Pioneering Parishes Book Launch - Into All The Parish
About this Event
Pioneering Parishes Book Launch - Into All The Parish
You are warmly invited to our book launch!
We are excited to share our new book: ‘Into All The Parish: Pioneering Practices for the Local Church’.
This short and practical book is distilled from Greg Bakker’s experiences in the Church of England as priest of 30 years, training incumbent of pioneering curates, nurturer of a mixed ecology of church, and pioneer development officer at the Diocese of Portsmouth. Tina Hodgett adds practical wisdom from her time as a pioneer curate, pioneer team vicar and evangelism and pioneer team leader at the Diocese of Bath and Wells. In the book you’ll find practical tools for leadership illustrated by stories from parish life.
The book has received warm and enthusiastic reviews from lay leaders, church leaders, bishops and pioneer advocates.
Please book your place via Eventbrite to attend in person or online.
What can I expect?
The event will begin with refreshments at 7:00 pm, and we will start the ‘sit down’ presentation at 7:30 pm. Finish time is 8:30 pm.
There will be a short time of worship, interviews with the authors, and contributions from people who have benefited from Pioneering Parishes training and are seeing new life in their localities as a result.
When is it? Tuesday, 21 July 2026
Event times:
In-person: 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm (refreshments 7:00 - 7:30 pm)
Online Zoom: 7:30 pm - 8:30 pm (Link provided upon registration. Please check you get the confirmation email – let us know if you don’t.)
Cost: This is a free event
Where is it?
Venue: Sherford Community Hub, Hercules Rd, Sherford, Plymouth PL9 8FA
Sherford Community Hub is located between Sherford Vale Primary School and the House of Brews coffee shop.
Parking: Limited parking is available outside the Hub,with additional street parking within a short walking distance.
Accessibility: The Hub is fully accessible and includes accessible toilets. Please note there are no designated disabled parking spaces.
Book purchase:
You will be able to purchase a signed copy of Into All The Parish: Pioneering Practices for the Local Church at the launch.
If you can’t wait, the book is also available from a range of online retailers.
Although we are not in partnership with Eden, they are currently offering a 15% discount: Into All The Parish on Eden.co.uk
Reviews:
“Into All the Parish by Rev Greg Bakker and Rev Tina Hodgett is for anyone passionate about mission, community, and the future of the church. Rather than another ‘How to Grow Your Church’, this book offers something more hopeful and sustainable; working with what God has already blessed us with.
The book is rooted in scripture, with practical, lived out examples and case studies. Bakker and Hodgett share stories of ordinary churches and people discovering how God is already at work in their parish and learning how to join in.
One of the themes running throughout the book is that this is not another initiative. The authors show readers that mission is not about doing more. Instead, it is about recognising where God is moving, having an expectation that God is already at work, and responding with faith and courage. There is a genuine invitation for churches to become more adventurous; to be willing to walk with Jesus, take a risk, and do something different.
Into All the Parish places an emphasis on working in community, fostering unity and embracing diversity, encouraging churches to value the unique gifts, stories, and cultures already present within their parish thus enabling people to connect with Christianity in meaningful, and relational ways.
For leaders, dreamers, and blue-sky thinkers, this book offers plenty of imagination and possibility. It challenges churches to pay attention to where God is already active in their parish. For anyone longing to see faith become more connected, hopeful, and rooted in everyday community life, Into All the Parish offers a way to do church differently."
Reverend Marie Meredith
Vicar to the Churches of Great Wyrley: St Andrew's and St Mark's
"Into All the Parish is a wise and compassionate book which has at its heart a fundamental commitment to the parish and what it means to have the cure of souls in every place. Flowing from their own experience as parish clergy, the authors understand the desire to hold on to what is familiar in the face of an uncertain and unstable world; yet, as the Bible so often shows, it is precisely into places of uncertainty and newness that God draws us.
This short and lucid book is not a strategy or a programme but “an invitation to a way of being.” Rooted in the theology of dying to self this is no easy journey, but one in which we trust our fragility to the abundance of God. Here, Greg and Tina [‘the authors’?] offer practical companionship for that journey. They share tools and processes that can enable it to happen with suggestions in each chapter for congregational reflection.
Long gone are the days when ‘pioneering’ was seen as being in opposition to ‘traditional’ parish ministry. Here is a clear demonstration of how cultivating a pioneering disposition enables parish church congregations to explore afresh their identity and vocation for the present time. A ‘must-read’ for all who want to see their local churches thrive!
The Reverend Canon Jane Maycock, Canon Missioner, Durham Cathedral
Contact: If you have any questions, please email the Pioneering Parishes Team: [email protected].
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Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
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