One of our Leeds area churches has used our Compass tool to help develop their next steps in mission.
Compass uses a mixture of video and discussion to lead church groups through a process that can help to identify what might be done next for churches to develop.
St Michael’s East Ardsley have recently used Compass to help revise their Mission Action Plan, first developed in 2021.
Having been successful in implementing that plan up to this year, the church then wanted to revisit and redevelop what they are doing, maintaining their focus on growth while bringing in a fresh perspective.
The Revd Mark Watson, Priest in Charge at the church, said: “I was delighted to find out about Barnabas’ Compass initiative.
“As a PCC we were able to call an extra meeting specifically to work through the Compass materials.
“These augmented other initiatives we were engaging with as a church and allowed us to begin by having an open discussion about all the things that we appreciated about our church.
“We then considered four key areas of church life and ministry: Engage, Nurture / Explore, Disciple, and Lead / Serve, and were given time to allocate a mark out of 10 in each of the areas.
“These key areas were subdivided into Adult and Under 18s categories.
“This then allowed us to identify specific aspects for us to focus on for our Mission Action Plan reflecting the context and potential in each of those areas.
“It was really helpful for the PCC to have that guidance available and for the session to be facilitated and well-adapted to our context.
“It was enlightening and some new and fresh ideas emerged which have now been woven into our revised Mission Action Plan, set to “go live” in 2026.”
To find out more about Compass and the support the diocese can offer churches through it, please click here.