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