West Derby Deanery votes to be in our first cohorts on the Fit for Mission journey
After 2 years of prayerful planning our vision to continue the long obedience with God and come together to get Fit for Mission, our diocese has received significant support from the national church’s Strategic Transformation Fund.
The news comes as West Derby Deanery voted to be in the first cohort of Fit for Mission. Parishes across St Helens Deanery are discerning whether they want to be involved with a vote due in April.
Fit for Mission is a creative, locally-owned process that gives support and capacity to local leaders to make the right decisions for their area. Through it we seek to release all God’s people into their God-given vocation and call. In that way, it gives substance to our diocesan vision of asking God for a bigger church to make a bigger difference with more people knowing Jesus and more justice in the world. It continues our long obedience to God’s call to mission.
The plans for Fit for Mission have been deliberated across our diocese with strong support from Bishop’s Council, the Board of Finance and leadership of our diocese. Diocesan Synod has been involved along the way and will discuss it further at its meeting in May Fit for Mission also features in the Statement of Need for our next bishop.
The announcement of the Strategic Transformation Fund grant by the Strategic Investment Board of Archbishop’s Council brings a welcome boost to our capacity to do what is needed. It recognises how Fit for Mission is so closely aligned to the national church vision and strategy. The £7.5m is also a real vote of confidence in our approach being the largest STF grant awarded and significantly higher than originally anticipated The award gives a great deal of confidence that over the next six years we can turn our church from long-term decline into growth and health.
Fit for Mission continues and refreshes what we are about. It sits in the centuries-old tradition of Christians following Jesus’ call to make disciples of all. It reinterprets that call afresh for the generation and world we find ourselves in. And it rests on four basic principles:
- Introducing people to Jesus
- Deepening Discipleship
- Developing Christian leaders
- Working for justice
These principles will help local leaders discern what to support, aiming to place our energy and resources behind activities that fit around these principles.
And by working in teams that cover bigger areas we will make the best of all our gifts – complementing each other’s talents. In this way we focus on mission and growth, on planting new congregations and justice initiatives.
Fit for Mission is a change in the way we seek to we work together in the mission of God. It puts local people at the forefront of decision-making - from the decision to join Fit for Mission, to how every decision is made by local teams.
It is a change in our culture to invest significantly in developing and supporting lay leaders through our recognised Cultivate programme. It is a change in culture that will see us planting more small lay led worshipping communities and justice initiatives focussing on creating a younger more diverse church. It is a change in culture of working together that will see us change structures to have just one or two larger parishes in a deanery. This will help us work better in teams but also make good decisions about how we use our finances, our buildings and our people. The two, three vital resources will help for mission and growth.
At the moment it is only West Derby and St Helens deaneries involved in cohort one but we are starting to have conversations in other places as we continue to work together to be Fit for Mission
Fit for Mission has progressed a great deal over the last 2 years through the input of so many people across the diocese. We stand at the start of a new phase of our work as together we look to build a church for future generations with more people knowing Jesus and more justice in the world.
Together we can be Fit for Mission
Fit for Mission is about courageously addressing the issues that prevent us in mission, and truly releasing people to their God given calling for the sake of the gospel and of Christ’s Church. Bishop Bev Mason, The Bishop of Warrington.
Find out more
Go to www.liverpool.anglican.org/fitformission for more details
Contact fitformission@liverpool.anglican.org with any questions.