Four schools within the Diocese, which are part of the new Flourish network, have been commissioned by Bishop Debbie to develop new worshipping communities. A short service was held on 30 September at Malcom Arnold Academy, one of the schools taking part, led by the Academy’s Flourish lead, the Revd Ali Wagner.
It is intended that the new communities will establish partnerships between schools and their local churches, aiming to engage a large number of children, young people and their families.
The leaders at the service represented partnerships between William Law CE Primary School and Werrington Parish, Hartwell Church of England Primary School and parish, Pytchley Endowed CE Primary School and parish, and Malcolm Arnold Academy and the Kingsthorpe team. Bishop Debbie inspired the leaders to experiment and grow new worshipping communities, recognising that the Flourish scheme is a pilot and mistakes will be made, but it is an exciting opportunity to put children and young people at the centre and see what God will do.
A prayer of commitment was shared based on the 5 principles of the pilot project – young people’s voices at the centre; a shared purpose to grow younger and more diverse; to build strategic partnerships between church and school; to offer intergenerational faith experiences and to integrate the worship into the life of the school. Each partnership brought a model representing their new worshipping community to the commissioning event. Hartwell Church of England Primary School's model can be seen below.
We look forward to finding out more about the worshipping communities as they develop.
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