The Leading your Church into Growth team has a track record in encouraging and equipping local church communities in mission from across the different traditions within the Church of England.
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The Colchester Area is running a Leading Your Church into Growth this Spring
We are super excited that the Colchester Area is running a Leading your Church into Growth Conference, with a wonderful team from the national network, from Friday 16th to Sunday 18th May 2025. The Conference is for teams of between five and eight people (clergy and lay people) per parish or benefice in the Colchester Area, working together to explore the principles and practicalities of church growth in their context.
LyCiG is aimed at helping all kinds of churches; Catholic or Charismatic, Evangelical or Liberal, Rural or Urban, Big or Small. It offers ‘doable’ practicalities, enthusiasm and wisdom as we work together for the flourishing of God’s church. It’s also fun!
Dates
The Conference will take place at The Church of Great Notley with the following programme:
Friday 16th May 2025 – Day 1
6.00pm – 9.30pm
Includes delicious hot supper
Saturday 17th May 2025 – Day 2
9.30am – 3.00pm
Lunch and teas and coffees provided
Sunday 18th May 2025 - Day 3
1.30pm - 5.00pm
Includes afternoon tea (and cakes!) and closing worship
Although the conference is heavily subsidised through SDF, there is a minimal charge of £15 per person – if this is prohibitive, please make contact and we will assist. Booking is via Eventbrite and we ask that the incumbent/minister makes the initial booking on behalf of their group.
If you would like further information about the LyCiG conference or to chat about whether the conference might be the right time for your church please contact Revd Canon Phil Ritchie pritchie@chelmsford.anglican.org.
For administrative enquiries please contact Lizzie Armour larmour@chelmsford.anglican.org.
Book your place
Leading your Church into Growth: Taster Session
A video of the taster session can be watched below and may be of interest to people considering participation in the course.
Resources
This page contains information and resources to support participants in the Leading your Church into Growth course. We hope that by sharing these resources, organising follow up meetings and by providing the opportunity for participants to support each other online via our Facebook Group, we can take what we learned and discussed on the course and help each other use Leading your Church into Growth in our own contexts.
The course manual
Useful websites:
Books
Jude Simpson, poet and performer
The Joy of the Gospel, Paula Gooder
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Worship resources from Archdeacon Ruth
There are a few resources that I’ve found useful over the years, both as a lay person (and a church musician) and as an ordained person. One of these is a very short book called “Worship Changes Lives” (edited by Paul Bradshaw and Peter Moger): It’s sadly out of print, but you can find copies via Amazon and other suppliers. I’ve been in a parish where we ran a course based on this and in another we used it to shape a series of sermons/talks.
You can also click here to read a document that gives some information about “Worship Changes Lives”. But do contact me via a.colchester@chelmsford.anglican.org if you’d like more info as I have some more pdfs that I could share with you or we might be able to work out how to share these in a follow-up email.
Another resource I found helpful for conversations with Ministry Team members about worship is “At Heaven’s Gate” by Richard Giles. It has a great checklist at the back that can be used for reflection and review, very similar to the one on pages 52 and 53 of the LYCIG book:
A resource that I’ve heard good things about it is “Inspiring Music in Worship” by Helen Bent of the Royal School of Church Music. You can find information about this resource via the RSCM website. It doesn’t just focus on music and can form a great course for using with PCCs and parish groups.
The Leading your Church into Growth Facebook Group
The Leading your Church into Growth Facebook Group has been set up to provide course participants with a space to share ideas, and to ask each other for advice and support.