Sam was engaged to support a strategic review of church societies, buildings, and community impact, with the aim of achieving sustainability and revitalising community outreach.
The project began with a two-part listening exercise; firstly, celebrating Methodist heritage, and secondly, gathering deep insight from members through workshops and consultation.
This engagement informed a full analysis of the circuit’s assets, budgets, demographics, and potential for launching new social enterprise initiatives. Sam delivered a strategy to reconfigure buildings and activities to better serve local needs, alongside coaching and team-building sessions to strengthen leadership and cohesion.
Initiatives included The Giving Garden, promoting intergenerational engagement through food growing and sharing, with further plans for a Compassion Hub, church mergers and several major capital projects.
This project required careful stakeholder management and sensitive atonement to power dynamics.
Sam and his team guided us through a listening project, helping us to appreciate the heritage of Methodism in Darlington, as well as to understand what energies and skills are available within the existing Methodist societies across the town. He undertook a mapping exercise for us which revealed the demographic, social and economic landscape of Darlington in a fresh way. This led to the development of exciting plans for a new Methodist Society to serve a geographic area identified as the priority area for mission in Darlington.
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