Parish training

Picture by Philip King.

We offer a series of workshops and resources to help our parish churches grow and thrive.  This may include:

1) Mentoring with a member of the Diocesan team

2) Visits by the Diocesan team to support your deanery meetings

3) Personalised training that offers individuals the opportunity to learn more about faith and/or progress their calling:

Training opportunities | Weblink

4) Specific parish/benefice programmes (see below).

Mission Shaped Ministry

Mission Shaped Ministry is a one year learning journey equipping people to begin, sustain and grow Lightwave groups and other mission initiatives. It consists of 15 modules which include areas such as listening for mission, gospel and culture, starting something new, building a strong team, coping with disappointments, sustaining a fresh expression of Church and worship and sacraments.

In 2020/21 we are running a flexible version of the course which is specifically designed for whole teams who are already serving in mission together and who want to work together to develop their Lightwave group or mission initiative further. The group choose the venue, the modules they want and the order they are completed in.

Clergy, Readers, Elders and Chaplains from the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich can use their CMD grant to recover the cost of this course.

For more information contact the Course Administrator Nina Seaman or watch the video below from Fresh Expressions. You can also visit the MSM website:

MSM Course | Weblink

Germinate Groups

"It has helped us to sharpen the vision and strategic plan that we had already begun, and gave us the courage to think about how we could do things differently, set priorities and begin to identify the things we might have to let go of." The Revd Canon Julia Lall.

Germinate Groups are affordable rural learning communities which enable lay and ordained leaders to spend time together and learn from each other.  The groups consider:

• what is (what God is doing in our area)
• what could be (the God-given vision for us)
• what will be (our six-month action plan).

Email the Revd Canon Dave Gardner to learn more about Germinate Groups in our Diocese.

Alternatively, you can watch this video about Germinate Groups in Worcester Diocese:

Inspiring Ipswich

In the Ipswich Deanery, every parish and benefice now has a Learning Community in place to facilitate growth in their church community as part of Inspiring Ipswich. These Learning Communities, supported by a Mission Accompanier, have developed parish plans for growth, and these should now be in their early stages of implementation.

Learning Communities work with their incumbent and lay and ordained leaders to bring their congregation along with the activity and aims laid out in these parish plans, and help others get involved in serving the church and the local community.

To find our more please visit:

Inspiring Ipswich | Weblink

Page updated 10 September 2020