Growing Leaders

Inclusively GROWING evangelistic and justice-seeking LEADERS

The most significant tools for nurturing discipleship and vocation often operate at a local level: discipleship bands/ small groups, discernment courses, mentors/ spiritual directors, away days. As a district we encourage churches to prioritise whatever forms of nurturing disciples are most helpful need to be taken in context.

Our Further/ Higher Education vision: by 2030, we will have supported 15 people to start theological/ missiological qualifications. 10 of these people will be using this qualification to pursue/ deepen a vocation they would otherwise not have been able to.

Key challenges will be:

• Continued availability and accessibility of suitable high quality courses
• Individuals having time and confidence to undertake courses

To enable this District will:

• Provide training grants for relevant theological/ missiological qualifications
• Offer discernment conversations for grant recipients about what comes next for them, and what further support they might require
• Promote relevant courses

Our ONE Programme vision: by 2030 ONE Programme will have expanded to at least eight youth interns per year. Previous interns will testify to transformational impact of the ONE Programme for them.
ONE Programme link to https://www.sheffieldmethodist.org/what-we-do/children-and-youth/one-opportunity-programme.html has been effective to date because it is shaped around the specific young person and provides accountability, protection, cohort and developmental teaching.

Key challenges will be:

• Presently some of our circuits have small numbers of young people
• Proactive and early conversations with potential interns, line managers, mentors and church councils

To enable this District will:

• Oversee and proactively promote the programme
• Subsidise cost for participating circuits/churches
• Facilitate supportive networking between previous interns

Our Growing Leaders Programme vision: by 2030 people from across our district will have grown as key leaders in their church or circuit or other missional ventures through participation in this new programme. Previous participants will testify to transformational impact of the programme for them, and will be integral to trailblazing new mission.

The Growing Leaders Programme will incorporate key success factors from the ONE Programme, but tailored to be relevant for people with a wide spread of ages and life experiences (learning and growing is not reserved for the young). It will include access to high quality relevant teaching, individual coaching and commitment to participation in a mutually supportive cohort.

Key challenges will be:

• People who are likely to benefit will potentially have multiple existing commitments, and so the programme will need to be obviously valuable for them and flexible to their schedules
• Bringing together best of Connexional and other already existing resources, alongside new local input into a coherent package
• Range of specialist support will need to be tailored to diverse needs of participants
• Sufficient pool of trained coaches/ mentors

To enable this District will:

• Research, pilot and roll out the programme

Our Supervision vision: by September 2026 all ordained ministers and lay staff across the district will be receiving effective reflective supervision and line management as appropriate to their roles.

Reflective supervision and line management have been shown to have a significant effect on the wellbeing of postholders and the impactfulness of their roles.

We are starting from a position where reflective supervision has been fully rolled out for ordained ministers.

Key challenges will be:

• Shortage of trained reflective supervisors and line managers
• Line management and supervision requires upfront investment of time, with the benefits being long term

To enable this District will:

• Recruit and arrange training for new supervisors
• Coordinate supervisees and supervisors across our circuits

Our networks vision: to continue to facilitate cross-circuit networks learning and mutual support in ways which are relevant and helpful for those involved. People will always have the opportunity to connect with some others doing similar in other contexts (where these exist).

Networks already exist ecumenically, Connexionally and within circuits. We will complement rather than duplicate these

Key challenges will be:

• When people are busy, networking can be squeezed out by urgent tasks
• Information about networks may not reach potential participants
• People come to roles with different ways of working, preferences and prior experience. Networks/ events for people in similar sounding roles may not meet diverse needs

To enable this District will support in particular:

• Circuit stewards – key lay leaders who need to hold continuity of vision for their circuits
• Superintendents – key connecting ordained leaders
• Role-based networks – continuing to develop existing and new role based networks
• Inspirational large scale youth events – building from significant growth in engagement with 3Generate and District Youth Day

Implementation of this vision will be overseen by our Growing Leaders Support Team