EPIC – Anglican Diocese of Melbourne

Tim and I were with the EPIC (Equipping Priests in Charge) training program for the Diocese of Melbourne at St. Hillary’s Kew on Tuesday.

This was a day focused on Healthy Ministry.  We explored the unique dynamics of Christian ministry and its occupational hazards and then spent time reflecting on areas of vulnerability and their implications for self-care.

The brainstorms we conducted today and the presentations we worked through are all listed below.

The files themselves are available to participants through the EPIC program Dropbox. 

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Ministry Renewal Retreats Victoria – Facilitators Training

Back to St James Old Cathedral in West Melbourne. This time with the facilitators of Ministry Renewal Retreats Victoria. 

We began the day with a reflection on the Road to Emmaus led by one of the participants. A main session for the morning considered spiritual formation practices for pastors and leaders. We then explored the echoes of spiritual direction, mentoring, coaching, counselling / therapy, and supervision in retreat processes. We assessed ourselves against the Renewal Retreat Facilitation Competencies and reflected on co-facilitation as we concluded the day.

The new resources have been uploaded to our shared Dropbox.

Anglican Diocese of Sydney – Parish Recovery Teams Training

Today Tim and I were back in Sydney for a training day with the Diocesan Parish Recovery Teams.

We reflected on Jesus’ encounter with the temple system in Mark 12 to anchor the day. First up we considered key strategies and resources to support parishes navigating recovery. We included practical skilling around facilitating listening groups for churches in times of conflict and concluded with a presentation on aspects of Safe Ministry.

Notes and resources are in the team Dropbox.

Presbyterian Church of Queensland – Church Health Facilitation Team Training

Tim and I were pleased to connect with the Church Health Facilitation Team via Zoom from Melbourne this morning. We returned to the standard facilitation process before reflecting on different types of consultancies (problem solving, re-visioning, and redevelopment) and their respective dynamics. We also covered a range of diagnostic tools including comment groups, street retreats and church timelines.

The notes and resources can be found in the SharePoint folder.

Baptist Churches of NSW and ACT – Church Consultancy Training

Tim and I were privileged to spend time with the Specialised Consultancy Team and Regional Ministers at the Ministry and Learning Centre in Macquarie Park. We spent time reflecting on Acts 15 before working through a range of resources to assist churches who are navigating conflict. We outlined Christopher Moore’s 5 causal elements of conflict before revisiting the 5 categories of conflict. We included practical skilling around facilitating listening groups and the Samoan circle. We shared updated versions of resources. Alan Kelshaw, one of the highly experienced former members of the team has recently published on navigating conflict and gave us permission to use his helm model. See Navigating Community Conflict for more on the HELM model.

The notes and resources can be found in SharePoint.

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