Leith Churches Outreach Project

Posted Oct 2, 02:20 PM

Over the last year, two of us from Leith Churches Together have been attending a course called ‘Mission Shaped Ministry’, which ran this year in Edinburgh for the first time. The course is ecumenical in content and delivery and uses material developed over some years in England and Wales, with sponsorship from several traditions, including the Church of England, Methodist Church and Salvation Army.

And what does ‘Mission Shaped Ministry’ mean… a good question to which the course provides no universal, but many individual responses! How do we enable an encounter with God for those outside (and sometimes inside) our churches, and continue to serve our communities in ways that reach those In need? We heard about initiatives around Britain where that Is happening, in a huge variety of ways (Messy Church Is one well-known example), but we also had the chance to discuss and reflect on such questions as ‘what Is church today’, how to discern the needs of your community; how to deal with failure (important session); teamwork; and ‘mission shaped spirituality’.

One thing that came up again and again is the need for networking and mentoring; it is not easy to work ‘outside the box’, and pioneers often felt isolated.
We ourselves pioneered a little here; my co-student was David Igoe, the chair of LCT, from St Mary’s Star of the Sea, and as the only RC on the course, he brought a different and often stimulating perspective to the discussions (while the Roman Catholic church is not currently part of the MSM set-up, it is facing similar questions, and the course content includes material and insights from several Catholic writers).

The greatest benefit of a course like this is the opportunity for active and focused reflection about the issues. All church situations are different and no two will come up with the same ideas for a ‘church without walls’, to quote the Church of Scotland’s phrase, in their community.
The full MSM course won’t be running in Edinburgh next year but I would be very happy to lead and facilitate any group,
whether from one congregation or several, who wanted to work together on the short 6-session course which I understand will be available.

Please get in touch if you are interested.

Jennifer Stark

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