jonnybaker

pioneer practice is now available!

i am so pleased to be able to tell you that pioneer practice is now available to buy here. it's taken a while to get the web site up and running but it is there now and looks great and hopefully is simple enough to use... and we can ship anywhere. it's only £13 for almost 200 pages full colour which we hope you'll agree is pretty good value. you have to pay via paypal at the oment though that will take cards - we are adding in another card payment option too.

the web site is home of a new partnership between myself, jon birch and joel baker - GETsidetracked. we've even applied for a registered trademark which i have never done before. i love how this came about as a result of running the webinar series on creativity earlier this year. pioneer practice is our first project. here's an image of the site - cool eh?!

sacred cows and sweet teeth - interview on v12 podcast

i was interviewed recently by david cotterill for the V12 podcast. it was good fun and the topic we were talking about was worship and the adventure of making that in creative ways that relate to the culture(s) of those outside of the church. you can find it on whatever your preferred podcast podcast app is - but here's a link on google or here's one on spotify

i got an email this week from someone asking me about how you navigate the liturgy and rubrics of your denomination or church in relation to pioneering with groups who won't relate easily to that - i sent a link to this interview as an answer. it made me realise that whilst some of us who were involved in alternative worship back in the day - navigating the contours of faith in the postmodern turn, these questions are still very pertinent and new to others. in some ways worship has been backgrounded or at least put layter in the mission process but it is still an essential component to explore. hope this helps if that is your question.

book launch of pioneer practice on june 10

we are celebrating the launch of pioneer practice with a book launch online on thursday june 10. it will be about an hour. jon and i will be there of course talking about the book with some guests who have contributed. we'd love to have a crowd to celebrate with - the book has been a lockdown journey for me at least chipping away week by week. so it has been wonderful to see it come to fruition. register here and then you'll get sent the link - it's free of course and you have to provide your own drink to raise a glass at home!

pioneer practice is printed

it was very exciting on friday to take delivery of pioneer practice - 89 boxes filled the lounge!! i have spent the weekend packing books into boxes to fulfil all the kickstarter orders. thank you everyone who has supported this project - your books will be on their way this week. it's printed beautifully - we worked with park communications who were great. 

today i am heading down to bath to celebrate with jon birch who did the design - we'll be having a socially distanced catch up in the garden with jen and clare...

several people are asking where you can get it - the short answer is my lounge :) but seriously it will be available through getsidetracked.co with a week or so. watch this space - i will let you know when that goes live. we're getting the kickstarter ordders done and then will be landing that, lining up a book launch and a webinar series. if you can't wait contact me via email or a comment.

i was very moved when this landed - partly relief that it printed so well, but really i feel this book brings together so much of what i have worked on and reflected on together with the rest of the team i work with and with many others. this is what i am passionate about. so yes a tear did come to the eye... but a joyful satisfied tear. it's been a lockdown project chipping away over the last year in my non work days. it's now that weird moment where you want to know what people think but it's time to wait...

that time of year - sign up for pioneer training - and a few new things to tell you about

there is an open day on zoom on may 10 - it's not really a day - an hour and a half! come and find out about cms pioneer training that is accredited through durham university common awards. if you are a pioneer or into mission, honestly you'll love it. have a look at this page of video snippets to get a feel for what students say. now is the time to sign up if you'd like to train with us from sept 2021.

you can do modules, certificate, diploma, degree, ma, and even a dth now. the model is that you are somewhere involved in practice and the training helps you reflect on that. as well as the pioneer lens through everything, there is a route at undergraduate level that is focused on youth, children and family ministry too. you can train with us for ordination or for licensed lay ministry in the church of england or we have a route for baptist ministers too. do have a browse round the web site or give me a shout if you like.

there are a few new things to tell you about:

first up we have a new route through the ma - this is pretty exciting. see the ma page here. we have done things together with missio africanus over the years and been big fans of what they are about. through that friendship an idea has grown of a route through the ma that is focused on students in the african diaspora. it will do three modules we already have along with three new ones. you can do that ma from anywhere in the world as it will be an online pathway! yes you read that right...

the regular ma is also now being offered face to face and online. so it's suddenly a lot more accessible.

i should add that students on the different routes will interact as modules overlap etc so there will be one diverse student body. we hope to add in other diaspora focus over time too by the way. 

then at undergraduate level we are running a more blended model - this means you reap the benefit of face to face which we are all missing right now but just under half the modules will be online. this also means more accessibility and less travel overall but you also can meet people in the same room (remember that?!)