James Henley, Team Leader at The Lab in Newport, has become the first person in Wales to be selected as a pioneer ordinand.

He will complete his training with the CMS Pioneer Mission Leadership Course, on a new MA pathway that is being added from September 2012.

Henley has a degree in ministry with the Centre for Youth Ministry. He is the first selected for ordination since the Bench of Bishops in Wales approved pioneers to train outside Wales. The course he will undertake has been designed exclusively for pioneer leaders by CMS, one of the country's leading mission agencies, in partnership with the Oxford Ministry Course at Ripon College Cuddesdon. The new Master's degree is being supervised by Dr Cathy Ross, a world-renowned missiologist.

The Lab is a project initiated by the Bishop of Monmouth to develop a church community of students and young adults in Newport who would not otherwise have contact with a traditional parish church. The project began in 2006 and is a registered Fresh Expression, supported by the Church in Wales and the Methodist Church.

In September 2008, The Lab began work on the Alway estate on the edge of Newport, forming a residential community of young adults to invest time into the neighbourhood and build relationships with local young people. A new project is to be launched in another area of Newport in September 2012.

It is hoped that a growing group of young adults will explore their sense of calling to ordained pioneer ministry in Wales, training with CMS.

Course director, Jonny Baker, said of this development, “We are very excited that from September we will be training ordinands with the calibre and experience of pioneers like James. We are adding in the MA to ensure we continue to fit the learning around the unique ministry, gifts and educational requirements of each of our students. CMS is committed to resourcing, encouraging and equipping all those creatively reimagining mission and fresh expressions of church so that they might make an even greater contribution to the health and growth of the Body of Christ in the UK, as well as overseas.”

If you would like to find out more, please visit the website pioneer.cms-uk.org 

Published: 14:13 17 July 2012  |  1136 views
Last updated: 09 August 2012
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