One of the priorities for Barnabas: Encouraging Confidence is supporting churches to identify their next steps in mission, and giving them the confidence to take them.
Personal Growth and Leadership is a key part of how we will do just that.
Personal Growth and Leadership is a non-academic course that gives people the skills and confidence to take on responsibility, bringing clergy and lay people together to encourage and support one another.
The course has already been bearing fruit, running successfully for four years in the Bradford episcopal area.
Steph, a participant on the most recent course, said: “Thinking about how I am valued and loved by God, and really getting a deeper understanding of that, has really built up my confidence.
“It has given me the confidence to suggest things in church, and to start a prayer triplet, which is something I wouldn’t have dreamt of doing.
“It’s really given me confidence to feel that I have a role and something to offer.”
The Personal Growth and Leadership course is built around six three-hour sessions.
The sessions involve discussions and group work while looking at the Bible, rooting ideas of personal growth and church development in scripture.
Laxmi, another recent course participant, said: “The one principal which has impacted me most is the principal of the mirror.
“It is a concept of ‘you must see value in yourself to add value to yourself’.
“I am a person who tries to see good in other people, no matter who they are, but I am very bad at seeing good stuff in myself.
“After this, it really impacted me, that in order to see the good in someone else, first of all I must add value to myself.”
The course is more than just the sessions, as groups that take part are encouraged to keep meeting to continue sharing and developing further.
A video of people sharing how they have found the course can be found here.
A Personal Growth and Leadership course is being run this autumn, starting in September.
Churches are encouraged to sign up to send a group of people, with the course taking place in a hub in their area.
Email barnabas@leeds.anglican.org to find out more.
More, including how you can explore taking part in the course, can be found on our website here.
Personal Growth and Leadership is part of our Barnabas: Encouraging Confidence programme, which is how we are working together to create confident Christians, build growing churches and be part of transforming communities.
More on Barnabas can be found here.