As well as setting off with a new group of students, I’ve invited the last cohort to tell me about their experience of the CMS Certificate. I’ve got a questionnaire called Pathways which they get in advance, and then I ask them the questions and type in their response, so it’s a kind of guided conversation.
One of the questions is, ‘What difference has the course made to your practice?’ and the answers are consistently along these lines:
- I’ve become much more myself – more who God made me to be
- I’ve got more confidence to do the things I thought God was asking me to do
I’ve interviewed four of the 2019-20 cohort. Since starting the course one of them has started a new Fresh Expression of church – Campfire Church for families. One has set up a supper club for young people, and plans to start a faith-based group for young adults in the spring. One has re-shaped his Christian radio show to be more of a mixed listening space – open to all, with some God stuff, and some mainstream music. One has started a role as a Diocesan adviser and is having a significant impact on the landscape.
All of this was potential in the students before they started. It took an open, imaginative, vulnerable, permission-giving culture of learning slowly and playfully together to make this possible.
