Fiona Thomas, Author at Appreciating Church

Extending Conversations. Imagining Futures: Wednesday 10th May 11.00-12.00 BST

Posted by Fiona Thomas
On 18 April 2023
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Appreciative Inquiry helps us imagine futures as we design from our conversations. In this month’s Appreciative Space, Revd Elizabeth Gray-King will discuss how, in a number of workshops with congregational leaders, she has taken a sidestep before moving from paired conversations to dreaming and designing.

Inviting you to SOAR a little… Wednesday 12th April 2023 11.00-12.00 (BST)

Posted by Fiona Thomas
On 30 March 2023
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Using SOAR (Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, Results/Resources) makes a difference as an appreciative strategic planning approach. In this month’s Appreciative Space, Reverend Jane Weedon will discuss how she used SOAR to help the churches she was ministering with prepare for her retirement.

How important is reframing? Wednesday 8th March 11.00-12.00 (GMT)

Posted by Fiona Thomas
On 28 February 2023
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Reframing acknowledges the power of frustration and indignation and flips it – what is the underlying desire or unexpressed enthusiasm which could transform the situation if it were recognised and given airtime?

Imagining Appreciative Meetings

Posted by Fiona Thomas
On 30 January 2023
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Wednesday 8th February 2023, 11.00 – 12.00 (GMT). Reshaping the tent of meeting. In whatever context we work, however closely we are bound with the church, we find ourselves involved in meetings of one kind or another. What happens if we bring our Appreciative Inquiry practice into play when chairing, moderating, or shaping a meeting?

An Appreciative Space: Invitations to practice

Posted by Fiona Thomas
On 8 January 2023
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Wednesday 11th December 2023, 11.00 – 12.00 (GMT) Conversation starter: Being an Appreciating Church practitioner beyond the church. Eddie Boon, Discipleship Enabler with Thames North Synod of the United Reformed Church will reflect on adapting his practice for working with groups beyond the church.

An Appreciative Space: Provocative Propositions, 14th December 2022, 11.00 -12.00 GMT

Posted by Fiona Thomas
On 24 November 2022
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A gathering for practitioners on the second Wednesday of each month. A creative online space in which appreciative inquiry practitioners share stories of their work with churches, as part of a self-sustaining community of practice. Open to practitioners of all levels of experience. Conversation starter: The art of crafting provocative propositions.

Monthly Appreciative Space: November’s theme is “The Emergent Principles”

Posted by Fiona Thomas
On 18 October 2022
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Wednesday 9th November 2022, 11.00 – 12.00 (GMT) A creative online space in which appreciative inquiry practitioners share stories of their work with churches, as part of a self-sustaining community of practice. Conversation starter: The Emergent Principles in Appreciative Inquiry

Deploying stipendiary ministry: from conundrums to consultations

Posted by Fiona Thomas
On 19 August 2022
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Like many Synods in the United Reformed Church, the National Synod of Wales is wrestling with the question of how to deploy stipendiary ministry. Jason Askew uses Appreciative Inquiry to bring a fresh perspective.

Strategy for a spirituality centre: Appreciative Inquiry and discernment

Posted by Fiona Thomas
On 22 July 2022
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Siggy Parratt-Halbert decribes how she combined her practice of appreciative inquiry with her skills as a graphic recorder to facilitate a process over three months with a spirituality centre in Sheffield.

Emerging from lockdown: Using Appreciative Inquiry to re-envision the church

Posted by Fiona Thomas
On 24 May 2022
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As a team vicar in a rural multi-parish benefice, Sarah Cawdell has used Appreciative Inquiry (AI) with churches emerging from the Covid-19 lockdown. She sees AI offering a more hopeful lexicon, and a way of reflecting forwards which ties in with the Christian hope of being transformed from one degree of glory to another.

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