John Valentine gives an update on the recently launched Doctor of Ministry in church planting and pioneering. A cohort of 35 women and men from the north and south of England, Scotland and across Europe are starting this three year programme researching into front line strategies and challenges for church planters and pioneers.
By John ValentineOctober 2021
Presented by CCX, together with Asbury Church Planting Initiative
It is very exciting to report that the Gregory Centre is partnering with Asbury Theological Seminary to deliver Asbury’s Doctor of Ministry in Church Planting and Pioneering in this country. An amazing cohort of about 35 women and men are starting the three year doctoral programme, aiming to research into front line strategies and challenges for church planters and pioneers.
The backbone of the doctorate is the individual dissertations that the students will write, and, in addition, there are taught modules, such as ‘habits that sustain ministry’, ‘early church lessons for C21st church planters’, and modules on movement dynamics, and models for planting. The doctorate is taught by Asbury faculty and practitioners from this country and from Europe.
The cohort come from both the north and south of England, from Scotland, and from Europe. There is a great mixture of ethnicities, church traditions, urban and rural backgrounds, and areas of interest. Some are network leaders, some formulating and delivering church planting strategies for dioceses (or equivalent for non-Anglican churches), some are resource church leaders, and some are just starting out, but all have real potential to bring real change, growth and life to the church in Europe.
The vision is to see movement leaders resourced for their work with robust theology, and to develop a corpus of work from British and European contexts for the church planting and pioneering movement in our day.
At the moment, we do not know whether or not it will be possible to repeat the delivery of the doctorate in this country. We hope and pray so!
Please go to the research page on our website to keep up with this and other research developments: https://ccx.org.uk/research/
