Pioneering Church Communities
The Church of England defines pioneers as:
“People called by God, who are the first to see and creatively respond to the Holy Spirit’s initiatives with those outside the church; gathering others around them as they seek to establish new contextual Christian community.”
The Church Mission Society describe pioneers as those who have a gift for seeing, for imagination, and for dreaming, inspired not just by what could be but also by a sense of dissatisfaction, holy discontent perhaps, at the way the church is fulfilling its mission and purpose. And in particular this call and gift is exercised among those not currently engaged in the church. However pioneers are not just dreamers, they are ‘dreamers who do’, capable of turning dreams into reality, or at least taking the risk to try and do so. Pioneers draw in others to do this. They are leaders capable of gathering people round a vision for a new missional venture and facilitating the ministry of that team to bring something new to birth.
In the Diocese of Exeter we are developing partnerships and packages to enable, empower and release pioneers to launch new ministries in their setting. The below packages and partnerships are designed to be an ‘off the shelf’ resource with everything provided for you to hit the ground running in your community.
Hazelnut Communities
We are excited in the Diocese of Exeter to be partnering with Hazelnut Community in order to support churches in the creation of eco congregations on their land in order to deepen worship, welcome community, and combat climate breakdown. If you have a heart for reaching your community and a love for creation then we would encourage you to prayerfully consider if signing up to the Hazelnut Community scheme could be for you.
Watch the interview below with Hazelnut founder John White for a taste of how the scheme works, you can read more on their website here.
Partnering with Hazelnut Community is a straightforward way to pioneer a way of worshiping together, connecting with community, creation and Creator. Everything is provided for you to launch and to sustain this ministry. If you would like to find out more about this partnership email the Creation Care team.
Find out more:
Pioneer Certificate Course
Mission Shed
Lay Commissioned Roles
