Partnerships Home
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About Partnerships
Our 18 Partnerships were formally established by Bishop Séamus at Pentecost 2017. You can learn more about them, or visit our partnerships directory.
Resources
Guidelines and other resources developed for use by partnerships.
FAQs
Have a look at the questions being asked about partnerships and the answers offered. You might have some of your own too.
Sharing Area
Why reinvent the wheel? This area will include ideas and developments from partnerships. Send yours in too!
The Forward Together in Hope website is no longer being updated but is still accessible.
All of the resources developed over the last 3 years will be available here until further notice.
Partnerships Sharing Area
We are members of one Diocesan family accompanying each other on the same journey of renewal. As we move forward together we have the opportunity not only to develop our own partnerships but to contribute ideas and approaches that might be helpful to those in other areas too.
This section contains various ideas and approaches that we get to hear about from partnerships. However, we can only get to hear about them if you tell us, so please provide us with anything you feel might be suitable.
Contact us by email or 0191 243 3304.
Some Food For Thought
During our Forward Together in Hope journey we gathered from Parish Questionnaires some of the many ideas and activities that were put forward as examples that might be of interest to others. These were collated and published in June 2016 as a 20-page booklet under the title ‘Some Food for Thought’. It is made available again here (pdf - word) as a reminder of the approach and a resources that can be dipped into.
Latest Items:
Jesmond St. Mary Partnership share their Vision
Based on the responses after our 'Away Day', our vision for our partnership is for us to be a community of communities consisting of members whose discipleship has its source in the joy of the gospel.
In accordance with this vision, we initially established working groups on Communications, Formation and Prayer and Spirituality. These are ongoing and we have started to look at how to support and build upon existing good practice in the areas of young people and Outreach to those in need.
August 2018
Brinkburn Partnership Reflects on its First Year
As the end of the first full year in our new diocesan structures, Brinkburn Partnership has worked creatively in each of its working groups: Development, Finance and Spirituality. It has been so good and very constructive to work together, making new relationships, and sharing gifts, ideas and expertise.
The Partnership Development Group (PDG) has been greatly exercised by the re-thinking of our Worshipping Communities and the revision of Sunday Mass times. After considerable discussion and reflection, we gathered as our Partnership in St. Aidan’s school in Ashington on 14 May to hear the proposals.
July 2018
Pontop Youth Partnership Group
Prior to the launch of our Partnership we had a Youth Development Group that had run successfully over a number of years but had perhaps lost focus and direction in more outreach to our young people. Where to begin?
July 2018
Bede Partnership Celebrates Patronal Feasts
We are conscious that if partnership is to be meaningful it is important that parishioners in the worshipping communities that form our ‘Bede Partnership’ have opportunities to become partners by getting to know each other: to find out where the church buildings are situated; to learn about the history and the present of the parishes; and, to appreciate the people forming the Church.
To gently support this relationship building, we extended a practice that had developed in our clusters. On the patronal feasts of the churches in our partnership, only one Mass is concelebrated that day in that church, which is a celebration for the whole partnership.
July 2018
John Ingram - Inclusive About Development Planning
The Partnership discussed that our major push should be to generate a meaningful, workable, adaptable Development Plan - the main discussion was how? It was decided to subdivide the plan into five sections, Worship, Stewardship, Formation, Youth and Communications - each section had a goal and three objectives
July 2018
Past items:
Partnership name Date Topic Lindisfarne July 2018 Day of Reflection Monkwearmouth July 2018 Summer (quarterly) Newsletter Benedict July 2018 Celebration Mass Benedict July 2018 July Newsletter Heavenfield June 2018 Partnership Pilgrimage Masses Hogarth June 2018 Partnership Play Blackfriars May 2018 Partnership Vision Blackfriars May 2018 Ministers Annual Day of Reflection St. Mary the Virgin May 2018 Partnership Mission Statement and Prayer Escomb May 2018 Partnership note (weekly) example Hogarth May 2018 Day of Prayer and Reflection for Women Blackfriars Sept 2017 Partnership early planning stages St. Mary the Virgin August 2017 Partnership early planning stages