Paul Bradbury 
Following the success or our first InFormation day event last year we are busy organising for InFormation 19 coming up on Monday 10 June at Salisbury Arts Centre. InFormation is a regional day conference for pioneers in the south of England. The day is designed primarily to resource, inspire and refresh participants in their journey …
Read moreInFormation 19 – Day Conference for Pioneers in the South
At a recent gathering of pioneers we discussed the subject of sustainability. For a number there the very word ‘sustainability’ was problematic. Sustainability it was argued implies a formed, settled state, one that can be maintained, most probably for as long as one might be able to imagine. But in a world where change is …
Read moreWhat are we aiming for? Sustainability? Fruitfulness? Or Resilience?
The South Central Regional Training Partnership Pioneer Forum gathered pioneers and pioneer enablers from across the region to engage in a constructive conversation around pioneer ministry in new housing developments. The conversation was facilitated by Paul Bradbury (SCRTP Pioneer Hub Co-Ordinator) & Jon and Tammy Oliver, pioneer ministers from Southampton. We had three presentations to …
Read morePioneer Forum report – pioneering on new housing estates and how to be “snakey”!
The world is increasingly global. Yet increasingly local. Global markets and the internet rapidly delocalise so many aspects of everyday life, yet the question of place, rather than going away, seems to become more and more important. People now live somewhere and nowhere, creating fluid webs of relationships that relate to a wide variety of …
Local pioneer advocates are ‘key people for the future of the church’ [Dave Male]. This is a significant affirmation for those of us who labour within parochial settings. In undertaking the role of pioneer advocacy, parish priests have a huge part to play in shaping the future of Christian mission.
Rev Andy Mason is a pioneer minister currently based in Poole who worked until recently in Kingswood, Bristol. He is also currently doing an MA at CMS. Here Andy reflects on an issue facing many people ordained and invited (or required) to wear a clerical collar. In our post-Christian/post-Christendom/post-modern culture does the collar enable mission …
A few months ago we published the pioneer spectrum to try and help identify the kinds of pioneer vocations people are describing and expressing and relate these to mission and church planting. It seems to have proved really helpful for people; pioneers, vocations advisers and many others. Inevitably it also generated some debate in response. There …
As pioneer ministry continues to grow and develop as a movement in the secular west we are learning more and more about the sort of pioneer ministries that God is gifting and calling people to do. If we are shaped by a missio Dei approach to mission, whereby our missional imagination and action are primarily informed by …
In the desire for church renewal and a reversal of decline, much attention is being given to churches which are big. In the field of church planting there seems to be a disproportionate amount of interest and publicity given to those new churches which grow quickly to a significant size. The so-called ‘resource churches’ have …
Read moreSize matters – resource churches and pioneer ministry
A couple of weeks ago a number of pioneers, pioneer enablers, vocations advisers and training ministers gathered in Salisbury to have a conversation about ordained pioneer ministry. Since starting as CMS Pioneer Hub Coordinator I’ve picked up a number of issues that pioneers are coming up against, particularly as they seek to explore their calling …