Journeying with Innovators
Supporting creative new ventures for a Synodal Church
A 15 month programme of support and formation for leaders innovating in the Church
We’re offering a small cohort of leaders who are developing creative new ventures in the life of the Church the opportunity to come together for a 15 month process to help you feel better supported and equipped to do this important work.
This project is born of the conviction that the Holy Spirit is calling leaders to make real what a synodal Church may look like through creative initiatives in the Church that, together, help foster a more synodal style in the Church in England and Wales.
Details of how to express interest in the programme are in the details you can download below.
Though these creative new projects may not be explicitly about synodality, we’re looking to support those that help to foster new cultures, new ways of being disciples in todays church and world. They can be project that are characterised by some or all of these themes:
Promoting participation
Deepening dialogue
Healing wounds
Accompanying others
Deepening the spiritual lives of communities
Fresh approaches to formation
Discerning together
Recommendations
“Encouraging creative responses from within the Church to the needs of current times can be a challenge. This initiative would undoubtedly have been of great support to our group when we were creating the Journey to 2030 project.”
“Those who work in church, like other spaces and sectors, have an ever increasing need to be multidimensional and often find themselves in non linear career pathways. They often rely on multiple jobs and projects to both sustain their own livelihood as well as contribute to the mission of the church. This project provides an opportunity for skills development, a necessary support network and space for collaborative thinking and working that will lead to the growth of innovation in the church and keeping up with the pace of innovation across different civil society spaces.”
Why we’re doing this
Pastoral innovation in the Church is hard… While many individuals are supportive of various new initiatives there is, too often, very little structured support. Innovation and experimenting with new approaches is culturally difficult in the Church because we’re so unfamiliar with it. This makes the need for new life and the vibrancy that can arise from new approaches even more necessary.
New approaches and ventures often embody different understandings of authority, agency and leadership in the Church which can help the whole Church see how we can become more synodal. Using the two loops model of change, we see this programme as the start of a process of connecting pioneers and building networks that we trust will lead, through the work of the spirit, to a broader renewal in our day to day ways of being Church.
To be considered for this programme of support, please send no more than 1 side of A4 to admin@schoolforsynodality.org.uk before the 1st of September 3rd October which outlines:
Who you are and something of your background
Why you’re interested in being a part of this programme
What creative new venture you’re currently try to develop, how far in the process you are and what barriers you may be facing
For any questions, contact Chris Knowles at chris@schoolforsynodality.org.uk