National Training Consultation - "Connecting the Grid"
A Consultation was held at on 4th October 2011 at Canley Community Church, Coventry with a mixture of church leaders and organisations from churches historically linked to the Open Brethren movement. Under the theme of "Connecting the Grid" the purposes were to:
There was a warm spirit of cooperation throughout the day which helped progress the good working relationships that exist between our various ministries. Full details of the reports and discussions are available upon request, but in summary the outcome of the day was an agreement to progress the following:
- Celebrate: Recognise the value of what each of us are doing in providing training at local church level and in various regional areas and in differing avenues of service.
- Connect: Share information which can facilitate fellowship, networking and mutual encouragement between leaders of local churches and service groups.
- Explore the gaps: Identify more precisely the educational and training needs, understand how the existing "systems" are seeking to meet some of these needs, and consider areas that need to be filled.
- Prepare to grow: Develop an action plan that will enable a more linked-up co-operative set of trainings that can be made available to all local churches embracing similar ethos to the Brethren roots that many of us have.
There was a warm spirit of cooperation throughout the day which helped progress the good working relationships that exist between our various ministries. Full details of the reports and discussions are available upon request, but in summary the outcome of the day was an agreement to progress the following:
- Central Source for training information: Provide a suitable way of collating and presenting information about training schemes that are clear linked to our spectrum of churches.
- Develop a training hub or network: The present steering group should continue to function and draw in several other church leaders and organisations. This could lead to the development of a part/full-time role of National Training Co-ordinator.
- Meet again: To assist growing relationships among those involved in delivering or using training and to share further discussions in future developments we agreed to meet again in 12 months, with the possibility of could developing into an annual forum.
