In Shape

Special EditionNews and Stories For Your Church

Shaped by God in our lives and communities we seek the growth of His kingdom in:

◊ the depth of discipleship,◊ the number of disciples of Jesus,◊ loving service of the world.

A special one-off editio

n to

mark the re

newal of t

he

long term

vision

for Leicester

Diocese

ContactsIn Shape is edited by:Liz Hudson Keith CousinsMike Harrison Barry Hill Andy Rhoades

e-mail: inshape@leccofe.org The Diocese of Leicester administration and Leicester Cathedral Tel 0116 261 5200The Office of the Bishop of Leicester Tel 0116 270 8985 melaine.freeman@leccofe.org

Signup to Diomail at http://ow.ly/k6OhN

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Cover Image: (*The Parable of the Mustard Seed is found at Matthew 13:31-32, Mark 4:30-31 and Luke 13:18-19. Jesus talks about faith as small as a mustard seed in Matthew 17:19 and Luke 17:6.)

The vision of Shaped by God is of flourishing mission in the four hundred established and new Anglican churches of the City and County, with each church growing in the number of followers of Jesus, in the depth of that discipleship, and in the effect that our faith has on the world around us.

This one off special edition of In Shape doesn’t replace the Summer edition which will be out in late June.

Nine Marks of MissionShaped by God has, at its heart, nine marks of mission. These continue to be at the centre of what our calling looks like in practice. The original document discusses them in more detail, but in summary:

• lives and communities transformed, through the Good News of Jesus Christ;

• worship in a way that renews and inspires, echoing the praise of heaven;

• self-giving service to the community, because the Church is called to be local and outward looking;

• being rooted in prayer, because prayer is part of our loving response to the needs of the world;

• confident and sensitive evangelism, responding to Jesus’ call to share our faith in word and deed;

• lifelong Christian nurture, because our mission overflows from our own discipleship;

• the welcome of newcomers, helping those who come close to the church to feel welcomed and cherished by God;

• becoming child friendly, following our Lord’s example of putting children at a central place in His ministry;

• celebration of people and places, because godly celebration is at the heart of the gospel.

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Bishop’s Letter“The shiny and new can have a deep attraction. Sometimes it can feel as if Bishops and Dioceses can be known for waking up any day with a ‘t’ in its title and issuing a new diocesan vision! In the Diocese of Leicester, we have tried hard (and sometimes it has been hard) to keep to one overarching vision, imperfect though it maybe in places, rather than constantly flit around seeking the mythical ‘perfect’ vision.

That is not to say, however, that a long-term vision is an unchanging vision. Since the Diocesan Synod originally offered Shaped by God to the Diocese in July 2005, God has taught us much, challenged us much, encouraged us much and even caused us to repent of much. The renewal of Shaped by God, which followed an extended period of consultation across the Diocese and was unanomusly back by Diocesan Synod last November, and is communicated afresh in this special edition of In Shape, is an attempt to be attentive to this voice of the Spirit; teaching us, encouraging us, challenging us and calling us to repent.

This renewal does not offer a silver bullet in mission, nor a fifteen point plan of action. It offers something far more important, but also something perharps far harder for us to receive. It offers an image of what God is

calling us too, and notes some of the cultural change we are seeing and will need to see more of, for it to become evermore a reality.

Vision describes what we expect to see emerging ahead as we continue to tread the path we feel God is leading us on. It is important for the church to encourage its members to share its vision with each other; not only about our ultimate hope but also how we expect things to be along the way. Shaped by God is about how we should expect things be on the journey we share as members of the church in the Diocese of Leicester.

At the heart of this vision and renewal, we offer an image of growth, a metaphor, drawn from one of Jesus’ parables. The picture is of a seed that has become a tree so big that the birds of the air come and rest in its branches. The parable of the mustard tree is in Matthew, Mark and Luke’s Gospels*. It contrasts the latent potential of the seed with a plant that has grown and serves creation. This is a picture of the Kingdom of God.

If the tree illustrates the growth of God’s Kingdom people in number and reach, its roots represent that growth in depth, and growth in service to the world can be seen where the birds rest in the tree’s branches. These three dimensions of growth are at the heart of what

we expect to see in our church as we allow ourselves to be shaped by God. We need to be intentional in allowing God to grow his church in this way and the image isintended to be a reminder. Alongside the stories and reflections in this special edition, we hope that the picture can be used to communicate across the church the hope at the heart of this vision.

May God guide, inspire and challenge you as you journey onwards”

Jesus told them another parable: “The Kingdom

of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and

planted in his field.

Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows,

it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and

perch in its branches.”Matthew 13:31-32

The Parable of the Mustard Seed is found at Matthew 13:31-32, Mark 4:30-31 and Luke 13:18-19. Jesus talks about faith as small as a mustard seed in Matthew 17:19 and Luke 17:6.)

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After a period of discernment, consultation and discussion, Shaped by God was originally agreed as the vision of the Diocese of Leicester by Diocesan Synod in July 2005. Aided by identifying nine common marks of mission, as detailed on page 2 (with auditing and training focused around each), Shaped by God looks to see every church growing in the numbers of disciples of Jesus Christ, the depth of that discipleship and the Kingdom service which leads from it. To aid this, many churches have self-clustered into Mission Partnerships to either resource, support or engage in mission together. The Shaped by God strategy is the umbrella under which all mission and ministry in the Diocese exists; for details of the actual strategy see leicester.anglican.org/shaped-by- God.

In 2009 a review was undertaken which concluded with a re-affirmation of the aims and purposes of the strategy and as we move towards the 10th anniversary of Shaped by God it was felt it would be timely to look again at the strategy, asking not only whether it was fit for purpose and what might need adjusting or amending, but more widely considering the question of how we have noticed God at work among us and what are we learning, and how do we need to respond now to join in with God’s activity? The timing of this is made all the more significant as the current Bishop of Leicester, Bishop Tim Stevens, retires in Summer 2015. The longevity and consistency of vision and strategy provided by his leadership has been critical in sustaining the trajectory of Shaped by God over the past years. This renewal hopefully clarifies the important elements of vision and strategy to take forward for us all, including the next Bishop of Leicester.

To begin with we might consider what we have noticed in terms of changes since 2005 and how we think we are being Shaped by God? The point of this exercise is not merely to rehearse recent history, but to learn and discern something of God’s purposes and promptings to us as a family of Christian communities and to consider in the light of this how we might respond more fulsomely to such guidance as we move forward.

A number of strands to the narrative of parishes, benefices, Mission Partnerships, Deaneries and other dimensions of the diocese are worth reflecting on here – although what follows is not so much an exhaustive account of the history of the diocese since 2005 or every significant dimension of church life but it provides an indication of some of the significant developments over the last 9 years which are especially relevant in the context of the missional strategy of Shaped by God.

Introduction

‘Remember the poor’

Throughout 2014, Bishop Tim has been chairing a Commission on Poverty. Set up to examine issues of poverty within Leicester and Leicestershire and to advise the Church how we might better respond to some of the challenges, the commission has drawn from a variety of professional backgrounds, has gathered evidence both from people experiencing poverty and others working among them, as well as having studied the statistics and other reports in this field. The Commission’s findings were published in February and offer a useful and thought-provoking contribution to local strategic thinking and action. One response, which sums up many was that far from looking at numbers and statistics “The Church can see people as people.”

What started as a Diocesan funded youth work project which moved into the site of a former brothel, Passion is now growing into a new church in its own right. Seen here at a community fun day.

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Across the country, over the past decade, there has been a growing awareness that we are living in rapidly changing times where we can no longer assume a familiarity with the Christian faith among the population or a privileged position as Church within such a society. New forms of church (often called fresh expressions of Church) seem to be increasingly part of God’s calling as to how we respond. These new churches, sometimes working in partnership with, but independent of, parish churches, but more often part of a parish church (almost like a new congregation, but looking very different from existing ones) are reaching beyond some traditional boundaries in order to ‘proclaim the gospel afresh to new generations.

In 2010 the Diocesan Synod agreed an ambitious fresh expressions of Church vision and strategy aiming at realising as many maturing fresh expressions of Church as inherited (or continuing) expressions by 2030. This equates to around 320 fresh expressions of Church in 2030; with hopefully 200 by 2020. This vision enjoys wide diocesan support. This has been further reflected by the notable and encouraging speed of growth in the number and variety of fresh expressions across the Diocese since 2010. It is an integral part of Shaped by God. A key part of this vision (for a range of missiological reasons) is that most fresh expressions of Church will initially be led by teams of lay volunteers, supported by the wider Church.

As one of the dioceses first surveyed by a major research project, we have benefited from detailed research into fresh expressions in Leicestershire. The diocese was a late adopter of fresh expressions of Church, with only seven known fresh expressions prior to 2006 and not many more before the strategy was launched in 2010. We have been encouraged, therefore, that when surveyed in June 2012, God had grown this to around 50

fresh expressions of Church which met the strict criteria worked to by the Church Army, with a further 40 possibly on their way to becoming fresh expressions of Church. Among these 50, there had been a growth from around 600 people in original leadership teams to around 1,800 members (with 75% of these previously non or de-churched, a number we believe indicates the wider promise this approach holds). We know that both the number of fresh expressions of Church and their membership have continued to grow since then. While we have been encouraged by the number of fresh expressions, we continue to feel challenged to work with the Spirit in realising both the aspiration to 320 fresh expressions of Church and more importantly to help emergent fresh expressions mature. A full copy of this research is downloadable from: leicester.anglican.org/news/ details/fifty-new-churches-in-leicestershire.

The 2030 goal brings with it considerable challenges to provide pioneer leaders (whom are offered a license by the Bishop and a fulsome package of support and development opportunities) and to support such pioneers facing contextual and missional challenges which are demanding, exciting and often novel. In June 2014 the diocese received funding from the Church Commissioners to provide three full-time 5 year Pioneer Development Worker posts to resource work in this area. This is an indication of the national Church’s high regard for Leicester Diocese as itself a ‘pioneering diocese’ in regard of fresh expressions and a strong vote of confidence in the mission and ministry being undertaken here. The three Pioneer Development Workers are rooted in pioneering work (enabling them to be informed by reflective practice) and offer coaching/mentoring, learning and development opportunities, action learning sets and networking, including collaboration with related regional and national teams.

Variety of fresh expressions of Church

Examples of some of the fresh expressions across the diocese are:A fresh expression of Church which meets over breakfast, informally to explore questions of life and faith.

A number of Messy Churches which are intentional in being fully church in their own right (a new congregation rather than a feed into an existing congregation).

A Cafe Church with a wide range of different and appropriate opportunities to explore, experience and grow in faith, including a weeknight small group for those who want to go further.

Four new churches building community in areas of new housing, with both smaller groups meeting in homes and larger communal community gatherings;A number of new worshipping communities focused around young families.

A Fresh Expression built around a large group of lads gathering weekly to play football.

Fresh expressions of Church

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A key development of the Shaped by God vision has been the willingness to embrace missionally the challenges of the future, as seen in the 2020 Deanery Planning process. Between now and 2020 the high average age of clergy nationally means 40% will retire before 2020, and even though nationally an encouraging and growing number of people are being called to ordination, we know now that there be 20% fewer clergy in 2020 than at the start of the decade. Rather than waiting until it is too late and making hasty, less strategic decisions, a process started in 2011 to resource and support each Deanery

in helping them to discern and formulate their own plan for how to use clergy and the resultant changes that will mean for the practices and culture of the church. The only two fixed requirements were the number of stipendiary clergy in 2020 in each Deanery and that the plan must have at its heart mission to the 90% who are not yet part of worshipping communities rather than just the small percentage that are part of such worshipping communities. Deaneries were each given a facilitator from central diocesan staff to help them think creatively and not be constrained by the status quo. This process is now well advanced with plans agreed in deaneries and the hard work of realising the necessary cultural change to be focused on the gifts and calling of the whole people of God now underway. For more information see leicester.anglican.org/deanery-planning

One of the learnings through this period has been the development of quite different forms of Mission Partnership as the Shaped by God strategy has unfolded, some of which have sought to reduce stipendiary numbers and increase mission at Mission Partnership level. Around 2/3 of parishes in the Diocese are now in Mission Partnerships and they have enabled in a whole host of ways parishes to partner together on areas of common missional concern or to be resourced together for various missional tasks. It has been helpful for Mission Partnerships to have considerable latitude in forming and developing their work locally and this strategic flexibility is a significant learning, allowing as it does for contextually sensitive partnering. The twenty two Mission Partnerships of the Diocese are led by a group of highly able, and missionally entrepreneurial Convenors.

Further reflection on Mission Partnerships suggests that, while they have had a distinct focus in enabling partnering together to resource and engage in mission, deaneries have had a key focus

in shaping the 2020 plans. Despite papers and verbal reiterations of such distinctions, the differing roles of deaneries and Mission partnerships have not always been clear or apparent to many and another learning is that where new structures (such as Mission Partnerships) are introduced, the need for ongoing and repeated communication concerning their place and function cannot be underestimated. Despite some confusion here, what is clear is that partnership of various kinds has been promoted to good effect and there continues to be appetite and good will to further foster collaborations.

With reducing numbers of stipendiary clergy, many of the Deanery plans are looking to put more energy and resources into increasing vocations, for example through increasing the resources deployed for encouraging vocations. Thus far however there seems to have been a limited amount of work actually done in this area and it is not clear how the aspiration for growth in ministerial numbers is going to be delivered particularly given, for example the current age profile (and predicted retirement rates) of stipendiary clergy, and the length of time it takes to go from exploring vocations to becoming a priest.

In short, there are considerable challenges to the vocational aspirations of Deaneries and the Diocese. Since 2010 there has been no quantum leap in vocations to the ordained ministry, but a steady flow with small fluctuations year on year. However, it is notable that specialist ministries are growing (e.g. youth workers, children and families workers, lay pioneers) This growth is partly a response to provide more effective mission to key groups and partly about employing more authorised lay workers of various kinds to maintain the number of people engaged in mission (for example, at benefice or Mission Partnership level) as clergy numbers decline.

World-wide mission

Louise Warner writes, “ In May 2013 a team of 6 headed to Tanzania promoting ‘Rooted in Jesus’, (see rootedinjesus.net/index.php ) a discipleship programme developed for the African context at the request of the now Bishop of the Diocese of Mount Kilimanjaro Stanley Hotay through a link with Holy Trinity in Leicester. Participants meet in small groups and develop an understanding of what it means to be a Christian and live out that faith. The idea is that some of the participants will then go on to lead other groups and so the number of groups and disciples multiply. Alex Scott, part of the team, said “Rooted in Jesus Junior was eagerly received by the children and youth leaders in Arusha. I am confident it has the power to see young Christians transform this needy part of Africa with the gospel of Christ”

2020 Deanery Plans

Wedding friendly

The wedding of Annabel & Bruce Olejede [19th Oct 2013] took place at All Saints Sheepy Magna, Annabel: ‘I made a brief comment about the Japanese tradition of couples making 1,000 paper cranes to bring happiness and blessing to their marriage. As a surprise, the congregation at All Saints Church did exactly that and hung them up for the wedding. It was so thoughtful.’ \

Revd Julie Hargreaves comments “I had met with Annabel & Bruce, and passed on the comment about the Japanese cranes to the ‘Coffee and Conversation’ group meeting in church. Through their generosity of welcome and inclusive mission, they began to make the cranes, primarily in church, but news soon got around the village, and more people got involved, ....including two carers visiting local housebound people, and the local ‘Shack’ where people gathered by the fishing lake for breakfast and lunch… The cranes captured the imagination of a wider group of folk and prayerfully and with generosity of heart the ‘flock’ grew.

The couple have frequently retuned to worship at All Saints, and more recently came to share the news with us all that they are expecting first child.

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Over recent years a number of other initiatives have been developed to support parishes and fresh expressions of Church in their mission and ministry. One programme emanating from the School for Ministry has been the six month Diocesan Leadership Programme. This has been provided to clergy, Readers, Youth Workers, Pioneers and others in positions of leadership, providing opportunities to reflect theologically on missional leadership and be provided with tools for enabling change, envisioning, transforming conflict etc. Widely acclaimed through the diocese and beyond, this continues to be provided to emerging leaders. More recently developments in the School for Ministry have included emphases on ministerial reviews, coaching and coaching development, line-management skills and in these and other ways there is a continual emphasis on developing a learning culture, appreciating that we learn nothing from experience but everything from experience that is reflected upon.

Across the Mission and Ministry Department more widely there has been a focus on improving missional effectiveness of local Christian communities through provision of courses such as “Leading Your Church into Growth”, ‘Everybody Welcome’, the Weddings and Baptisms projects, Table Talk and tailored consultative resourcing. In addition, in 2011 the diocese began a partnership with Church Innovations from the USA. and Southwell & Notts diocese on a process known as “Partnership for Missional Church”. Six benefices undertaking this three year process designed to enable Christian communities to become more outwardly mission focused through adopting missional practices which help them to discern more deeply their partnership with God and God’s desire for them as Christian community. This is one of the few processes available working at a deep level on cultural change of Christian communities and the process is seeing

some remarkable fruits and a second wave was launched in 2014. A third wave is anticipated for autumn 2015 and this time the process will be delivered by the Mission and Ministry team, having been fully trained up by our U.S. partners.

The work of growing disciples and deepening faith has been enhanced by the provision of the ‘Journey in Faith’ course (or ‘JiF’) covering much of the basics of Christian faith and also the Discovery Course, conceived and written especially for those who are primarily ‘non-book’ learners. Each year groups around the diocese undertake these courses and they have often been stepping stones en route to authorized ministries as well as being enriching in their own right. The Jif course is usually a pre-requisite to training as a Reader or Pastoral Assistant and while this has provided a solid grounding there has been some call for ways of shortening the training time taken to authorization in order to make it more attractive to potential participants. Balancing this with the need to provide good quality training which covers the main bases is a continuing challenge – one of the ways of addressing this challenge in recent years is to provisionally license Pastoral Assistants (and Evangelists) prior to completion of their second year of training.

Leadership and Mission

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Following on from the Shaped by God strategy and one of the marks of mission therein being children and young people, in 2007, conscious of shrinking numbers of young people engaging with the church, the diocese agreed a strategy entitled “Young People for Life”, YP4L, which sought not only to affirm the place of young people at the heart of its life but also committed considerable resources to fostering ways of enabling young people to come into vibrant contact with Christian communities, participate in the life of such communities and have opportunities for Christian formation and nurture. Among other fruits of this strategy YP4L has;

1. Provided significant numbers of youth worker posts covering all aspects of youth work from very Church based discipleship to detached work with young people at risk (7 initially, quickly rising to 12 by 2012, and now many more through both YP4L and the Growth Fund’s sponsorship)

2. Enabled the participation of young people in the life of the church, one example being the development of a (now

thriving) Bishop’s Youth Council, which among other activities visited our link diocese in Tanzania in 2012.

3. Trained and supported workers – through for example the Bishops Certificate in Youth Ministry and the many other less formal learning opportunities available. The network has expanded to include Reality UK and other partnerships and is the largest network of youth workers in Leicestershire.

4. Partnering with others in an imaginative apprenticeship scheme and an emerging church intern scheme, trialled in partnership with the New Wine network for the first time from Sept. 2014.

In addition and further resourcing the relevant mark of mission in the Shaped by God strategy, in 2012 a full-time children and families officer was employed by the diocese to complement YP4L and this has included the encouragement of a swiftly expanding Messy Church network as well as support and resourcing of paid and unpaid children’s and family workers in parishes.

Spiribabes: pioneering work among babies!

“Imagine for a moment you have a 6 month-old baby, and someone asks you ‘what would be the best choice your child could make in life?’, what, I wonder, would be your answer?

This is one of the questions Jennie Paddison asked mums who attend a SpiriBabes course at Holy Trinity Barrow upon Soar. The course is offered to any baby under the age of 1. Baptism families are invited along with anyone else who is interested, as the course not only covers aspects of baptism, but the wider task of nurturing a child’s spiritual needs and make-up. It suits mums on Maternity Leave as it gives them something constructive and fun to do with the baby and the opportunity to meet other parents.

SpiriBabes runs over 5 sessions and all the activities are baby-centred; singing, baby massage, bathing, bubble-blowing and other multi-sensory play.

Some of the comments from mums include:

• ‘we have thoroughly enjoyed every session and the found the multi-sensory play to be an excellent way of introducing our baby to our faith.’;

• ‘I think the baptism message was put across very well and in a fun and entertaining manner.’; ‘Great way to explain topics and the meaning around them’;

St Andrew’s, Countesthorpe...were looking to become an ever more missional church. They wondered about starting a fresh expression of Church. Or maybe two. Or three. But where to start?

Since Shaped by God was originally launched, the journey of St Andrew’s has been an exciting one. Under strong missional leadership, they have sought to better understand their community and its needs and serve them in the name of Jesus. Twelve key leaders from within the parish opted to take part in the four day residential diocesan version of the Leading Your Church into Growth course, out of which a further six people started the Mission Shaped Ministry (MSM) course. Realising that inherited church wasn’t able to reach some from their parish, they were keen to start a fresh expression of Church but didn’t know what. As they prayed, were coached and entered into the MSM journey a Messy Church was born. Six months later, over a hundred people of all ages, many not previously connected with the worshipping community, were growing together in exploring faith, life and the difference Jesus makes; others from the church are putting missional church and new church theology into practice serving others in different ways; a new building is envisaged, focused around better serving community needs.

It’s a story of growth, not just in numbers but in a deepening understanding of what it means to be a disciple and how our Lord is calling us to serve the world He made.

Youth, Children and Families

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The past ten years have seen many exciting developments across our common life together, far too many to mention all of them here, but hopefully below captures a sense of the most exciting developments in each of: :

Leicester Cathedral The Cathedral has been engaged in a very significant period of change and development with huge opportunity for creative and daring Christian mission. Shaped by God has been highly influential in developing a more collegial Diocesan culture with an emphasis on mission and evangelism through partnership and innovation. The Cathedral serves the Diocese as a centre of mission and as the place where the Bishop gathers people for teaching, prayer and renewal and then sends them out for mission and service.

In 2010 an opportunity arose for the Diocese and Cathedral to purchase the old grammar school next door to the cathedral. With generous funding from benefactors and without any additional cost to the parishes, the diocese and cathedral were able to purchase St Martins House and move there in January 2011 with a vision for generous hospitality, attentiveness to God and the transformation of relationships (all of which mapped consciously on to marks of mission within the Shaped by God strategy). This now houses and develops outreach amongst the poor and asylum seekers, and enables meeting and training through the provision of conference space. The Cathedral and Diocesan staffs are also based here and this has seen an increasingly collaborative culture emerging.

The Cathedral has also seen some growth and development, with the ministry of the Cathedral having a recent history of increasing willingness to take risks and experiment. For example, the Cathedral pioneered girls’ choirs and was the first

cathedral to be led by a woman. In 2013 a further significant phase began with the discovery of the remains of King Richard III and the appointment of a new Dean, continuing into 2014 with the development of new and refurbished Cathedral clergy housing and the £2.5million creation of Cathedral Gardens in the precincts. The re-interment of King Richard III brings another chapter in the life of the Cathedral, including a major re-ordering of the building and a new strategic plan around a draft strapline ‘Leicester Cathedral – a faithful heart for city and county

Launde AbbeyRemarkable changes have occurred at Launde Abbey over the past few years, particularly a £2.6 million refurbishment of the main house, again without additional burden to the parishes, and this refurbishment was completed in 2011. A Warden and Deputy Warden (who is also Spirituality Adviser for the Diocese) and a full-time business manager have helped to capacitate the Abbey, which sees around 7000 overnight guests each year plus a further 2500 day guests and up to another 2500–3000 guests who attend special events during the year. The work of Launde Abbey continues to expand, bucking the trend nationally where Retreat Houses

Growing together

Liz Smith of St Luke’s Thurnby reports: “members of our ‘Church of the Third Age’ knitting group recently went to our youth camp, held in a field, to run knitting workshops for two days in a marquee, teaching the young people how to knit. It was a resounding success. This opportunity brought together young and older people and a wonderful atmosphere in the marquee as the young people and their leaders learned to knit colourful squares which were augmented by squares from the knitting group, to make up a blanket which will be used at future camps.”

Wider Diocesan Life

are closing in a challenging economic climate. Its aims of purposes clearly find resonance in some of the main marks of mission, not least prayer, hospitality and welcome, and transformation.

Students from South Kilwoth CofE Primary School took part in a King Richard III project, creating artwork for the ‘ OurBook of Hours’ based on King Richards own Prayer Book

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You are VERY welcomeFollowing a four session course on welcoming (Everybody Welcome) organised by the Loughborough Anglican Mission Partnership, Sarah Parr writes; “One of the subjects discussed was the need to talk to people! Sounds obvious, but in a church with a large congregation like ours (usually about 150 people at a service) it’s very easy to get trapped into the habit of talking to the same few people every week. There are many people you don’t really know and you’re never quite sure if someone is new or you’ve just never met them before. This causes some people to worry that they might offend a regular member by asking ‘are you new?’.

We needed to break out of our comfort zone….We were not going to be able to do this if we spent our coffee time talking to each other. We set ourselves a target of not talking to each other for the first 10 minutes after the service challenging ourselves to go and speak to someone we didn’t know …For the less outgoing members of the group (me!) it was a little daunting at first, but …as the weeks have passed I now find we naturally start looking for anyone new to talk to before we get together over coffee. We have learned many more names and met many new people inviting them to join our small group. Our confidence is growing…”

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St Philip’s CentreSt Philip’s Centre (SPC) opened formally in 2006, with the vision of providing a local, regional and national focus for Christian study and engagement in a multi-faith society. Since then the charity has grown significantly in terms of its depth and breadth of work to promote positive inter faith relations. SPC is now one of the UK’s leading charities which advances the place of religion and belief in public life through its training, education and engagement programmes. The current Patron is the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, The Most Revd Justin Welby. The number of people engaged with the work of SPC has grown year on year with an estimated 10,000 people expected to have sampled one or more of its services in 2014.

Through the national Presence & Engagement agenda, the Centre has delivered a range of courses to equip Christians both lay and clergy to live and work confidently in multi faith settings. SPC’s corporate training programmes on religious and belief literacy reach hundreds of public sector workers nationally each year and is now complemented by a comprehensive schools and colleges offer which attracts pupils from many parts of the East Midlands. SPC’s engagement arm connects it strongly to grassroots communities not least through the facilitation of social action events such as Sewa Day, Mitzvah Day and Inter Faith Week. SPC is anchored by its team of staff and community of faith practitioners who provide authentic, faithful witness.

Diocesan Board of EducationThe Diocesan Board of Education (DBE) has faced enormous changes in the educational world over the past few years, not least the national government embarking at some pace on the academy strategy to raise standards through giving greater autonomy to schools in a culture of partnership between the stronger and weaker. This has been accompanied by a simultaneous reduction of local authority

services, which has been particularly sharp in Leicestershire. The result is that many schools have felt vulnerable and exposed. In addition nationally numbers of children and young people regularly involved in church activities have dropped considerably in recent years. However one million children attend a Church of England school which has led to the affirmation that church schools stand at the centre of the church’s mission to young people. Understanding what this means in terms of communicating the faith in the context of education and developing the church / school partnership remains an important priority nationally and as a diocese.

Leicester DBE has responded robustly to these challenges and laid foundations for the future. In relation to academies the DBE focused on providing the structures and support for all our schools to negotiate this change and to remain within the family of church schools. It has formed its own Multi-Academy Trust which now sponsors seven church schools and is growing. If in the past a DBE’s focus could be mainly on the distinctiveness of church schools, now there is a need to ally that with delivering excellence and the staff team is expanding to deliver that. There are good foundations in place and also a desire to go further in developing an understanding of education as mission and realising the potential of church schools in the church’s ministry to young people.

Generosity in financial givingIn 2013 a Diocesan Growth Fund was launched which over the next seven years will look to release around £3 million (from the sales of clergy houses no longer required due to reducing clergy numbers nationally) and which provides grants to fund local initiatives in parishes, benefices, mission partnerships and deaneries, Fresh Expressions, Chaplaincies and the like, looking to stimulate and encourage projects and proposals which show potential to deliver

Leading your church into growth (LYCiG)

Between 2009 and 2012 hundreds of people from local churches and mission partnerships have attended these 4 day residential courses asking the question “How can our churches grow?” LYCiG supplies many ideas from welcome to worship, evangelism to service, equipping churches to be more approachable and accessible, engaged and outward-looking.Some common values and themes evident: being positive; using what we have rather than what we haven’t; prioritisation – doing less but doing it better; recapturing our vocation; small, gradual growth; vision, direction, planning; practical and confident faith sharing; hunger and desire for growth; prayer, presence, proclamation and persuasion; focusing on searching out those seeking – looking for those who are looking for God.The stats for growth suggest those churches undertaking a course like this grow faster than those who don’t, and there is now a LYCIG local course on stream which is non-residential and can be delivered in a location near you!

growth in numbers, depth and service. This fund is already seeing heartening numbers of applications for imaginative and promising missional projects, especially in the area of children and young people’s work. Alongside this fund a capital fund was set up in late 2013 for buildings, to complement the Growth Fund (which is not available for building-related work); if the Growth Fund is primarily intended to support growth initiatives through investment in people, the Capital Fund will support growth through investment in our buildings.

Along the way there have been considerable challenges as well as good news in terms of finance. One of the challenges of recent years has been encouraging financial generosity – over the past decade Leicester and Leicestershire have had relatively low levels of Christian giving compared with national norms (a trend echoed by research from secular charities too interestingly). There has been a growing awareness that this must be addressed if the mission and ministry of parishes and the diocese as a whole is not to be negatively impacted and given the need to protect diocesan finances against a probable reduction in national church funding as the Church Commissioners review the allocations they make by 2017.

As part of the response, in Nov 2012 Diocesan Synod agreed to a new system for Parish contributions, recognising that while the old system had served well, it had limitations and these were seen in poorer collection rates in recent years. Consequently from 2014 Synod agreed to use a ‘gift-based’ system where each parish/benefice offers a gift, informed by figures for recent expenditure and overall target budgets for the diocese. In addition Synod agreed in 2014 to the creation of a post to develop and lead a programme leading to culture change in relation to Christian giving within the diocese.

World LinksAnother significant way in which a number of people have sensed God has been at work across the diocese, is in cultivating links with the worldwide church, especially through our links with the Dioceses of Trichy, Mount Kilimanjaro (DMK) and Kiteto. The excellent work of our links committees has fostered these links and having Rev. Suresh Kumar as Trichy links officer has greatly enhanced our companionship with Trichy diocese. Recent trips include the Bishop’s Youth Council trip to Tanzania in 2013, curates’ trips to our link dioceses in 2011 and 2014, a meeting of bishops in Trichy in 2014 and visits from our link partners in 2012 (celebrating 10 years of the Trichy link) and in 2014 from all our link dioceses for a young leaders gathering. In addition parishes continue to establish and strengthen their individual links. The inspiration that comes with seeing Christians faithfully follow Jesus in situations of great adversity, the challenging conversations around the influence of culture and the fostering of mutual encouragement have been just some of the ways in which the Spirit has been active in shaping and informing hearts and minds through these relationships. The content and conclusions of this renewal emerged from an extended period of consultation and prayerful reflection. During 2014 a wide variety of groups from across the county and city were asked to reflect on what God has and is doing in our shared life together, through Shaped by God. What is clear from the consultations is that there is considerable appetite for sustaining the vision of Shaped by God and renewing its focus on mission, while doing so in ways which also face into some of the challenges arising from changing times and contexts.

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In terms of the aspirations, vision and dreams emerging from the foregoing review and the consultations there are a number of key foci to keep front and centre in renewing the Shaped by God strategy. These could be summarised as follows:

◊ Attentiveness to God◊ Contextually appropriate worship communities including new

forms of church◊ Discipleship - an environment where people can grow to their

full stature◊ Young families – where there is effective and full discipleship

for young people and children◊ Partnership - healthy, mutually enriching and honouring

relationships between churches◊ Incarnational mission including confident and intelligent

evangelism as a way of life and contributing to the social responsibility agenda

◊ Resources – buildings, money, vocations, incorporating generosity and sustainability.

These foci are not intended to replace the nine marks of mission which continue to expound the different dimensions meant by the word ‘mission’ in helpful ways (as noted on p18) but these foci give some sense of the areas we have noticed as being particularly blessed and fruitful and as such suggest further amplification and concentration into the future. It is recommended that churches and Christian communities discern and focus among these dimensions and within the nine marks of mission, looking to sense how God is sending particular Christian communities and follow that sense rather than simply “covering the bases” of the above foci and the nine marks of mission.

Unsurprisingly the issue of church buildings came up during the consultations. Seen both as gift and burden, buildings continue to exercise many Christian communities and the diocese as a whole, particularly in terms of the amount of parish resources (both in amount, and in the direction of travel) used towards their upkeep that ‘divert’ resources from mission and growth or. Issues include rural areas (sometimes having too many churches, which are also often too large for rural populations) and urban areas (some poorly built buildings which are now life expired and/or too large for their existing congregations).

A range of potential solutions have been floated, such as: designating some churches as ‘Chapels of Ease’ to reduce the ministry and administrative burden on parishes and the diocese, without having to close them; developing local church trusts to relieve the burden of building maintenance

Messy Church taking off… In recent years, across Leicestershire, over fifty Messy Churches have been birthed. Messy Church is designed to mature as church in its own right based around five core values: Christ-centred, all-age, creativity, hospitality

and celebration and is. As one of the founders writes, Messy Church is an “attempt to be church for families who might want to meet Jesus, belong to their local church and bring up their children as Christians but can’t cope with traditional Sunday morning church services.” The experience of many is that there are plenty of families with young children looking to engage with the church in ways which can pitch the medium and the message appropriately and enthusiastically.

Louise Warner, regional Messy Church representative and Children and Families Officer Writes “ A girl was asked by her mum if she wanted to go to the park with the friends they normally go to Messy Church with on a hot sunny day, she said no because you don’t learn about Jesus in the park and wanted to go to Messy Church. There are many more stories that could have been shared; God is at work within Messy Church as the exciting journey continues”.

Key questions now

On several occasions over the past years, some of those new to following Christ have been baptised by full immersion outside Leicester Cathedral.

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on the parish; moving congregations into community buildings such as schools; renovating churches to be multi-purpose and thus engaged in mission, building new partnerships and becoming community assets. Where the future of a given building seems unpromising there has regularly been a desire expressed to simplify closure procedures where closure is feasible - and finding alternatives where such closure is difficult (e.g. highly listed churches in rural areas). The amount of diocesan administrative and senior staff resources needed to cover buildings issues and church closures is considerable and weighing the use of resources in this as opposed to other ways again is not straightforward. What is clear is that locally and indeed nationally there remains a need for more and innovative solutions

A general finding from the consultation is that the central significance of mission and the explicit aim to grow the Church in numbers, service and depth is clearly present and having the Shaped by God vision and strategy in place for nearly a decade has contributed to that intentionality. While for some this is about our Lord’s command (e.g. Matthew 28:16-20), for others the aspiration for growth has been expressed to some degree as a financial necessity, with the realisation that existing parish giving is based substantially on congregations which are faithful and generous, but ageing. It should also be noted that after a period of decline, Leicester Diocese has been one of the quickest growing dioceses in the Church of England in recent years (growing by between 5 and 14% in the last six years, depending on which measure is used). While cause and effect cannot be easily traced here, the sustained missional vision that the Shaped by God strategy has provided and implementation of its various proposals has undoubtedly contributed to this good news. For more on the statistics surrounding numerical growth, decline and membership visit leicester.anglican.org/statistics-for-mission/

In line with those consulted, the diocese remains committed to the existing parish-based model of church, and explicitly the retention of the parish as the primary unit of mission. It is clear that maintaining this model in the face of declining numbers of stipendiary clergy will result in a continuing pressure to amalgamate and to create more multi-parish benefices, especially to accommodate declining clergy numbers in rural areas. However, concern has been expressed not only about the ability of such ministry to support growth but of the danger to the health of clergy of simply adding yet more parishes to already strained timetables. This is one reason why the diocese has been exploring other modes of ministry – recently for example ‘focal ministry’, where each church within a benefice is led by a specific person (lay or ordained), overseen by an ordained (normally the stipendiary Team rector or equivalent) minister. Mission Partnerships and other ways of clustering in partnership (e.g. at Deanery level) again offer possibilities for re-imagining ministry in ways which honour the historic scope of the parochial system despite the reducing numbers of stipendiary clergy.

Another development of the existing parish system explicitly linked to growth is that of church planting i.e. where a growing church sends a leader and team to another existing parish church in order to re-vitalise it. This is not a new idea but it is certainly being embraced with greater enthusiasm in parts of this diocese. All this along with the diocese’s explicit plans to develop a truly ‘mixed economy’ of inherited and fresh expressions of church, and the ambitious aim of having a 50:50 split of inherited and fresh expressions of church by 2030 all suggests there is much experimentation, discernment and ‘re-imagining’ going on across the diocese.

Growing together

In January and February of 2014 two separate groups of curates visited our link dioceses of Trichy in India and Mount Kilimanjaro/Kiteto in Tanzania. As was the case with a curates trip to India in 2011, many participants describe their experience as among the most profound and significant in their curacy. Writing of his visit to Trichy diocese Stuart Cocksedge writes “The experience has broadened my horizons and given me different perspectives on church and ministry in a very different context to my own. I have been challenged by the ‘overtness’ of Christian faith in India – e.g. Christian symbols or words on vehicles and in homes – and by the prayerfulness, commitment and enthusiasm of Christians (both adults and children) we met in the churches. I think I have also gained a greater appreciation of and sense of connection with the church in India, and a greater sense of what it means to be part of the worldwide body of Christ. I hope these experiences will continue to shape and enrich my life and ministry.”

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All Saints, Belgrave Road

In 2011 an independent, growing church, mostly serving those from an Asian heritage called Leicester United Christian Fellowship (LUCF) looked to rent a church building from the Diocese, but God had so much more in store…

As they met, prayed and discerned together with the Diocese of Leicester, it became clear that the right location was the recently mothballed St Gabriel’s Church, in the heart of the Belgrave Road in Leicester. But it also became clear that God was calling us to a fuller partnership, with LUCF becoming a full part of the Anglican church, similar to a parish (utilising the legal instrument of a Bishops Mission Order). Since then they have been received into the Church of England, moved into St Gabriel’s, changed their name to All Saints, Pastor Sunny George has started training for ordination and many people in the area have come to faith in Jesus Christ as Lord. At dawn on Easter Sunday 2013, a number of new Christians from an Asian heritage were baptised by Bishop Tim outside Leicester Cathedral by full immersion to mark this new life. Similarly more members who have known God’s transforming work were baptised and confirmed in 2014.

The emerging steer from consultations appears to be that Shaped by God with its focus on mission, its promotion of partnership and collaboration and the integration of subsequent strategy within this overarching vision is one that should be sustained. The resourcing of contextual and mixed economy responses has been well-received and appears to be fruitful, and the opportunities to develop this further with recent funding are considerable. The pattern of leadership has been both one of taking more seriously the gifts under our noses (such as our links) and responding swiftly, energetically and effectively to surprising gifts as they arrive (such as Richard III and St Martins House). The quality of our attentiveness to such gifts will continue to be vital, as will that discernment which weighs the relative significance (and so resources to be deployed) to embracing different opportunities arising. A further reason for persisting and renewing the Shaped by God strategy is that a key learning over the past 9 years in this diocese (and it seems in a number of other dioceses) has been the danger of felt ‘initiative overload’ and the sense of ‘one blessed strategy after another’ without the time or care to actually see a particular approach through. Persisting with Shaped by God over this period of time rather than chopping and changing approaches has brought a degree of stability, coherence and directedness to the wide-ranging mission and ministry sketched above and we should be wary of introducing new ‘initiatives’ which undermine such coherence, stability and directedness.

There are certain areas where it feels progress has been slow, not least issues such as buildings, clergy well-being, excellence in collaboration… and areas where the hoped-for gear change (vocations, generous giving, lay participation in the life of the church) have yet to be realised in all their fullness. Also it is perhaps the case that, despite FareShare, the multiplication of foodbanks, work with refugees and asylum seekers, the Bishop’s Poverty Commission and other ways of serving the world, the two dimensions of growth over the past 8 years, numbers and discipleship, sometimes appear to have outstripped growth in terms of Kingdom service. It might be asked whether there is a challenge to develop Kingdom service OR focus on where God appears to be blessing the mission and ministry? Perhaps however this is a false choice, for seeking the kingdom of God and His righteousness (Mt 6.33), or in N.T.Wright’s translation, “ Make your top priority God’s Kingdom and His way of life” involves all three dimensions of growth. Across the nine marks of mission we see the three dimensions of growth spanned, and in our ongoing mission and ministry surely we must look to ensure that we continue to give expression all three dimensions in enacting the Kingdom.

Key discernment ahead

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Opening in 2014, the Lutterworth foodback is led by St Mary’s Lutterworth and supported closely by churches in the surrounding villages.

Twice a year a new Mission Shaped Ministry course starts for those looking to start or learn from fresh expressions of Church

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24/7 Prayer Rooms

Across the diocese different groups have provided a space and timetable so that prayer can be ongoing in that space for a period of 24 hours, a week or longer. For example the 62 churches of the Framland Mission Partnership decided to do provide a series of prayer rooms for the whole of Lent, being surprised to find Christians of all denominations have readily taken part. Sue Paterson, Mission Partnership Convenor. noted how “again and again, an hour is too short a time, they say – this from people who previously thought 10 minutes of prayer was 9 minutes wasted! “ Each prayer room provided a treasure trove of ways to approach God and open up channels of prayer: from Bibles and books on prayer, to art materials, writing equipment, CDs of reflective music, prayer boards, instructions on how to write a prayer journal, comfy chairs, prayer stools, incense, tea and coffee… and this variety ensured that many different pray-ers found helpful resources. This movement, both locally and nationally, flags up the thirst for oases of prayerful space in a noisy and rushed world, and how surprisingly committed a response one can find when being ambitious for God! It also gives space and time for people to explore questions such as “What is God calling me to now”, breaking out of that unending song of self-preoccupation.

Shaped by God in our lives and communities we seek the growth of His kingdom in:

◊ the depth of discipleship,◊ the number of disciples of

Jesus,◊ loving service of the world.

Our continued commitment and learning is expressed through four particular mission affirmations:

i. Mission is God’s initiative that we joinWe commit to be ‘shaped by God’ for the sharing of his love in all the rich potential and brokenness of our lives and communities, being attentive to where and how He is at work and intentional in joining his mission. We continue to endorse the nine marks of mission as a highly valuable description of different dimensions of mission activity, while learning to discern God’s particular priorities for each church and partnership – ‘doing a few things and doing them well’.

We repent of the self-concern or anxious busyness that reflects a lack of faith in God’s calling and generous equipping for all that His call requires of us.

Going forward we want to balance • stability as we trust how He has been

leading us with openness to change as we continue to re-imagine the church

• corporate discernment in direction for the whole diocese and co-ordinated diversity in allowing local initiative to flourish

Key question: How are you being shaped by God?

Key challenge: To discern and act on the implications of being a mission-shaped church

ii. Mission happens through the ministry of the whole people of God

We commit to being a church where everyone is baptised for ministry and many forms of service, licensed and informal, ordained and lay, church and world focused are discerned and nurtured. We commit to equipping the clergy to be an enabling and strategic leadership for the ministry of all.

We repent of any clerical monopoly of ministry that has fostered a passive laity and a dependent culture in the people of God.

Going forward we want to balance • Inherited (sometimes called traditional

or continuing) expressions of church with fresh expressions of Church led by lay, licensed Pioneers

• clergy giving strategic and enabling oversight with different types of focal ministry

• responsible and thorough training with risk-taking testing of gifts

• experience and youth, addressing the demographic time-bomb of ageing congregations through strategies to engage the younger generation

Key question: How is ordained oversight and every member ministry balanced and shaped in your benefice or partnership?

Key challenge: To take new initiatives in ministry and being church which engage relevantly with our culture without losing the call to counter-cultural discipleship and the spiritual wisdom of historic Christianity.

The Conclusions

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Growth Fund

The image of the 2020 Growth Fund is that of a mustard seed, as in the parable told by Jesus, (recorded in Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 13, verses 31-32). When the mustard seed is planted in well prepared soil, it puts down deep roots and grows larger than imaginable, so large that birds make a home in its branches.

It is these three dimensions of growth that the fund seeks to encourage: growth in the number of those coming to and returning to faith in God (the size of the tree); growth in the depth of that discipleship(deep roots) and faith leading to Kingdom service to others (birds resting in the branches). So we look for growth in three dimensions, in the numbers of those coming to and returning to faith, in deepening faith, and faith leading to Kingdom service.

iii. Mission happens in partnership with others We commit to interdependence in mission where partnerships offer creative and sustaining opportunities.

We repent of a narrow parochialism which has concentrated thinking and resources just on our own church or expression of faith rather than on a wider kingdom vision.

Going forward we want to balance• the principle of subsidiarity (where nothing

is done by a larger and more complex organisation that can be done as well by something smaller, more local and simple) with that of solidarity where we are concerned and supportive of each other

• gathering in units for worship and discipleship that are big enough to be effective and inspiring with maintaining a local presence in every community for the sake of mission

• neighbourhood church (the parish system) with missional communities based on networks and needs, realising as many fresh expressions of church as existing churches by 2030

• A celebration of our different Anglican (and ecumenical) traditions with generous and open collaboration for the sake of the kingdom.

Key question: How are you fulfilling the Shaped by God vision of “an alliance of local churches working across traditional boundaries sharing gifts, resources and ministries in the service of God’s mission.” Key challenge: How we partner with others in ways that will foster and enable mission rather than create just another level of consultation or bureaucracy.

iv. Mission serves the common goodWe commit to the service of God’s kingdom partnering with those of all faiths and none to seek the well-being of our communities

We repent of a narrow preoccupation with the church and its growth or survival at the expense of the needs of the world.

Going forward we want to balance• confident and intelligent evangelism with

serving the common good• church-based young people’s ministries

with putting schools at the heart of our mission thinking

• maintaining our Christian identity with building understanding and partnership with those of other faiths

Key question: How are you serving the common good in your locality and especially expressing a commitment to the poor, vulnerable and marginalized?

Key challenge: How we equip people to be in the world but not of it, engaged but distinctive, and how we balance need and potential in the allocation of our time and resources.

Finally, we recognise the challenge of this vision on our resources – whether that is

• the well-being of the clergy, who with decreasing numbers can be increasingly stretched

• the generosity of our giving which has not always been sacrificial or strategic

• the maintenance and use of our buildings whose heritage is both opportunity and burden.

A challenge we set in the context of the apostle Paul’s confidence that “my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” Phil. 4:19-20

Various resources (including audits) are available to help parishes and fresh expressions of Church discern God’s calling to them in relation to these.

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Members of Bishops Staff spent weekends in Mission Partnerships throughout 2014 engaging in mission together, such as this weekend in Welland Valley MP