New learning space for missional leaders
Anglican Diocese of Niagara launches school to respond to growing needs
The Niagara School for Missional Leadership, a nonresidential Anglican school for missional leadership formation and education, officially launched last fall in the Niagara region of Ontario (www.NiagaraSchoolForMissionalLeadership.ca). Its vision is “to create a coaching and praxis-based learning environment where participants are equipped to respond creatively and faithfully to God’s mission.”
Sixty people enrolled in the first term, spread across six online courses and led by teacher-practitioners with experience in the parish and the classroom. Courses focus on missional engagement including Connecting with Indigenous Knowledge, Missional Preaching and Introduction to a Missional New Monasticism.
Susan Bell, diocesan bishop and chief pastor of the Diocese of Niagara, says, “We recognized the need for different skills in a rapidly changing culture – a culture of discontinuous change. After many conversations and much prayer, we decided to provide this way of learning to train leaders for this new reality we’re living in.”
One of the courses relevant for supporting leaders and the changing demands of missional ministry was called Adaptive Leadership in Anxious Times.
“There were deep conversations about resting in the unknowingness of this time, but with confidence that in God we are being led through it,” says Bell. “There were case studies each week, and I think our leaders came out strengthened not only in their ability to lead in an anxious time but also in their ability to rest in God’s provision.”
Each course is six to eight weeks and provides opportunities for practical learning, mentoring, theological reflection and prayer.
“The school is targeted to the Diocese of Niagara as a method of learning together and being able to move forward into the future together,” says Bell. “But closely behind is our hope and prayer that this school will be used for the Church across Canada – it’s open to everybody and there’s plenty of room.”
“We recognized the need for different skills in a rapidly changing culture – a culture of discontinuous change.”