Ministry for Mission is a way of revolutionising what we're doing as the Church to try to serve God more effectively. But it's not an initiative or a project - it's a framework, a way of thinking, a response to God's calling that we can all join.

It's to do with Mission (God's activity in the world) and Ministry (us co-operating with God in that mission). We offer ourselves in partnership in God's mission to the local communities in south-east Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

It has three core themes. We should structure the life of the Church:

1. to enable everyone can hear and experience the transforming power of the gospel, which leads to spiritual and numerical growth.

2. to recognise that all baptised Christians have gifts and a vocation. We are all ministers and we can all offer ministry.

3. to affirm that all ministry is collaborative, and we should work together, clergy and lay people, across parish boundaries and with ecumenical partners.

And the four key areas for strategic development are:

Called for Growth (vocation): 
programmes of spiritual development for individuals and congregations, and support for the discerning of vocations aim to help us perceive God’s calling in others.

Trained for Growth (training and development): 
a single continuum of training for all those involved in Christian ministry will be delivered at local level. There will be emphasis on training and equipping of leaders.

Structured for Growth (deployment): 
our models of the Church will promote collaborative ministry, in groups, clusters and teams, to help us understand our discipleship as a 24/7 reality. We will aim for our diocesan structures to become more flexible to encourage growth.

Supported in Growth (mission support): 
a ‘vitality audit’ of parishes or churches will focus on potential for development and growth, alongside faithfulness. These will ask challenging questions, but also help find the resources to secure appropriate ministry in that area. 

To help us to achieve this, the following things have been done already:

- a Lent Course for 2012, written by the bishop and dean, to help parishes understand the principles behind Ministry for Mission;

- a new in-depth discipleship learning programme;

- a new year-long programme of leadership training for clergy;

- a team of facilitators to help parishes, clusters and deaneries look at how they might go for growth;

- a new spirituality adviser;

- a new post of mission development officer;

- a Mission Opportunities Fund, which allows parishes and groups of parishes to fund initiatives that echo the Ministry for Mission themes.

To discover more about the thinking behind our Ministry for Mission framework, click here.