Mission Shaped Ministry (MSM)
We are delighted that the Mission Shaped Ministry Course will be starting on Thursday 2nd October 2025 and will be held at St Barnabas’ Church Clapham.
Mission Shaped Ministry (MSM) is a one-year course aimed at helping you and your church towards a mixed ecology of church. MSM provides a learning journey in a supportive community, equipping you for a lifetime of good practice and learning in starting and sustaining fresh expressions of church/ new worshipping communities.
We have a held a number of these courses of the years and they have proved invaluable to parishes as they think through their context driven mission. We have found that it has been particularly helpful for those who are thinking about starting a fresh expression of Church or new worshipping community, who have started one already but realise the need for training and for those who want to be more effective in their mission.
MSM can help you in several important ways:
- It can help your church to think through how it can reach people in your parish with the good news of Jesus Christ. It will help you look at how you can grow your church and welcome people from different backgrounds and experiences and seek new ways of being church.
- It is an immersive course helping a team from your church hear many different stories and think through how you might approach the mission of your parish
- It uses experienced practitioners to tell their stories and encourage you to reflect
- If there is someone in your parish you think might potentially be a Lay Pioneer then this is a foundational course for them to go on and will help them as they reflect on their vocation (and it constitutes a significant part of the training to become a Lay Pioneer). Lay Pioneers are a new order of ministry in Southwark Diocese and we were pleased to see our first ones commissioned in September at the Croydon Lay Conference.
- Whether you end up with a new worshiping community (a fresh expression of Church) or not people who are part of the course come away with a far richer view of mission and what might be possible.
The commitment is to once a month over 9 months and 1 weekend.
We have found that the best results occur if the incumbent brings a team allowing you to explore what you might do together. By taking the time and space to consider how your church might be more effective in doing this it is often the case that new and innovative ideas occur.
Individuals undertaking training towards Commissioned Lay Pioneer Ministry are also welcome; although they too will benefit most from attending with a team from their church.
Additional information can be found here in the MSM Flyer.
Course timetable and venue
2025
Time: 7.30-9.30pm
Dates:
- Thursday 2nd October
- Thursday 30th October
- Wednesday 10th December
2026
Time: 7.30-9.30pm
Dates:
- Wednesday 11th February
- Wednesday 11th March
- Thursday 23rd April
- Thursday 14th May
- Thursday 11th June
Address: St Barnabas’ Church Clapham Common North Side, London SW4 9SW
Book your place on the course by registering below.