Invitation to a Parish Conversation
Parish Conversations 2026
St Paul’s Church Newington 6th May 2026
Dear Father John,
Last year you will have received news about our Parish Conversations. I write now to invite you and your colleagues to your Parish Conversation meeting with Archdeacon Jonathan and a member of the Trinity House staff on Wednesday 6 May 2026.
Parish Conversations are an initiative linked to the priority in Southwark Vision 2024-35 of ‘Valuing Our Parishes’. They are most definitely not inspections. The conversations will be, first and foremost, an opportunity for listening – for members of the Bishop’s Team to hear about the joys, challenges, concerns and opportunities that each parish is presently grappling with. They will also be opportunities for us to work with you to identify what additional or new support might best benefit you and your colleagues as you seek to thrive in mission and ministry in your parish. We plan to use the well-established model of ‘Appreciative Enquiry’ to help structure our conversations, exploring together those areas where God is already at work in the parish – and spending some time imagining with you what a healthy and exciting future might look like.
In terms of what the day will look like, we would like that to be led by you. You may wish to involve leadership from your local school or schedule in some time to meet with one of the key groups in your parish. An outline for the day might look something like this:
| TIME | ACTIVITY |
| 16.30 | Meeting with the incumbent or clergy team |
| 17.00 | Meeting with a key parish group – this could be any group you choose, but might be a good time if you have a church school to meet representatives |
| 18.30 | Supper with a church group such as Mothers’ Union or young people |
| 19.30 | A meeting with the PCC |
| 20.30 | Finish |
However, please note that this is offered as an example – please don’t feel that your Conversation will be restricted to this format. Your choices will depend on your church and we want to understand your parish more deeply, not judge it.
After the visit, you will receive a letter from the team which will include our overview from the visit. You are also welcome to provide us with your feedback from the visit so that we can listen and improve to make other conversations more meaningful.
All the background information you need can be found online here https://southwark.anglican.
