Creative thinkers in business and mission put their heads together recently on a five day residential hosted by the Church Mission Society.
Under the banner of "Missional Entrepreneurship" the event brought together some of the brightest leaders in social enterprise with practitioners developing new methods of outreach and fresh expressions of church.
The week-long conversation was held from 7 to 11 November at Pickwell Manor in Devon as a module on CMS’s new Pioneer Mission Leadership Training course.
Course leader, Jonny Baker, said, “In order for pioneering to be sustainable, we must learn the lessons of social enterprise. Creative means of sharing the gospel need to be self supporting as well as transformative.
"For too long business principles have been seen as incompatible with missional activity. That is why we have created this learning opportunity and are encouraging students to be thinking and actively pursuing activities that extend the Kingdom of God and are not wholly dependent on charitable sources of funding.”
Guest tutors for the week included Shannon Hopkins, founder of Sweet Notions (
www.sweetnotions.org), the company that 'up-cycles' fashion accesories to create social change, and Steve Baker, an entrepreneur who models enterprise as mission at Pickwell Manor (
www.pickwellmanor.co.uk).
Owned by two Christian families, the business is working to become self sustaining while encouraging change in individual lives and transformation of the local community. It does this by offering comfortable and affordable hospitality to wedding parties and families on vacation as well as hosting community events and providing conference facilities to not for profit organisations.
For further information, visit the website pioneer.cms-uk.org. If you would like to support those who are redefining what it means to share the gospel and plant churches in new contexts, find out about becoming a Friend to the Pioneer course.
ENDS
For further information contact
Jonny Baker, course director
07957 63939
jonnybaker@btopenworld.com
Jeremy Woodham, CMS communications
01865 787451
07941 622776
jeremy.woodham@cms-uk.org
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. The Pioneer Mission Leadership Training course run by CMS has been developed in response to the 2004 Church of England’s Mission Shaped Church report that called for the "lens of cross-cultural mission to shape training in pioneering ministry in the UK". Now in its second year, there are currently 27 students engaged in learning on the course. It uses a Foundation Degree in Ministry accredited by Oxford Brookes University and is practically-based, infinitely flexible and works 'on the job'. CMS brings more than 200 years of experience of presenting the gospel in diverse cultural contexts to its training and resourcing of those doing mission innovatively.
2. CMS is a community of over 2,500 members committed to evangelistic mission, working to see our world transformed by the love of Jesus. Members commit to seven promises as they aspire to a whole lifestyle shaped by God’s mission. CMS supports people in mission making disciples, resourcing leaders and transforming communities in over 35 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Latin America. It was founded in 1799.