Continual Ministerial Development (CMD) offer for Spring 2025. CMD is available for Ordained Ministers, Licensed Lay Ministers, Chaplains, Lay Pastoral Assistants, Lay Worship Leaders, and Commissioned Lay Pioneers.
January
Rediscovering a Rule of Life
Rules of Life are patterns or structures within which we choose to live in order to be healthy, fruitful, flourishing Christians. They have been part of Christian discipleship since early ages, influenced and shaped particularly by monastic communities, and perhaps most significantly by the sixth century Rule of St Benedict.
This short course of four online lunchtime seminars spread over four months. will continue to reflect on some of the key principles of either creating a new, or refreshing an existing, Rule of Life. We will draw from the tradition, but not be confined by it.
Led by Cannon Tom Clammer
Wednesday 15 January, Wednesday 5 February, Wednesday 12 March, Wednesday 2 April 12-1pm online via Zoom.
Relational Mission
In an era when uncertainty about the church’s future is high, how can we rethink our ideas about mission and cultivate relationships which enable us and our neighbours to encounter God in the small, the local, and the everyday?
This course will explore how prioritising a relational approach to mission can help us to slow down, become less anxious, and discern how God is calling us to engage in our local neighbourhoods in ways which embody the good news of Jesus.
Led by Ruth Harley
Wednesday 22nd January 1pm-4pm online via Zoom.
February
Disability Theology: Theory and Practice
This course will introduce participants to the work of disability theologians including Nancy Eiesland, Sharon Betcher and Thomas Reynolds. We will consider the various terms used in relation to disability, and how these have developed over time.
Within a theological framework, we will investigate ideas relating to what it means to be human, how we think about community and relationships, and how we ‘measure’ our own and others’ value.
In addition to these theoretical considerations, we will explore how some of the concerns raised by disability theologians could be responded to in practice: for instance, how can churches enact a Christ-like welcome for all, disabled and able-bodied alike? How might we best ‘be the body of Christ’ when human experiences of embodiment are so varied?
Led by Dr Eleanor McLaughlin
Thursday 6th February 10am-1pm online via Zoom.
Listening to the Psalms
Walking alongside the marginalised and challenging narratives of separation.
Led by Dr. Delvyn Case
Thursday 13th February 10am-4pm, online via Zoom
Walking alongside the marginalised and challenging narratives of separation
The day will explore some common themes of Chaplaincy, and have particular reference to chaplaincy work with Gypsies and Travellers.
Course leaders: Ivy Manning Romany Gypsy and lead worker for Gypsy Roma Traveller Friendly Churches and Jonathan Herbert Diocesan Chaplain to Gypsies and Travellers.
Thursday 20th February, 10:00-16:00, Sarum College Salisbury
Gifts in Wills: Faith Will...move mountains - with Christian Aid
Throughout 2025 the Diocese of Salisbury is pleased to be partnering with Christian Aid, as they celebrate their 80th anniversary. Together we are going to support churches introduce legacy giving in church, and we will provide the resources you need to begin those conversations.
Register today, for one of our webinars in February, to hear from Kathy Childress, Legacy Partnerships and Training Specialist at Christian Aid, and Anna Hardy, Diocesan Giving Advisor.
Find out more about the free resources available to help launch Christian Aid’s Faith Will in your church – and the Church of England’s Fare Will – which both offer a way to write a legacy online for free.
We will share stories from across the Diocese about the impact that gifts in Wills have had, particularly where they have enabled us to invest in ministry, or in building projects, that have changed the way we are able to serve our communities.
Meet the speakers
Kathy is the Legacy Partnerships and Training Specialist at Christian Aid. Kathy is responsible for training staff, volunteers and external stakeholders to understand the importance and impact of legacy giving to our own charity and to Christian Aid’s sponsoring churches. She aims to equip trainees with the knowledge and confidence they need to talk about legacy giving in their own contexts.
Before joining the Diocese of Salisbury as Giving Advisor, Anna was Head of Individual Giving at The Children's Trust, Tadworth, responsible for In Memoriam and Legacy giving.
Tuesday 25th February 3pm, online via Zoom. Book your place here.
Tuesday 25th February 7pm, online via Zoom. Book your place here.
Thursday 27th February 10am, online via Zoom. Book your place here.
In the Fullness of Time
The Church of England is committed to being ‘a Christian presence in every place’. Traditionally the parish system has served that vision in a reliable way. In our present time however, there are significant challenges in fulfilling that vision; secularisation, decline, significant culture change. We will explore these challenges using the themes and insights from Paul Bradbury’s book In the Fullness of Time. In this book Paul listened to numerous leaders; in parishes, church plants, new missional communities, all wrestling with the call to be a Christian presence in a particular place.
We will engage with the stories and insights from the book and explore together what it might mean for the challenge of our own context.
Led by Revd Paul Bradbury.
Weds 26th February, 10am - 4pm, Emmaus House, Wilton.
Menopause and Theology
We will explore different theological lenses and creative metaphors that may help us with theological thinking around menopause, balancing sense-making with acceptance of mystery, and drawing on theological literature and research. We’ll consider menopause holistically in the wider context of mid-life with its transitions, as well as other intersectional issues.
We will also explore innovatively how menopause can ‘speak back’ helpfully into theology, with its metaphors and embodied experience of uncertainty, change, power, anger, lament and more.
Led by Dr Emma Pavey.
Wednesday 26th February, 10am-1pm, online via Zoom.
March
LGBTQIA+ Inclusion Training
• Do you want to be the best LGBTQIA+ ally you can be?
• Are you curious to understand terms like: LGBTQIA+, sexual diversity, gender and ‘Queer’?
• Do you believe that the LGBTQIA+ Community belong in our church communities, but are not sure of the best way to include?
• Do you want to champion inclusion in your community?
This one day training event will give you practical skills to take the next steps on your inclusion journey and turn your LGBTQ+ inclusive ethos into tangible actions and results.
LGBTQIA+ allies and members of the LGBTQIA+ community very welcome.
Our trainer will be Steven Williams who was formerly Salisbury District Hospitals Equity, Diversity and Wellbeing Specialist where he oversaw training that included Active Bystander Training and ‘How to be an LGBTQ+ ally’.
Saturday 8th March, 10am-4pm, Emmaus House, WIlton.
Quiet Day: That peace which the world cannot give
The Book of Common Prayer asks, in its second Collect of Evening Prayer, for “that peace which the world cannot give.” In this quiet day we will explore a variety of both poetry and prose, accompanied by reflective music, to help us to find that elusive presence of inner peace.
Led by Barbara Priest.
Saturday 8th March, 10am-4pm, Grove Farm House.
Flourishing Church Schools - what SIAMS expects and how schools and trust are working towards this goal
A chance for clergy to explore what SIAMS is expecting of church schools under the renewed inspection framework; explore how schools and trusts are working to meet and surpass these expectations.
Led by Steve Cowdery
Thurs 13th March, 09:30-11:30, Emmaus House Conference Room.
Reading Scripture Together: Dangerous Sisters and Daring Sisterhood
On the all too infrequent occasions when women take centre stage in the Bible, we usually see them in the secondary role of mother or wife. But there are also several powerful sister narratives in biblical literature which bring out a very different side of these women. In this day where we will be reading scripture together, we will look at the many different faces of biblical sisters: stories of conniving sisters (Lot’s daughters), dangerous sisters (Dina, Tamar), rivalrous sisters (Rachel and Leah), redemptive “sisters” (Ruth and Naomi), and dutiful devoted sisters (Mary and Martha). Together, we will see the variety of ways that biblical literature depicts sisters and we will discuss what wisdom we can draw from these depictions.
Led by Rabbi Shoshana Boyd Gelfand and Dr Jayme Reaves
Monday 17th March, 10am-4pm, Sarum College.
Clergy Golf Wellbeing Day
Join Archdeacon Antony for a wellbeing day playing golf at Rushmore Golf Course. There is a subsidised cost of £10 per person, we ask you to pay in cash on the day.
The deadline to book your place is 31st January.
Led by Archdeacon Anthony Macrow-Wood
Thursday 20th March, from 10:30am. Rushmore Golf Course, Tollard Royal, Salisbury SP5 5QB
Hurting in the Context of Church
The last few years have seen the world at large, including the Church, deal with some serious, and long overdue, reckonings and conversations about the misuse of power. Sadly, many have experienced this in the place where they should be safest- among the people of God at church. The Safeguarding team have commissioned this course to help Clergy and lay leaders become more effective in serving and ministering to those who have experienced hurt at church. It will also provide space to engage with associated issues in their own context/experience. This course is suitable for anyone in a church community role but will be most applicable for members of the clergy, Parish Safeguarding Officers, and those in pastoral roles.
Led by Nicola Eggertsen
Thurs 27th March, 10am-2pm. Emmaus House.
April
Buildings Management Portal (BMP) and Energy Footprint Tool (EFT) drop-in sessions
With the implementation of a new system to manage faculties (April) the Church Buildings Team wants to make sure that you have all the support you need to make the move as seamless as possible. This is why the team will be out and about with two drop-in sessions so that you can bring your laptop or tablet and get registered, know the new system, and to head off any issues you may have. To help cut down on travel time we will have one session in the north of the diocese and one in the south. In addition to that we will also offer Drop-in sessions at the Diocesan offices on selected dates.
Whilst finer details are yet to be organised, we want you to be able to save the date and register your interest. Please see below the dates and general area we intend to be in. If you feel your deanery would like training on the new system, please do let us know and we can arrange bespoke packages for larger groups.
Save The Date: Friday 11th April (hosted in the Wootton Bassett area)
Save The Date: Monday 19th May (hosted in the Warmwell/Wool area).
Please contact dac@salisbury.anglican.org to register your interest.
Celebrating Extraordinary Ordinary Time
In this online morning seminar we will have the opportunity to explore Ordinary Time in a little more detail, and to reclaim this period of the church year as containing its own wonderful dignity and joy, and being pregnant with liturgical, pastoral and theological opportunities.
We will remind ourselves exactly how Ordinary Time works, and note the distinctive nature of the two periods: the first short period in the spring, and the much longer time through the summer and autumn. We will explore the myriad theological and scriptural themes that these times present us with as leaders of worship, preachers, ministers and Christians at worship.
Led by Canon Tom Clammer.
Tuesday 29th April, 9.30am-12.30pm, online via Zoom.
May
Quiet Day for Lay Ministers: Old and New
Old and New - a Quiet Day for Lay Ministers to pause and take stock. A gentle time of short talks, silence and reflective activities.
Led by Rona Orme
Monday 19th May, 10am-4pm, The Greenhouse Christian Centre, Poole.
June
Compiling a Heating Faculty
With the commitment to carbon net zero and the latest change to the faculty rules any change to your heating system is probably going to be one of the biggest considerations for a PCC. There is plenty of guidance, and heating options out there but too much of anything is not always a good thing. Often there is confusion about where to begin, what should I be looking at, what heating type is going to be appropriate etc. This is before we begin to compile a faculty application. The DAC and Church Buildings Team understand the frustration. This is why we are providing this training opportunity on all things heating in a church setting. This training course will cover things like first principles, types of considerations to make early on and how this informs your decision making. What kinds of paperwork and evidence will make a faculty application and why, and the basics of different heating types.
It is never too late or early to consider your heating system and lay the foundations for your PCC to make sound decisions and good applications when it comes to heating applications.
Led by Dan Crooke and the Church Buildings Team.
Save the date: Friday 27th June 2025, 10am - 12.30pm. Location to be confirmed.
Please contact dac@salisbury.anglican.org to register your interest.
Transitions in Ministry
The Diocese of Salisbury is part of the South West Regional Learning Partnership made up of 5 Dioceses: Bath & Wells, Guildford, Oxford, Portsmouth, Winchester and Salisbury.
As part of our shared working, we offer a Transitions in Ministry residential programme (TiMs) for clergy at transition points in their ministry, providing an opportunity to meet with clergy at a similar stage in their ministry from across the wider region.Attendance at consultations is by invitation from the diocese, with the diocese covering the costs. If you think you would benefit from attending one of the consultations, please contact the Director of Mission & Ministry.
- Transitions in Ministry consultation: First Responsibility: This consultation is designed to be an interactive piece of training that is shaped by your questions. This Consultation is for those who have recently been appointed to an incumbency status post. It is intended to help you understand your role more fully and give you the opportunity to explore, in an atmosphere of mutual confidence and away from the parish, any questions or concerns you may have. It will also enable you to discern which areas you need to do more thinking about. It is designed to complement the guidance and preparation you receive within your own Diocese.
- Available dates: 18th - 20th March 2025 & 18th - 20th November 2025
- Available dates: 18th - 20th March 2025 & 18th - 20th November 2025
- Transitions in Ministry consultation: New Post: This consultation is designed for clergy who have recently moved to a new post other than a curacy or first responsibility. It helps participants analyse their new context of ministry and identify future priorities. Those who attend this consultation should have been in their new post for about around 3 - 14 months. There is no “taught” material in this course, participants work in small groups through a process to identify what they have found, their relationship with God, their hopes for the future and by the end some specifics for the next few months. Much of the value of this course comes from interaction with colleagues in a similar position and the sharing of ideas
- Available dates: 10th - 12th March 2025 & 23rd - 25th September 2025
- Available dates: 10th - 12th March 2025 & 23rd - 25th September 2025
- Transitions in Ministry consultation: Preparing for Retirement: This consultation will enable participants who are approaching retirement within the next five years or so to focus on a range of issues related to the closing years of public ministry and the opportunities for continuing discipleship, ministry and well-being when the particular public role has ended. We welcome spouses to this consultation and provide them with the opportunity to reflect on their own and with their partner on what this coming change of life and work might mean for them.
- Available dates: 17th - 19th March 2025 & 16th - 18th September 2025.
- Available dates: 17th - 19th March 2025 & 16th - 18th September 2025.
- Transitions in Ministry consultation: Working with the Newly Ordained: For those taking on specific responsibility for the training of a new clergyperson in their first post after ordination.
- Available dates: 13th - 14th May 2025.