The Mission and Community Engagement Department offers a variety of training courses to assist parishes and individuals in church growth, mission and outreach.

Leading Your Church into Growth
In the Diocese of Rochester we run this residential course each year in the spring for lay and ordained church leaders. The content of the course is largely the same as the national course. In addition parishes that participate receive further support and training, with visits by a team member who can present some of the concepts to the PCC and other interested parishioners. Please click here for dates and a booking form. You can book this course my clicking here.

mission shaped ministry (Further info: download document here)

The mission shaped ministry training course is a one-year learning journey in a supportive community to help participants understand what is involved in growing and leading a new church. It starts in September each year with a Saturday when we cover 3 modules. It carries on with one evening a month from October to March. There is a weekend away in April when we cover 6 modules, another Saturday in May and one evening meeting in each of June and July. The cost is £250 per person, which covers all materials, refreshments and the weekend away in April. You can book this course by clicking here.

mission shaped intro

A short course over five or six evenings to give participants a flavour of Fresh Expressions and to become familiar with the content of the mission shaped church report. For further details please contact the Rev Canon Jean Kerr, Bishop’s Officer for Mission and Unity, by phone 01634 844508 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Everybody Welcome
This is a DVD based course for parishes that would like to improve their welcome. In particular it looks at the importance of helping people to integrate into church membership and how this can be encouraged. It was written by the Ven Bob Jackson, former Archdeacon of Walsall, and the Rev George Fisher, Director of Mission in the Lichfield Diocese. For further details please contact the Rev Canon Jean Kerr, Bishop’s Officer for Mission and Unity, by phone 01634 844508 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Gossip the Good News
Five evenings exploring how to communicate the good news of Jesus in contemporary language to the people we meet through our church activities and everyday contacts. For a leaflet on the course click here or for a synopsis please click here. For further details please contact the Rev Canon Jean Kerr, Bishop’s Officer for Mission and Unity, by phone 01634 844508 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Parish Weekends
We are able to support churches by leading a parish weekend. For further details please contact the Rev Canon Jean Kerr, Bishop’s Officer for Mission and Unity, by phone 01634 844508 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it