Welcome to Appreciating Church
Appreciating Church is a Christian ecumenical project which aims to encourage the church at a local and national level to engage people in an inclusive way, listening to ‘all the voices’, building on our existing strengths and skills, counting our blessings and co-creating a resilient church as part of the kingdom of Heaven.
Appreciating Church seeks to develop a self-sustaining Appreciative Inquiry (AI) community of practice across the churches. The organisation was originally initiated by the United Reformed Church, in partnership with the Methodist Church, Quakers, and the Congregational Federation, with interest from individual dioceses of the Church of England and others.
The programme offers AI training and advice supported by the Appreciating Church resource book which is a source of practical understanding of AI theory and practice, theological insights, experiences of AI within the Church, and worship material.
This accompanying website offers supplementary exercises and content.
Our Story
This is the story of how Appreciating Church developed, and its outline plans for further development.
What’s New?
A new blend for courses – same content, different delivery
Appreciating Church courses are available digitally. As potential participants for our courses have become accustomed to meeting online we have shifted to making our courses available in digital ways, alongside the inherited ‘analog’ style. In physical courses flip charts, sticky-notes, cartoons, and creativity abound as people explore the practical applications and theoretical underpinnings of appreciative [...]