Pioneer Ministry
Pioneer Ministry – a universal call and a particular vocation
As our culture changes, so the Church’s mission needs also to change.
Our culture calls for fresh expressions of the church’s life, flourishing alongside inherited ways of being God’s people. At the College of the Resurrection, we believe that a key question for all Churches and for all who minister is: what new ways of being the Church are appropriate to our culture and our time?
This is a question for all – and for that reason all Christian communities are called to be pioneering communities, and all who minister are called to be pioneer ministers and to build up new expressions of the church’s life. Equally, this call is lived out in some lives and some ministries with a special intensity, as God calls and equips women and men to become missionary entrepreneurs and to lead new ventures.
At the College of the Resurrection, all those preparing for ministry in parish settings engage with the theory and practice of pioneer ministry as part of their formation, learning from both specialist academics and practitioners. Students preparing for pioneer priesthood have a more focused concentration on ordained pioneer ministry throughout their training, both through their academic studies and their placements.
Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. Hebrews 12: 1c-2a
Pioneer Ministry and the College of the Resurrection
The College of the Resurrection is a special place to prepare for pioneer ministry.
- The heart of pioneer ministry is the need to develop worshipping communities. This is the heart of formation at the College of the Resurrection. We form women and men with a deep desire for prayer and passion for communities of worship.
- The root of pioneer ministry is a longing to bring God’s love to people. This restless enthusiasm for mission is at the root of our life as a College – a College built by the Community of the Resurrection, with its selfless missionary work in both the North of England and in Sub-Saharan Africa. We form people who long to bring Christ’s message of salvation to others.
- The core of pioneer ministry is the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. At the College of the Resurrection, we believe that preparation for pioneer ministry needs to be both highly practical and also rigorous in its theology. Our integrated approach to formation forms people who are able to bring all of themselves, and an ongoing engagement with the Scriptures and Christian thought, to ministry in new situations.
- The vision for pioneer ministry comes from the recognition that the situation in Britain today is one “of profound transformation, intellectual and social, abounding in new needs, new points of view, new questions”. This vision is fundamental to the College and the Community of the Resurrection – indeed, the words quoted come from the preface to Lux Mundi, written in 1889 by Bishop Charles Gore, founding member of the Community. This open, generous, questioning vision forms us as a College and forms those who train here.