jonnybaker

sacred bean eucharist and other follow up from prospect farm

thanks to anyone who came to the session in the long barn at greenbelt's prospect farm. here's some follow up info.

imagining mission with john taylor is here - i loved working on it. john taylor really sparked my imagination and we have tried to write in the same creative vein and i hope it will spark your imagination if you dive into it. each chapter ends with exercises on creativity you can try out.

pioneer practice is here - this is a mix of stories and very short practical articles - ideal if you have an idea to work on, and ideal for a group to use together to dream up something. it's full colour - there are sample pages on the web site. the discount code i gave out will work until friday. if you have forgotten or weren't there and want to know get in touch.

thanks to jo howie for taking part in the session and telling the story of sacred bean. go look at their web site and order some coffee! and as i said in the session we have added the wonderful sacred bean eucharist to getsidetracked - simply click on the page spread that says sacred bean eucharist which is in pioneer practice. i am sure jo would love to hear how you get on with that so do message me or her about it. i am making that a worship trick - remember those? it would be about 86 in series 4....

jo wrote that liturgy as part of a worship module at cms on the pioneer training essentially thinking how you might create a ritual/liturgy that reflected the culture of the community gathered around sacred bean. the training is wonderful - do have a look at the pioneer mission leadership training web site here. it's quite late for this year! but we have certificate, diploma, BA, MA, DTh options as well as simply picking modules to do. there are now quite a few options online as well. if you are interested for this year get in touch immediately! we also have hubs round the country offering training which is not accredited - again see the web site for those.

and thanks to ali for coming and sharing about the social supermarket and other adventures getting going in rotherham.

above all i hope it sparked your imagination around what you might be able to participate in or catalyse.

church for people who want to punch stuff + first review

it was great to read a first review of pioneer practice from russ bravo at inspire. he says 

Pioneer Practice manages to both provide inspiration and motivation for the pioneer, while being hugely pragmatic and realistic about the cost, the struggle and the challenge of doing things differently. Full of wisdom, deep questions and electrifying examples of what God can do when people who don’t fit the established order get stuck into changing things.

you can read the full review here. 

i also wrote up one of the 'electrifying examples' from the book for an article for inspire too - church for people who want to punch stuff 

latest edition of anvil - mission and shame

the latest issue of anvil journal is up on mission and shame. it is edited by andrea campanale who has explored and researched shame herself in relation to faith (and life) out of her pioneering. it's a really terrific issue with strong articles from people who have researched and written on shame digging deep alongside reflecting on practice. you can read online or download a pdf,

church of england online worship today

together with cathy ross i planned and helped lead today's church of england online worship service. you can watch here and download the order of service here

it was good fun to do and was amazing that the reading for the day is a passage about going to the other side of the lake which has been one i have thought about for a couple of years in relation to pioneering mission. thank you to all the people who contributed - photography, videos, poetry, music, prayers. it was a combined effort from lots of pioneers.

pioneering in a rural parish - and the impact of training

quite often pioneering gets set up as an out there practice beyond the current ways of doing things (and sometimes it is). however in the church, research shows that most new things that are started have a relationship with and most likely come out of an existing parish church. i really loved reading the case study of janice hamilton's pioneering in a rural parish. she began with a process of praying and listening and out of that noticed somewhere she felt stirred to connect with but that the church did not engage with. then through that seeing she has built a community hub in partnership with others taking an asset based approach and she started a new community of disciples in that space. it's quite something what she has done but equally it is simply an ordinary rural parish so any church could do the same - pray, notice, experiment, build partnerships with the local community and make something happen. 

janice trained with us at cms pioneer mission leadership training in oxford - it is a particular joy when you see how a former student is flourishing but it's also lovely to see them put into practice what we have talked about! it's a great example of pioneer practice - though not one i included in the book. and of course i then learn from the practice they develop. 

it's the time of year to sign up for training that starts in september. janice is an ordained pioneer who trained with us. if you are selected for ordination why not come and train with us at cms! the majority of our students are independent and not getting ordained so we cater for both. the main thing is that if if you are interested in mission and pioneering why not do some training? you can see from janice's story the benefit that gives alongside practice. we offer training at all levels which are in common awards through durham university - certificate, diploma, degree, masters, and dth (through roehampton) and you can of course simply audit modules which means to attend without being registered with durham university.

we have an open day on monday - there are two zooms - one in the morning and one in the evening. we had hoped to be on site in the day but have rearranged given the govt guidelines change this week. do sign upo. if that doesn't work get in touch if you want to talk about training. i can honestly say i have seen how encouraging and transforming training has been for people like janice. she has completed her part now in that role and heads to start a new cycle of practice in cheltenham. go well!

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.

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?!)

 

online conversation about pioneer practice with fresh expressions next week

next wednesday 1pm i am hosting a conversation about pioneer practice with some wonderful pioneers - see below for info

Join us next Wednesday 1-2 pm UK LIVE* right here on our fresh expressionms Facebook Page and YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR_uSFxBT4XjGeyUZggcZSA for a conversation with:

Jonny Baker founder of Church Mission Society (CMS) pioneer training where he is director of mission education and loves all things creative. His latest venture is GETsidetracked the first project of which is the full colour book Pioneer Practice which is out this month. 

Anna Hembury - an experienced pioneer practitioner who's been based in Hull for 20 years

David Harrigan - a pioneer who started a Fresh Expression through boxing

Sue Steer - a new housing pioneer

And Ann Marie Wilson - a pioneer campaigning to end FGM in 28 countries in Africa

 

Practice is about how pioneering actually happens on the ground. Jonny will present practical wisdom gleaned over the last decade and collated over the last year of lockdown on themes such as soulwork, money and dealing with the powers that be. Expect a mix of findings from some new research, stories and reflections discussed with 4 guests who are are involved in a range of pioneer practice.

Join us live next week and bring your questions, stories and reflections from your context

*if you can't join the conversation live then you can watch later on as the broadcast will be saved to our Facebook Page and YouTube Channel

gather was a blast

gather went really well. it was inevitably chaotic at first with it being new to so many people and navigating the technology and so on. but people seemed to love it and it had a real buzz to it. the site was amazing - james fox robinson had gone the extra mile with the design and effort he put in to create something really special. there's a lovely write up on it by jeremy woodham on the pioneer blog here - 

positive vibes for virtual pioneer festival

thanks everyone who came and who contributed!

preview of gather programme

gather is next week and there is now a full programme available to see here. ticket sales end monday night. it looks incredible and it's been put together by volunteers co-ordinating various venues and spaces. hope to see you there - i am so looking forward to it. it's not very often you get involved in planning something that is so new that you can't quite visualise what it is going to be like!

fire in the bones

the publisher scm gave cms permission to publish the foreword i wrote to the go between god by john taylor - fire in the bones

sneak preview - nearly there

last update on the kickstarter - we have reached our stretch target - so grateful to everyone. the design is now finished bar a view tweaks. you can get a sneak preview on the latest update from jon here. the kickstarter finishes on sunday - do pre-order if you haven't and the offers inspire a friend and network catalyst are better than you'll get after the kickstarter!

gather festival - what to expect

i blogged about gather, a virtual festival-in-a-day celebrating and exploring pioneering mission practice. it can be hard to imagine what exactly that looks like. so if you are wondering here is an update which has been added to the booking page but it should help you imagine what to expect. we are really looking forward to it. the image above is one of the venue entrances.

Spaces and Venues

• Goodmakers - a venue hosted by Cathers from Goodmakers Society exploring all things pioneering related to making good in the world. If you have an idea and want to know how to work with it to make it real, this is the venue for you.
• Toolshed - hosted by Richard Passmore and Gavin Mart this workshop space will showcase and explore tools that help with pioneer practice on the ground. A tool helps you do something better, more easily or quickly than you could without it.
• Story - hosted by Sarah Clarke and Luke Larner. A storytelling tent to hear and share stories of pioneer practice.
• Starfish networking space - hosted by Andrea Campanale with the starfish team. Meet others that share your passion for pioneering around a related theme. Just drop in.
• Panels - hosted by Jonny Baker, Shannon Hopkins and Harvey Kwiyani. Four panels creating lively conversation on themes related to pioneer practice.
• Mind The Gap - hosted by Tina Hodgett and Paul Bradbury. A venue for reimagining church and missional community.
• Breathe Prayer Space - a space to get away and slow down and pray. It includes the wonderful St Paul’s millennium labyrinth respun by Grace for gather.town. Close by will be some one to one spiritual direction sessions.
• Wild Wood - hosted by Johnny Sertin, Rachel Summers and Gillian Traverse. There is an outdoor woodland ‘The Glade’ and the funky ‘Treehouse’ where you can dive into pioneer practice, biospirituality and the outdoors. Rewild your soul!
• Research lounge - hosted by Cathy Ross and James Butler. Grab a sofa and hear from students and researchers exploring the contours of pioneer practice.
• The Oratory - a programme of talks and presentations to inspire and reflect on pioneer practice.

As if that wasn’t enough there are some social spaces to explore. As well as the main site which is a greenspace, there is a beach, a garden, and the moon where you can go and hang out.

Programme

We are organising the programme by inviting hosts to create programmes in the ten spaces above. There will be slots running for about 45 minutes at 11, 12, 2, and 3.

Worship

At the start and end of the day there will be a choice of 4 worship slots ranging from maranatha yoga to creative liturgy.

Evening entertainment

After a break where you get away from screen or hang out with friends in gather.town there is an evening programme as follows:

• Quiz designed and led by Harry Baker.
• Performance cafe - a mix of music, spoken word and artistry compered and curated by Katy Partridge and Tim Watson.
• Cocktail lounge with tunes from DJ Steve Leach.
• Campfire in the Wild Wood to hang out and share songs and stories.

We will add details of the programme ahead of time and send to everyone who has booked so you can plan ahead.

book tickets here

what a week!

one week in and the pioneer practice kickstarter is nearly there. it's going to happen! thank you to everyone who has backed it, pre-ordered, and cheered us on. watching the kickstarter total ticking over turns out to be a new kind of addiction.

it's also been a really fun week for us as jon has got cracking with the design. every day he has done several spreads and sent them over to me to look through and edit and send back and day by day it's coming to life. we are loving it so far! to give you a flavour of what to expect here's a few spreads

the rewards of inspire a friend and network catalyst have proved popular and rightly so because they are a good deal that won't be available after the kickstarter. if you are one of the no doubt hundreds who thought to themselves 'o yes i like the sound of that must back it' but hasn't yet then go for it - now is the time. 

kickstarter launched today - pioneer practice

i have been working on pioneer practice for a year and am self publishing it. i have set up a kickstarter which runs until easter to raise the money through pre-sales and other rewards for the cost of printing and design. please have a look and i'd love you to back it. it's a full colour book meets magazine - one of those chunky coffee table ones. and i am working with friend jon birch who is doing the design. thank you in advance!

gather - a festival in gathertown exploring pioneer practice

we are hosting an online festival for pioneers in gather.town. it's on april 21 and tickets are £9 for students or £19 

gather.town is an online environment in which you have an avatar and can wander round and go into venues and chat with people in close proximity. it’s like zoom meets minecraft or something! it’s fun and dynamic. we have designed a whole festival site which includes a beach, treehouse, wild wood, even the moon and around a dozen venues in which a varied programme of story telling, talks, conversations, workshops and panels will take place. there are loads of spaces you can hang out and chat with people - that’s often one of the best things at gatherings like this. in the evening there will be a range of entertainment - quiz, spoken word, performance and so on.

the overarching theme is pioneer practice - and we are designing the programme so that there will be things suitable if you are interested in particular kinds of pioneer practice, tools to help you, and things if you are just starting out or if you have loads of experience. there will plenty of sharing stories and conversation.

we hope it will be a huge celebration of pioneering, an inspiring and encouraging gathering and a brilliant day.

we’d love you to come if you can. we’ve kept the price as low as possible. do spread the word. because it is online, as long as you can make the timezone work you can come from anywhere in the world. We are not recording the content so you have to come to experience it.

the time sounds long but there are loads of gaps and you can turn your camera and sound off and come and go as you please. so don’t for a moment imagine being online attending things for 12 hours solid! see the booking page for more detail on the timings.

we have also been working on a book called pioneer practice which you will hear about in early march as we are running a kickstarter for that. that is a full colour practice focused book. the first 25 people to buy a full price ticket will get a free copy of the book when it is published in april. this year at cms we are celebrating 10 years of pioneer training - we haven’t been able to meet in person for a party but this event is one of our ways of celebrating. the book and theme have been picked and written to share practical wisdom that has been gleaned over that decade.

i really hope you can make the day.

download a flyer

BOOK TICKETS HERE

proost still going strong - free downloads

proost is still going strong i am pleased to say hosted as it is now by space to breathe. there are two recent books that are available as free downloads or you can buy as printed books

the first is a collection of liturgies collated by heather cracknell for fresh expression called opening the doors. mark berry, ruth wells, tim watson and dorothy woods are the contributors so i am sure it is good. i gave printed copies to a couple of people at christmas.

the second is the long promised return? by tim watson, a set of poems and prayers written in the latest lockdown. i have just downloaded it. 

i also noticed future present is currently in the free downloads section so if you have never got yourself a copy of that it's definitely worth getting hold of.

an adventure of the (digital) imagination

i got a copy in the post of missio dei in a digital age edited by jonas kurlberg and peter phillips. i attended a conference back in april 2019 on the theme and presented a paper there which i called mission: an adventure of the (digital) imagination. all those have been worked up into this volume. at the time no one knew that reflecting on mission in relation to digital communication and connection and community would be such a big thing come 2020.

in my chapter i explore how the currency of mission is imagination in relation to culture. the wisdom gleaned from intercultural work is a great resource to reflect on in relation to digital spaces. in a section called imagination, seeing and inventiveness i look at examples from winson green and nomad podcast. my chapter is also a dialogue or riff on pete ward's liquid ecclesiology. love to know what you think if you read it!

it's the kind of book you can dive in where you like and where your interests lie - i found it a really interesting read and think my takeaway was katherine schmidt's down to earth suggestion that "most Christians should be in digital spaces as themselves witnessing to God's mercy through relationships".

that's me done for a while on books i have contributed to (apart from the one i am working on right now of course!)

liturgies from below

this book is simply brilliant. you have to get it! one of our students put me on to it last week and i ordered it straight away and it does not disappoint. if you want to get a feel for it and indeed access lots of the liturgies for free head to reimagingworship.com . these are liturgies in the context of empire written from its margins in places of oppression, poverty, injustice. it's a project of the council of world mission.

i write and curate liturgies and love that in grace the community i am part of that is part of what we do rather than just take worship off some centralised shelf. as i have reflected on why that is impotant i have come over the years to think of liturgy as world making. we live in a world and indeed church that is run on particular logics and imaginaries. where do we find spaces where the world gets unmade and remade? where dominant narratives get subverted and resisted? one place is the arts. but another should be the church. this collection is most definitely world making. as sudipta singh says in the preface

the book is an invitation to resist the temptation to be co-opted by the empire and to find the nerve to come out of the empire creating counter imperial alternatives

honestly this book is so refreshing. so much worship and liturgy can frankly be vacuous. this is anything but. 

i submitted my communion prayer on jesus and the powers and it has been accepted on the web site which i am pretty chuffed about too. it feels an honour to contribute to such a project.

one thing that is intriguing is that there are two covers and subtitles - one is praying with people at the ends of the world and the other is prayers in defiance of empire. i love both but the one that arrived for me has the former - does that mean that the uk and usa can't cope with the second title? i have no idea...

thank you to claudio carvalhaes who is the artful curator of this collection and project.