The Diocese of Leeds is pleased to be launching Compass, our tool for helping parishes talk about their next steps in mission.
Compass is a process that churches can do over a few hours to come up with a simple plan to do something different or new.
Compass doesn’t just adopt a one size fits all approach, but builds on the strengths, weaknesses and unique challenges a church might face to help them make a plan that is possible.
It also connects those plans and ideas up with support that the diocese and our partners elsewhere can offer.
The Revd Canon Jude Smith, Director of Mission and Revitalisation, said: “We have been working on Compass over the last few months, and I am pleased that we can now offer it widely in the diocese.
“Compass is a tool that can help churches identify their strengths and their challenges, and how they might move forward in mission.
“It is based around what we can do, rather than what we can’t - it focuses on finding one or two next steps.”
Compass is designed to be done by groups of four or more people who know what goes on in the life of their church, with one person facilitating the work.
It can be run to look at what goes on across the whole church, or to focus on specific areas of ministry in larger churches, which could be brought together into a Mission Action Plan.
Compass can be run at any time, and the process can be a good opportunity for churches in vacancy to think through what they are already doing, if there is anything that should stop or what they may want to do in preparation for a new priest.
To find out more about Compass, what is needed to run the process and what support we can offer to help make it happen, please click here.