Vision of a healthy deanery

What might a healthy deanery look like?

Many of the points below reference the Anglican Communion's Five Marks Of Mission.

Discipleship

Communities growing more like Christ through:

  • Worship, prayer and personal spirituality.
  • Study and theological reflection.
  • Nurturing new disciples (2nd Mark of Mission).
  • Spiritual direction and mentoring.
  • Stewardship.
  • Diversity, inclusivity and community.
  • Relating to the wider church.

Vocation   

Communities living out their calling to be Christ’s body transforming the world through:

  • Exploring and nurturing everyone’s vocation.
  • Collaboration between lay and ordained in leading worship, prayer and study.
  • Encouraging and caring for volunteers.
  • Supporting whole-life vocation, Monday - Sunday.
  • Care and loving service in the wider community (3rd Mark of Mission).
  • Working for justice and peace (4th Mark of Mission).
  • Care for creation (5th Mark of Mission).
  • Encouraging specific vocations and ministries.

Evangelism 

(1st Mark of Mission) 
Communities proclaiming the Kingdom of God and making new disciples of Christ through:

  • Understanding of God’s holistic mission.
  • Developing approaches to evangelism that are sensitive to different traditions in the church and society.
  • A culture of invitation and relationship building with those on the fringes of church.
  • Building personal relationships in the wider community that can lead to faith.
  • Creating confidence in sharing personal faith.
  • Creating a missionary presence through digital media.
  • Creating spaces to deepen relationships and explore questions of life and faith.
  • Discovering and releasing those called to be evangelists.
  • Sharing good practice across the deanery.
  • Planting fresh expressions of church.

Examples in each area

Discipleship

Communities growing more like Christ through: 

  1. Worship, Prayer and personal spirituality. Signs of this might be:
  • Participation in regular church based and online worship events that energise people.  
  • Regular prayer and worship meetings – in addition to the weekly meeting.
  • Adoption of a personal rhythm of daily prayer.
  • Churches open and other sites made as places of prayer.
  • Use of resources for prayer and spirituality.
  • Membership of dispersed religious communities like the Community of Saint Chad or Third Order Franciscans.
  1. Study and theological reflection. Signs of this might be:
  • Good levels of participation in bible study or small groups.
  • Online learning and discipleship available on an ongoing basis.
  • Clergy and others reflecting together on the church’s ministry and ongoing discipleship.
  • Deanery learning events.
  • Growing faith initiatives with a focus on young people and families.
  • Discussion of sermons.
  • Theological libraries in churches.
  • A welcoming of good questions and undefended leadership.
  1. Nurturing new disciples (2nd Mark of mission). Signs of this might be:
  • A nurture course anyone can attend (Living Faith, Pilgrim, Alpha etc).
  • Baptism and confirmations – linked to ongoing discipleship courses.
  • People acting as mentors to new disciples.
  1. Spiritual direction and mentoring. Signs of this might be:
  • Use of Spiritual Directors or mentors one to one.
  • Exemplary people who inspire others.
  • Teaching on Christian living.
  • Discussion of ethics and lifestyle issues.
  • People making the connection between their faith and everyday life.
  1. Good Stewardship. Signs of this might be:
  • A good rate of Average Weekly Giving.
  • Regular stewardship campaigns and stewardship lessons/teaching.
  • Use of resources to aid giving like online or electronic giving.
  • Good budgeting.
  • Giving to the world church and mission agencies. 
  • Stewardship of non-financial resources – offering time and talents and sharing of goods and services.
  1. Diversity, inclusivity and community. Signs of this might be:
  • Church membership activities and worship reflects the diversity of the community.
  • There is an inclusive attitude to others and to enabling others to become disciples.
  • Christian provision for 0-5s, 6–10s, 11–16s, 17–21s.
  • Capacity for young people to worship and develop their discipleship together.
  • Ministry amongst older people.
  • Parenting courses and welcome of families.
  • Churches geared to welcome those of different abilities.
  • Dementia friendly churches.
  1. Relating to the wider church. Signs of this might be:
  • Ecumenical activity – good relationships with other churches. Working with other churches as together the church in that place.
  • Engagement with the global church based on partnership.
  • Collaboration on some mission and outreach (for example street pastors, mission events).

Vocation 

Communities living out their calling to be Christ’s body transforming the world through:

  1. Exploring and nurturing everyone’s vocation. Signs of this might be:

  • Nurture groups and retreat days in which there is discussion and teaching to enable people to discover their gifts and callings.
  • People are helped to understand that God calls all of them whoever they are and whatever age they are.
  • People get to hear about lay vocations like pioneering or children’s and youth work and develop these as volunteers.
  • A way in which people can explore vocation online (and perhaps explore online vocation).
  • Those with a particular passion (e.g. for creation care) or a vocation (e.g. pioneering) able to connect for collaboration and support.
  • Identifying the 'charism' of the deanery.
  1. Collaboration between lay and ordained in leading worship, prayer and study. Signs of this might be:
  • Opportunities for all ages (lay and ordained) to be involved in developing and leading worship and prayer. 
  • Lay and ordained workers come together as a team'
  • A wide variety of people lead and facilitate church activities and groups. 
  • A focus on partnership and corporate identity rather than individualistic efforts.
  1. Encouraging and caring for volunteersSigns of this might be:
  • A culture that supports volunteering opportunities, drawing on their gifts and calling. 
  • Regular contact with volunteers, including training and review of roles and accountability.
  • programme of nurturing new leaders involving training and shadowing others..
  • A healthy turnover in all sectors so people stand down after a fixed period and new people replace them.
  • Skills gifts and talents recognised and shared around the deanery so that those who have a vocation can develop them.
  1. Supporting whole-life vocation, Monday – Sunday. Signs of this might be:
  • Teaching discussion and study to enable people to discover their vocation in their workplaces, homes and other relationships. 
  • Use of resources like those of LICC (London Institute of Contemporary Christianity).
  • People honour and support all types of calling whether in the workplace, home, or church.
  1. Care and loving service in the wider community (3rd Mark of Mission). Signs of this might be:
  • Church members are active in community groups that are not church run seeking to meet needs. 
  • Church run groups are created to meet unmet needs. 
  • Things like a help service for the housebound, a foodbank, debt support service, neighbourhood watch, pastoral care and support, prison visiting, various forms of chaplaincy etc.
  • Active involvement in the local schools through initiatives such as Open the Book, Prayer Spaces in School, Pray for Schools etc. Also, through worship, supporting of RE/spirituality, governorship etc.
  1. Working for justice and peace (4th Mark of Mission). Signs of this might be:
  • Church and church members active in campaigns and activities that seek to change society to make it more just. 
  • Awareness of issues of injustice, prejudice, the causes of poverty and suffering and Christian responses to these.  Participation in groups that pursue such aims. 
  • Christian participation in politics
  1. Care for creation (5th Mark of Mission). Signs of this might be:
  • Participation in activities that encourage this as well as the way church members have this as a lifestyle priority.
  • Membership of ‘God’s Acre’ and green churchyard management.
  • Eco Church status.
  • Participation in Christian and non-Christian environmental groups.
  1. Encouraging specific vocations and ministries. Signs of this might be:
  • Information about different sorts of ministry made available.
  • Formal vocations as ministers, readers, Church Army evangelists, lay workers, youth workers, children’s and family workers encouraged and results in seeing such vocations.
  • Encouraging openings for services overseas and cross-cultural contexts for formation.

Evangelism (1st Mark of Mission) 

Communities proclaiming the Kingdom of God and making new disciples of Christ through:

  1. Understanding of God’s holistic mission. Signs of this might be:
  • Awareness of a holistic gospel that involves loving service, seeking justice and care for creation
  • Teaching, discussion and study of mission relating to things like the 5 marks of mission and the concept of God’s mission as primary. 
  • People able to talk about God’s vision for the world and expect to see God at work in people’s lives
  1. Developing approaches to evangelism that are sensitive to different traditions in the church and society. Signs of this might be:
  • Appreciation that there are different ways of doing evangelism and support for these
  • Awareness of issues in evangelistic ethics and the call to treat people as those God loves rather than those to be converted
  • Promoting ways of understanding different faiths and ways to have good interfaith relationships as an evangelistic community
  • Awareness of how the gospel needs to respond to context and culture
  1. A culture of invitation and relationship building with those on the fringes of church. Signs of this might be:
  • Having in place methods and structures to intentionally re-engage with new members such as baptism families, attendees to one off events etc. 
  • Has a culture of ‘Invitation’ - Intentionally inviting people, creation of come-back activities, encouraging others to invite.
  1. Building personal relationships in the wider community that can lead to faith. Signs of this might be:
  • Chaplaincy in schools, community venues, groups, local business and partnerships etc.
  • Facilitating spirituality and things like Open the Book in schools
  • A clear expression of God’s love for individuals and communities is evident 
  • Actively involved in local community events e.g. fairs, carnivals, fund raisers…
  • Being aware of local needs and helping (working in partnership) to address these needs e.g. foodbanks, community cupboards / wardrobes etc.
  • Being a voice within the community e.g. parish news / local politics
  • Community visiting
  • Groups within the community that have little or no Christian contact are identified and ways to enable relationships to be forged in these places are created and implemented. 
  • Extend invitation to those met through the church’s activities and groups to other activities and groups. 
  • Seek as much as possible to have non-Christians working with Christians in meeting community needs.
  • Evidence of proclamation of Good News of the Kingdom in communities, media, hospitals, prisons, schools, residential homes, local politics
  • Recognition of environment as critical context for faith decisions 
  1. Creating confidence in sharing personal faith. Signs of this might be:
  • Church congregations are encouraged and given confidence and opportunity to tell the Jesus story as they know it
  • Use of courses that help people do this like Talking Jesus and Faith Pictures etc
  1. Creating a missionary presence through digital media. Signs of this might be:
  • Well publicised regular online worship and spirituality events
  • Church and its activities accessible via good internet pages. 
  • People equipped to share faith on social media. 
  • Church has presence on social media
  1. Creating spaces to deepen relationships and explore questions of life and faith. Signs of this might be:
  • Open meals to which communities are invited as safe spaces to explore big questions
  • Discussions and events in community venues and pubs perhaps using resources like table talk or Jesus Deck
  • Halfway points created. these could be book clubs, communal sports sessions, film groups, parenting groups, meditation classes, self-help groups, dog walking groups or other walking groups, craft groups, mechanics sessions etc
  • Running courses such as Alpha which enable people to find Christian faith 
  1. Discovering and releasing those called to be evangelists. Signs of this might be:
  • People with gifts in sharing faith identified, given training as appropriate and given support for their vocation.
  • Creating opportunities to tell people directly about the Christian faith and are invited to make a response 
  1. Sharing good practice across the deanery. Signs of this might be:
  • Sharing things that work amongst churches
  • Making Deanery Synod a sharing ground for work and vision sowing good agendas locally and deanery wide. 
  • Good mission statistics!
  • At least one place in the deanery that is a beacon for evangelism, where people can see, explore, enjoy and share in the task of evangelism
  1. Planting fresh expressions of Church, Signs of this might be:  
  • Identifying communities were fresh expression are likely to be needed
  • Fresh expressions of church that know how they belong to the deanery and have appropriate involvement
  • The deanery understands why it’s missionally appropriate for them to be separate, but also why they are properly part of the deanery.
Page last updated: Tuesday 13th October 2020 11:18 AM
Powered by Church Edit