Friday, June 17, 2016

KCML strategic plan “enthusiastically endorsed”

On Saturday, I was in Auckland presenting the KCML strategic plan to Council of Assembly. It is something I have been working away on for the first 8 months of the job, through team retreats, listening and engaging across the church, seeking feedback on drafts from key stakeholders and testing pieces in a range of contexts. I presented to Council of Assembly for around 20 minutes, then took questions for a further hour.

While this is much more now to do in terms of communication, the Council of Assembly report out today is some indication of our direction as KCML. Key phrases worth underlining include:

adaptability to change
training for lay people
innovative training outside traditional congregation contexts
enthusiastically endorsed

The Leadership Sub-committee report was one of the highlights of this Council meeting. Knox Centre for Ministry and Leadership (KCML) principal, the Rev Dr Steve Taylor was welcomed to the meeting. Steve made a presentation on the KCML strategic plan. He outlined the key factors KCML believed it needed to concentrate on, and the consultation process engaged in so far. He noted that we live in a changing world, that the Church is changing and that KCML also needs to foster adaptability to change.

Steve explained the five core areas of KCML’s strategic focus, and elaborated on presbytery partnerships, new mission seedlings, a national learning diploma, post-graduate mission and ministry practice. He indicated that KCML aimed to provide Presbyterian-centred, life-long learning. It was recognised that the specific cultural contexts of Te Aka Puaho, Pacific Island and Asian congregations would be included within the strategic planning. The plan identified training for lay people as particularly important for the future of Presbyterianism. There was discussion about how the Council could best resource, within the Church’s strategic goals, support of KCML’s programmes. The Council enthusiastically endorsed the KCML strategic plan and agreed that KCML would work with the Leadership Sub-committee, Resource Sub-committee and others to investigate options for funding and implementing its strategic plan.

Council endorsed a proposal from Rev Diane Gilliam-Weeks, convener of the Leadership Sub-committee, that LSC, Press Go and KCML appoint a task group to work strategically together to develop and have oversight of local learning entities for innovative training outside traditional congregation contexts. This would provide the ability to oversee the range of partnerships and ensure the learnings/benefits from these local learning entities are effectively communicated to the rest of the Church for the benefit of God’s mission.

Posted by steve at 03:29 PM

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