What is a Pioneer Community?

Pioneer Learning Communities: Learning to start and lead fresh expressions of church

Are you a Pioneer?

Pioneers are missionary entrepreneurs who have the stirrings to go beyond existing church communities to engage in life and ministry with people, fostering fresh expressions of church that connect with those uncomfortable or unfamiliar with the inherited church.

Fresh Expressions Pioneer Communities are a one-year, part-time, learning community designed to:

• Assist teams who want to launch fresh expressions of church
• Help pastors and lay-leaders create Fresh Expressions strategies for their communities and neighborhoods
• Surround pioneers with a network of fellow sojourners and practitioners of missional ministry

Over the course of approximately a year, Pioneer cohorts meet for two weekend retreats, a few half-day or evening sessions in their local area, and ongoing connection and support through coaching. Teams and individuals discern and implement intentional steps toward developing fresh expressions of church appropriate to their unique contexts. Each participant is welcomed into an on-going peer learning network upon completion of the learning community.

Using the Mission-Shaped Ministry curriculum first developed in the UK as a framework, Pioneer Learning Communities dig into the theological foundations of Fresh Expressions, the practices that lead to contextually appropriate ministry, attentiveness to authentic discipleship, tools for developing teams and leaders, and the steps to forming meaningful expressions of church within a particular mission context.

Kentucky Details

Dates

• Retreat #1: February 3-4
• Retreat #2: May 12-13

Cost

• General admission: $950
• Kentucky Methodist Conference participants: $500
• Reduced price for Asbury affiliates: $500

For more information contact Shannon Kiser, Director of Training at shannon.kiser@freshexpressionsus.org or 804-601-4467.