Divine Renovation
As part of our strategy to rejuvenate our diocese and become Jesus-centred, kingdom-seeking disciples we will use the Divine Renovation resources to help parishes move from maintenance to mission.
This material originates in the Roman Catholic Church of Canada and we believe that it fits both our context and our needs. It has made a proven impact in many RC parishes across the world prioritising evangelism, effective leadership and the work of the Holy Spirit.
Divine Renovation has been used by our Pilot Cairns and we hope that there will be something for every parish in the wide range of resources that are available. This material was approved by Bishop Jonathan and has his full support for use across our parishes.
Those who have used these resources say:
“In my previous parish, I found Divine Renovation to be a deeply helpful model for renewing the life of the Church. I found it both practical and profoundly inspiring.” Rev Dr Ryan Cook, Cowes.
“One of the things I’ve found amazing is how it has brought different traditions together in the name of evangelism.” Rev Emma Anderson, Meon Valley.
It is our intention to use these resources across the diocese for the next five years. While we recognise that they will be more useful to some parishes, we hope that by defining a shared direction and vocabulary they can help us to achieve our shared vision.
Key Resources
Divine Renovation is the outworking of the experience and innovation of Father James Mallon from Nova Scotia. In developing these programmes he has drawn heavily on links with Alpha and many other sources of wisdom on church growth. Some of the language needs to be translated but the underlying principles draw together many highly practical aspects for developing healthy parishes.
The Divine Renovation Handbook
A great introduction for Church Leaders, 286 pages of practical wisdom, published 2014.
To get to grips with the concepts behind the Divine Renovation material the Handbook is the best place to start. It has five initial chapters which lay out the current position of the church and the reasons why we need to do things differently. There is then the central section in a chapter of 110 pages which gives details of how to transform our parishes. This gives details of ten common values that are needed for church growth. There is then a chapter looking at opportunities arising from the occasional offices and the book ends with a call to effective leadership and a conclusion. It is an easy and insightful read. You can find more details here. There is a reading guide with questions for discussion in a small group such as a leadership team which can be found here.
The Divine Renovation Guidebook
A specific step-by-step manual to implement DR principles for transforming parishes.
This book is most useful for those starting a new chapter of church life, looking to define vision and make coherent parish plans. It starts with the leader defining their own vision and then gathering a small team to refine and develop that vision into a strategic plan. It helps to prioritise time management and build an effective parish leadership structure. The book then encourages evaluation of your ten core values before looking at five systems that all need specific plans. There are sections on making missionary disciples and developing leaders. The aim in all of this is to become a church which makes disciples who have a personal encounter with Jesus. It is expected that this journey will take several years in order to implement the process fully.
Divine Renovation website
This website is inevitably geared towards Roman Catholic parishes in the UK but is a gateway to a huge wealth of resources.
The website is well stocked with information, testimonies, blogs, podcasts and stories that support the impact that DR has made across the world. It is worth exploring along with the YouTube channel which has 439 videos at the time of writing. Our diocese has an active link with the regional lead for the UK, Jordan Kelly. They are keen to work with us as an Anglican diocese and are very ready to share their resources in any way that helps to build God’s Kingdom. Click here to visit the website.
Courses
We have access to an initial training programme called Kickstart which will be led by Neil Smart.
Coaching of church leaders has played a huge part of the success of Divine Renovation. Enabling effective leaders to begin to implement renewal changes the whole outlook of church communities. The Divine Renovation team have shared with us access to the initial training course for church leaders. Called Kickstart it is a four session, video based, discussion group which enables leaders to begin a Divine Renovation journey. We expect cohorts to be exploring this course on a regular basis so please contact Neil if you are interested. The four sessions look at vision, leadership team, evangelisation and culture and change. The videos are about 30 minutes and the sessions last around an hour usually in the middle of the day. Find more details about the course here.