church mission society magazine is called the call. the current issue focuses on pioneer mission celebrating 10 years of pioneer training. we were actually 10 back in september in case it is ringing a bell. but i think we can celebrate all year. i don't know where 10 years went! there are four feature articles and they will all appear online.
i did a bit of counting as you do for some stats. it made me realise that if i count this year (i.e. the eleventh year intake) we have had 500 pioneers do at least one module in oxford or in a hub. there is quite a network now with 6 hubs across the country as well.
for the issue i was asked to reflect on 5 lessons learned and 5 challenges looking ahead. here's a link to the piece looking forward looking back.
these are the things i settled on
5 lessons learned:
- pioneering is a wonderful gift
- mission is the treasure
- be you
- it's not just about the training
- the journey to the new always goes through the desert
and 5 challenges ahead:
- going beyond the edges
- imagination
- diversity
- low level innovation
- advocating for pioneering
it reminded me of writing a piece in 2012 two years in to the course on 5 Things I Have Learned which was on the fresh expressions web site back in the day but the link is now broken so i have uploaded the word document i have of that article here so i have a record of it. the first point is the same which made me smile which is that pioneering is a wonderful gift.
i'm hugely grateful to cms for putting up with me for that long and it's been a great community in which to host pioneers because of the experience in mission across cultures and the nous about mission, imagination and culture.
i found the blog post i wrote on the day we began with a newsletter and this image