On the Way is a process of listening, praying, dreaming and planning for every deanery in the Diocese of Truro. Over a period of between six to nine months, On the Way helps deaneries work towards a plan for fruitfulness and sustainability in a rapidly changing world.
On the Way encourages and supports local churches, working together in their deaneries, to face the reality of the challenges in front of us, which include smaller congregations, a loss of contact with children and young people, leaders facing overly demanding workloads and difficult church finances. It does so confident that everything we need is available in the Lord and that the future is not a problem to be solved, but a gift to be discovered.
How does it work?
Local churches know their communities and their contexts well, and plans for the future of mission and ministry should reflect these local situations. Deanery plans, therefore, will not be imposed from above, nor do we expect them to fit into a standard model. There is no such thing as “One size fits all” and instead the priorities, vision, models of church and distribution of ministry should be decided upon locally.
Led by the Rural Dean, an On the Way team is set up in each deanery. Made up of people from the local churches and supported by two advisors from outside the deanery, this team spend time listening carefully to each parish and benefice, to the wider community and to the Holy Spirit. Together they ask questions about what God is asking the church to be and to do, develop vision for the deanery, from which a clear plan is prepared. Through all their work they give time to prayer and to exploring Scripture together. They listen carefully to the existing church communities, as well as to those that the church is often less well connected with – young people, poorer communities, those who have given up on church or who find it irrelevant to their lives.
Fruitfulness and sustainability
While every plan will be locally discerned and will be distinct and different, the Bishops have given two words that provide us all with a vision of the future we are seeking; fruitful and sustainable. For each element, there are six themes that deaneries are asked to think about, and the final plan needs to reflect engagement with each of them.
Fruitful means that churches need to pay attention to their mission to poorer communities; to children, young people and schools; to creation care; to the global church; to deepening discipleship; and to the quality of community life within each church.
Sustainable means that churches need to have plans in place for bringing people to a new faith; to growing the faith of those who are already Christians; to patterns of leadership that are life-giving rather than exhausting; to enabling a wide variety of callings, both within and beyond the church; to paying their way financially; and to their church buildings.
Further details can be found in the Deanery plan.
The Deanery Plan
To follow:
- The Penryn Benefice Profile and Statement of Needs
- The Advertisement for the Rector of Penryn
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