Warren Hartley’s choice of an image for July’s Appreciative Space was inspired by thinking about starting with Appreciative Inquiry in a new, largely undefined project in his role as Parish Sustainability Lead for an Anglican diocese in England.

This Appreciative Space on 11th June at 11.00 am (BST) will take place the day after an event at Coventry Cathedral described as “a festival of ideas on missional thinking”.

Margaret J Wheatley argues that there is no more powerful way to initiate change than to convene a conversation.   The online Appreciative Space on 14th May at 11.00-12.00 BST will explore the conversation starters from her 2002 book Turning to one another.

There’s an elephant in the room that everyone knows about but no one is acknowledging, goes the saying. April’s Appreciative Space will offer tools for naming the elephant.

A chance to show and tell: Wednesday 12th March 11.00-12.00 (GMT) Share a poem, reading, image, story or other piece of art about “new shoots” as we explore the Poetic Principle of Appreciative Inquiry.

Bring your imagination, stories of hope, and brutal truths to this month’s Appreciative Space.

Inspired by a recent post from the Center for Appreciative Inquiry to set intentions rather than New Year Resolutions, Fiona Thomas from Appreciating Church is offering a space to explore your intentions for 2025.

Advent is a time for reflection and preparation. You are invited to step aside for December’s Appreciative Space on Appreciative Inquiry and Pastoral Supervision. Wednesday 11th December 11.00 – 12.00 (GMT)         Original Image: Mitch on Unsplash

Appreciating Church is delighted to have an article which emerged from recent conversations between  practitioners published in the latest edition of AI Practitioner: On the Being and Becoming of Appreciative Inquiry and Christian Faith

November’s Appreciative Space will be facilitated by Suzanne Quinney from Appreciating People. Suzanne is one of the co-authors of the 2024 book Appreciating Health and Care, drawing on her many years of facilitation and training with colleagues in the National Health Service and care sector.

This session on Wednesday 9th October 11.00-12.00 (BST) will discuss an approach to journaling which combines appreciative inquiry and an interest in gardening, facilitated by Fiona Thomas, Developmentalist for Appreciating Church.  

A  conversation space for appreciative inquiry practitioners, as part of a self-sustaining community of practice. This session on Wednesday 11th September 11.00-12.00 (BST) will explore how Appreciative Inquiry and Christian faith connect. The session will be facilitated by Nancy Nyambici Macharia, Managing Partner at Emovere Thoughtworks Ltd.   (Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash)         […]

If you were to recommend one book to other Appreciative Inquiry practitioners, what would it be?

What happens when Action Learning and Appreciative Inquiry combine? An opportunity for peer support in addressing church projects using appreciative inquiry to address mission, discipleship, change and upheaval.

Appreciative Inquiry has been used, and continues to be used, by churches in all parts of the world. By scheduling an event in the evening GMT Appreciating Church seeks to bring together practitioners from many parts of the world for conversations about their Appreciative Inquiry practice.

Inviting Appreciative Inquiry practitioners familiar with churches and their communities to bring a snippet of their work to share with their peers.

Churches and the communities in which they are embedded are facing times of flux and turmoil. Change is happening around us at the same time as we yearn for transformation. Many change programmes are based on diagnostic models of organisational development. On this day of love and ashes explore the difference a dialogic approach can […]

What’s in your schedule for this year? How and where will you bring your Appreciative Inquiry practice to bear on the work and ministry entrusted to you?

Space to stretch and savour – two hours online with other Appreciative Inquiry practitioners who work with churches and their communities. A little theological reflection, a little catching up, and plenty of curiosity about taking the network forward. Wednesday 13th December 10.30 to 12.30 GMT. Book your free space

Bookings are continuing to arrive for the conference on 30th September. We’re looking forward to hearing from Dan Hodgkiss and Saiyiddah Zaidi, with insights from the NHS and practical theology respectively. You also have a choice from a number of workshops led by experienced Appreciative Inquiry practitioners. All the details and online booking.

Appreciating Church has opened booking for courses in Autumn 2023. Introduction to Appreciative Inquiry is being offered twice – on Tuesday afternoons or Wednesday evenings throughout November.

Appreciating the tough stuff is an apt description. There were few bookings for Appreciating Church’s first annual conferences to be held onsite and online in parallel. So the organising group decided to go completely online, making the technical costs much lower.

Ann Howlett-Foster, Learning & Development Officer in the Methodist Church’s Eastern Regional Team will discuss how she has used the 7Cs of Caring Conversations as useful prompts in her appreciative inquiry practice.

Keynote speaker: Dan Hodgkiss, co-author of Appreciating Health and Care. Explore using Appreciative Inquiry when addressing the challenges facing today’s church. Navigate changes and challenges with positivity. The conference fee includes renewal of accreditation for accredited Appreciating Church practitioners or £30 off future training offered by Appreciating Church. Book now to secure your place.

Not everyone learns by hearing, not everyone is comfortable reading.  So why not add a bit of visual to your delivery, online and offline?  Nobody ever shared written notes, but good images….now that’s something else.  Join Siggy Parratt-Halbert to find out the importance of imagery, and how it could spice up your sessions.

A gathering for Appreciative Inquiry practitioners, particularly those who have some contact with churches and faith communities. We’ll be based at the Priory Rooms in Birmingham, with Zoom conferencing supported by Media4Ministry.

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.

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.

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?

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?

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.

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.

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

A creative online space in which appreciative inquiry practitioners share stories of their work with churches. 

Fiona Thomas reflects on using a SOAR to clear the fog and encourage generativity for her role in a community project.

Eddie Boon explores ways in which appreciative inquiry can be used with churches emerging from the Covid- 19 lockdown

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 [...]

Appreciating People has worked with a number of churches since spring 2014, developing a sustainable Appreciative Inquiry community of practice. It has become an exciting and expanding project – this is the story so far… AP began working with church groups in 2014. During a consultation on AI and the Church in Manchester in March […]

‘All shall be well, and all shall be well… For there is a force of love moving through the universe that holds us fast and will never let you go.’ – Dame Julian of Norwich (c.1342-1416), the first woman to write a book in the English language In February 2017, another milestone in the Appreciating […]

How can local churches, congregations and communities use their strengths to best effect and drive forward transformation? That is the question at the heart of a new book and website Appreciating Church, in partnership with Appreciating People, experts in positive organisational development. Launching in both London (Thursday 9th February) and Liverpool (Monday 20th February), the […]

How can local churches, congregations and communities use their strengths to spark transformation and growth? That is the question at the heart of a new Appreciating Church website and book written by Fiona Thomas, United Reformed Church Secretary of Education and Learning, and Tim Slack, founder and co-director of Appreciating People. They worked as part […]

UPDATE: Please note that this event has been postponed to summer 2018 at an alternative venue due to the closure of the Windermere Centre. Appreciating Church is running a retreat in the beautiful surroundings of the Windermere Centre in the Lake District. In Living the Appreciative Spirit, the three-day course, from 26th-29th June 2017, we […]

In the last few months I have had a wonderful opportunity working with the United Reformed Church and the Methodist Church to deliver Appreciative Inquiry training as part of the Appreciating Church project. A feature of this programme has been the addition of worship to the AI training process, normally at the beginning or the […]

Holy Habits is a discipleship resource designed to help nurture and form followers of Jesus. Christian disciples who, when they gather as Church and go to wherever God calls them to be – at home, at work, in the community and in the wider world – live out their discipleship in an adventurous, Christlike way. […]

It could be argued that the Climate Emergency is the biggest possible frame for the work that any of us do as appreciative inquiry practitioners