivation tool or join or start a Greenhouse, contact Jens Mankel who can advise.