At the end of November, church staff from across all the Co-Mission network gathered for three days together at High Leigh Conference Centre in Hertfordshire for our annual ‘Staff Focus’. At Staff Focus, we gather church staff to be refreshed in God’s word, receive training from Co-Mission and guest speakers and share encouragements and challenges with our peers to support each church staff member as they return to ministry in their area of our city.

This year, our focus was on ‘Reaching all of London’, as we work towards our values and goals, particularly of reaching Muslims and increasing diversity in the leadership of our network and in our churches. We opened each morning with time spent in prayer for each other and our city, before we heard from Co-Mission speakers on passages from Mark’s gospel. Chris Howles (Oak Hill College) and a visiting missionary working in the Arabian Peninsula led interactive seminars training us in our cross-cultural evangelism, and we spent time discussing diversity within Co-Mission in groups and in church cluster groups. The evening sessions were opportunities to hear from a range of brothers and sisters in interviews, looking at the work and ministry of young leaders from non-majority backgrounds in Co-Mission, as well as looking ahead to exciting church planting projects.

Alongside teaching, there was plenty of time for worship & prayer and downtime for connecting with each other. Everyone met in peer groups to share the highs and lows of their own area of ministry with others in similar roles. Enjoying these new friendships, as well as longstanding ones, is one of the real highlights of gathering annually at Staff Focus.

Please pray that our church staff teams will have been refreshed and encouraged by their time at Staff Focus, and have returned to their ministry and corners of London equipped, supported and spurred on for ministry.