23.11.2012
New Year Seminar on Church Planting to Take Place in Dublin
The Bishop of London’s advisor for Church Planting will be in Dublin in the New Year to conduct a seminar. This event will take place in Dublin City Centre on January 9 and is aimed at all church leaders and church planters It is hoped to facilitate people interested in building new communities of faith or starting something new in their own context. The seminar will start at 9.30 am and will run for about two hours in The Exchange on Gardiner Street. It will be free of charge.
Apart from advising the Bishop of London, Ric Thorpe is a Tutor in Church Planting at St. Mellitus College London. He also runs a Church plant in the East End of London, St Paul’s Shadwell. Among the topics he will cover during the seminar are:
How can we integrate well the new with the old?
How do we assess what might work in our area?
How do you go about starting something new?
How can we manage to make church planting lighter – not such a major under taking
How do we make the transition from plant to church and still keep the zeal and fire from the early days alive?
However this is far from an exhaustive list – and organisers aim to make the day as interactive and engaging as possible as it is clear that each individual approaches the topic with challenges and questions very specific to their own circumstances.
The visit is part of a growing link between Dublin & Glendalough and the Diocese of London. Archbishop Michael Jackson and a number of senior clergy met Ric Thorpe during a recent visit to London and it was felt that his experience would benefit anyone here who wished to explore the practical challenges and approaches of trying something new. January’s seminar will be a natural follow on from the Diocesan Growth Forum, from which feedback suggests there are many who want to take their ideas a step further.
The event will not be exclusively for members of the Church of Ireland and will be open to all denominations who wish to explore the possibilities open to them. Further details of the event can be found on the Diocesan Growth Forum website: www.growthforum.net. Those interested in attending please email amcneile@eircom.net in order to reserve a place and to ensure organisers can arrange a venue of suitable size.