A roadmap for the adventure of the future of church.
You can start right now with your 'six word mission statement'
Most ministers know that church feels harder.
They just don’t know what to do about it.
That’s why Free Range Priest exists - and especially Cage Free Ministry.
Since I started my own ministry in 2016, I’ve been thinking:
there has to be a better way.
So I’ve developed a multi-faceted ministry around sharing what I’ve learned about what is working for sustainable, joyful ministry:
For clergy and lay leaders
For members of congregations
For denominations and dioceses
For those who are Christian (or want to be!) who want less of the ‘stuff’ of traditional church - and more of the Good Stuff
For all of us who want to live a life bound by practices and beliefs that bring us closer in relationship with God - thus closer to love, forgiveness, reconciliation, peace, purpose, and JOY.
If you’re ready for the adventure of what the future of church could look like - and how to grow in your own Cage Free Ministry, this is what it could look like…
Reimagining the System
How we organize ourselves as the church
Vision: Agile, Networked, Technology-based, focused on Christian Practice and small Worshiping Communities.
Get monthly Free Range Priest blog about the big picture of future of church and how the Holy Spirit is transforming the practice of ministry (free subscribers).
Get monthly coaching emails that address each part of the vision, and assess where your ministry falls under each category - and how to make small, practical changes (paid/founding subscribers).
Sign up for Free Range Priest courses, especially ‘Ditch your Church Website’: practical steps for using Planning Center and Substack to create an online and in-person ministry system (paid subscribers get 10% discount - all courses are free for founding members).
‘Ask Father Cathie’ where you are stuck in your ministry - and see how others get ‘unstuck’ (paid/founding subscribers).
Follow Substack Seminary blogs/livestreams, especially Q2: Structure & Business Model and Q4: Technology & Collaboration (blogs are free, livestreams/chat for paid subscribers).
Find your way towards understanding how the wider system of organization, administration, and communication
impacts your ministry.
Then learn which small changes you can make in your context to serve sustainably inside, outside, our alongside the institutional church.
Reimagining Community
What we do and believe as the church.
Vision: Welcome, Belonging, Formation, and Practice.
Practice the faith along with the early church Fathers and Mothers - and everyone in Trexo! - at the spiritual gym (paid subscribers).
Hear directly from early church teachers and monastics - how they practiced the Christian faith, their struggles and joys at Trexo’s Coffee with Coaches (paid subscribers).
Join the chat and livestream community at Substack Seminary (paid subscribers).
Follow Substack Seminary blogs/livestreams, especially Q3: Theology & Community.
Get ‘Weekly Good Stuff’ every Friday and meet other Substack writers, ministers, and theologians.
Find your own community here - practice the faith with others, give - and get - support for innovative ministry, meet other ‘weirdo’ pastors who might be collaborators - or friends.
Then apply what you’re learning to how you’re sharing ministry with others.
Reimagining the Minister
How lay and ordained leaders serve God and the church together.
Vision: Task-based contracts; Not being ‘in charge’ of congregations; Wondering where God is in the midst of all this; Focusing on the ‘root’ over the ‘fruit’ of Christian faith…and giving up trying to save the institution!
Get the ebook ‘the Free Range Priest Way’, which describes the vision in detail (paid subscribers).
Follow Substack Seminary blogs/livestreams, especially Q1: Vision & Systematic Change.
Book a consultation with Free Range Priest ($185) to talk about the specifics of your ministry practice (or become a Founding member, and get an initial consult, plus yearly check-ins.
Find new ways to serve ministry together - clergy and lay, communities and pastors - beyond the ‘standard’ vision of one salaried minister in charge of one set group of people, a building, and some programs.
Then see how even the simplest change in expectations can yield profound spiritual - and church - growth.
Start right now: your six-word mission statement
Earnest Hemingway was famously asked to write a six-word novel.
This is what he came up with:
For sale.
Baby shoes.
Never worn.
Being forced into a narrow framework helps us get to the essence of who we are and what we are trying to do.
It’s hard, though! But also fun.
Create a six-word mission statement for your ministry - in fact, see if you can create a few of them. Maybe even 10 or so.
Don’t worry if it makes grammatical sense. Just reach for the most specific and meaningful words you can find.
A lot of congregations and ministries create ‘mission statements’ that are really descriptions (‘we’re an open and joyful community of faith’’).
Your mission statement should have a good action verb in there somewhere!
Free Range Priest is reimagining ministry in the digital age.
Substack Seminary is building the future of church - together. (technically seven words, but tiny words like ‘and’, ‘the’ and ‘of’ can be snuck in to make it make sense!)
Trexo: a gym for your soul is ancient Christian practice for modern life.
Now it’s your turn! See how many you can come up with for your own ministry.
The church is changing in unprecedented ways.
Ministry is no longer working the way it used to.
We need to learn to bridge the 1st and the 21st centuries.
We need to learn to bring church to people.
We need to break out of the cage of the 20th century model that is collapsing.
We need more ministry JOY.
We need Cage Free Ministry.
You don’t have to do this alone
Free Range Priest is an umbrella ministry, where you’ll get monthly blogs. When you subscribe, you’ll also be subscribed to Cage Free Ministry, and three other Newsletters (unless you want to opt out of any of them - at any time).
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Join other Cage Free Ministers - and ‘weirdo pastors’! - at Substack Seminary, where we’re building the Future of Church - together.
Join the Trexo: a gym for your soul - and learn to practice the faith like the first Christians did.
Get Weekly Good Stuff - a round up of writing on Substack this week that’s moving, entertaining, inspiring, and thought-provoking…
At Free Range Priest, we’re bringing church to people.
Bite-sized ways that YOU can re-imagine ministry and get ‘unstuck’.
Get:
Christian Practice. Ministry Community. Small, practical changes. Good Stuff.
Subscribe to re-discover ministry JOY.