Appreciative Inquiry - Voting Results
The voting has taken place - click here to see the results.
Voting was overwhelmingly supportive of action supporting the involvement of our children and young adults in parish life, and supporting their spiritual journey.
So that we can have some action in the area of children and youth activities, we would like to invite anyone with an interest or skill in this area to join us in the planning and management of this. Please contact a PPC member or the Parish office to volunteer your services. We are considering, for instance, employing a youth ministry worker within the cluster, and having a regular youth mass here.
Appreciative Inquiry - History
The three Pastoral Councils of our Parish Cluster met for the first time this year in early March. This Day of Formation began with 8am mass at Kingswood. Afterwards we adjourned to the hall for breakfast and then got stuck into a process of Appreciative Inquiry. Cathy Whewell led us on this search for the best in people, their organisations and the relevant world around them. The process involves asking questions about what gives life to our living system (the parish) when it is most alive, most effective, and most capable.
The day focussed on the Cluster as a system, but now we will bring the Appreciative Inquiry back to the Parish. So this is your chance to think about things before we interview you. The interview is a simple process, more like a chat over coffee. In your life as part of the parish there will have been ups and downs, highpoints and challenges. We will ask you to focus on a highpoint, a time when you felt that the parish was what you had hoped it would be. Perhaps a personal story where the parish made a difference to you, or something the parish did or participated in that made you proud. What happened with this high point? Why is it a high point for you? And if you were to fall asleep for ten years and everything you hoped for your parish had come true, what would you see?
We will bring together everyone's appreciative answers, to help us discover how the parish gives life to our living system. We will be able to increase our potential. Your Parish Council is not here to tell you how things are going to be in ten years. We are here to help facillitate the dreams of all parishioners for the parish. And for that we need everyone to be involved and take ownership - the Goodwood Parish is its parishioners.
During the Cluster Appreciative Inquiry, and the Cluster Meeting that followed a week later, we discovered that there were (of course) differing views on how the cluster gives life, and how the cluster should be organised into the future. But those who attended agreed that the appreciative inquiry process, a celebration of what is right with us, gave us strength and inspiration to start to fix what's wrong.
David Kilmartin
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