The Greenhouse at Barnes Close has been approved by the University of Manchester and Nazarene Theological College - Manchester as a “Partnership Campus”. This means that our Seedbeds School for Urban Leadership work, that designs and delivers post-graduate leadership programmes with NTC, can now be officially offered at The Greenhouse for residentials.
The Greenhouse is a former Cadbury family home that we took up as part of the Community for Reconciliation in February last year, just weeks before the Pandemic lockdown. It was in a near derelict state then, but through the thoughtfulness, hard work and sacrifice of our community and supporters it has been transformed and includes beautifully equipped training rooms, a 5,000 volume theological library and is able to host up to 30 students for residentials. We are especially grateful for all those who helped make this day possible, including Deidre Brower-Latz and Peter Rae at NTC who worked for approval with UofM.
The Greenhouse is nestled at the foot of the Waseley Hills between Birmingham and Worcester on five acres of grounds with direct access to the Waseley Hills Country Park. It’s a renewing place, but still accessible to urban leaders as it’s within a two hour drive for 40 million people and just a twenty minute drive from our base in Winson Green. We hope The Greenhouse at Barnes Close as an NTC Partnership Campus will create more opportunities to grow a new generation of community leaders into God’s fullness of life through accredited, practical and formative leadership programmes.
We do need your help if it's possible. Could you please help us make this new venture work by inviting people to join us? Our first MA unit offered by NTC with SUL at the Greenhouse at Barnes Close as Partnership Campus is ‘Social Entrepreneurship: Leading Enterprises’. Just one invitation could make a huge difference in the life of that leader and their community.
We are looking to support people who want to grow in their capacity to take up unique leadership opportunities and make a sustainable difference in the lives of those people and places they are called to love. Could you pass these details onto such people to help make that possible?
Thanks for standing with us.
Shalom,
Ash Barker
Social Entrepreneurship II: Leading Enterprises
Tutors: Bishop Mike Royal (Cinnamon Network) and Dr Ash Barker (Seedbeds School for Urban Leadership)
When? 12-13 November, 19-20 November, 26-27 November 2021 based at The Greenhouse at Barnes Close, though online is available.
Understanding how enterprises function is essential knowledge for any person leading or managing a faith-based organisation. Whether the organisation is a start-up or an established enterprise, the Leading Enterprises course will explore established and innovative leadership principles. Drawing from empirical leadership commentary, organisational life cycles and personal reflective practice, the course will bring together a body of learning that will enable the Christian Leader to lead better where they are. “What do you know now that you wished you knew when you started?” is a question many enterprise leaders reflect on after they have begun their journey. The Leading Enterprises course aims to fill that knowledge gap.
This unit can be taken for a number of MA in Theology pathways through NTC and awarded by University of Manchester. These include: MA in Theology (Urban Mission), MA in Theology (Humanitarian Development and Social Justice), MA in Theology (Transforming Leadership), MA in Theology (Ecology). It takes four units plus a dissertation to gain the award – and each pathway has one required ‘core’ unit with at least one other from that pathway.
Please apply here.
Our 2022 MA units include:
Resilient Discipleship Tutors: Dr Sally Mann (Red Letter Christians UK and Bonny Downs Community Church) and Dr Ash Barker (Seedbeds School for Urban Leadership) When? 11-12 March, 18-19 March and 25-26 March 2022 based at The Greenhouse at Barnes Close, though online is available. This unit explores the nature and call of Christian discipleship as a core motif to sustaining life and ministry in complex urban contexts. What are the biblical, theological and practical frameworks that can be discerned for faithful, resilient and relevant urban engagement as Christ-followers? How can Christian discipleship inform and inspire our spirituality, leadership practices and vision for God’s in-breaking, new urban world? This unit can be taken for a number of MA in Theology pathways through NTC and awarded by University of Manchester. Please apply here.
Ecology and Theology I: Creation and Crisis Tutors: Dr Jeremy Kidwell (University of Birmingham and Rooted) and Dr Deidre Brower Latz (NTC Principal). Guest Lecturers via Zoom: Brian McLaren (BrianMcLaren.net) and more to be announced. When? 1-9 July, 2022 with the first sessions at NTC Manchester, before field-based study at The Greenhouse (accommodation, outdoor experiences and seminars). What does Christian thought and practice have to do with the ecological crisis? In this module, we examine relevant biblical texts, Christian theology from across a variety of areas, and field experiments, in order to gain an awareness of the questions that Christian thought and practice brings to contemporary environmentalism and the ways that close examination of human impacts on God’s creation can illuminate Christian thought and practice. This unit can be taken for a number of MA in Theology pathways through NTC and awarded by University of Manchester. Please apply here.
Community Engagement: Building Communities of Shalom Tutors: Dr Sally Mann (Red Letter Christians UK and Bonny Downs Community Church) and Dr Ash Barker (Seedbeds School for Urban Leadership). Guest Lecturers via Zoom: Richard Rohr (Centre for Action and Contemplation), Brian McLaren (BrianMcLaren.net), Debra Green(ROC), Mike Royal (Cinnamon Network), Andre Van Eymeren (Centre for Building Better Community and Urban Shalom Society) When? 1-2 July, 8-9 July, 15-16 July, 2022 based at The Greenhouse at Barnes Close, though online is available. We need healthy and flourishing communities like never before. Engage with the best thinking and practice in community building with leading community activists and thought leaders in a supportive and inspiring environment. See a fresh vision of what is possible and learn what it takes to see the potential of your community realised in ways you haven’t seen before. This unit can be taken for a number of MA in Theology pathways through NTC and awarded by University of Manchester. Please apply here.
Jubilee+ is hosting this conference and it will be a hybrid event - streamed live from The Message Trust in Manchester on Saturday, November 6, with in-person delegate places also available.
Keynote speakers will be Jubilee+ CEO Natalie Williams and Sam Ward from The Message Trust. Bishop Philip North will lead a
seminar entitled remembering the poor in post pandemic Britain.
Bookings here
https://guestlist.co/events/683436
The latest news on the 2022 Unlock London Walk is now on our website http://www.unlock-urban.org.uk/support_walk.php
I've rarely been able to take part in these London walks but Unlock is a great organisation that I have supported and walked with for over 40 years.