Pioneers at Trinity

Are you an Ordained Pioneer Minister (OPM) or looking to train as a pioneer?

Become a stronger bridge for those outside the church, whilst building bridges of support with fellow pioneers in the Trinity community.

1. We recognise the unique needs of pioneers. As you’ll often be working outside normal support systems and structures, it is critical that you are well prepared.

• We offer a strong foundation of Bible and theology on which to build your current and future projects.
• You have the option to train within our gathered learning community (train within an intentional community whilst living in the Bristol area or on-site if you are a single or commuter student) or through our non-residential dispersed learning (DL) track (come into college for six block weeks a year while remaining in your current context).
• Connect regularly with fellow pioneers through gatherings led by Trinity staff with experiences of Fresh Expressions and church planting, with external experts, and with our pioneer associate team member—sharing experiences and wisdom while also receiving external input focused on aspects of entrepreneurial and pioneering approaches to mission ministry. Our pioneer meeting times will take place during DL block weeks so that all of our pioneer students can participate. Beginning in 2020, our Tutor in Missiology, who is responsible for pioneer development at Trinity, is joined by an Associate Pioneer Missioner and by a new student leader who will serve as Pioneer Student Rep.

2. Pioneer modules within the undergraduate programme include:

• Mission Entrepreneurship: Principles—encourages you to relate social entrepreneurship to mission and introduces you to the principles, history, and practice of entrepreneurship through its study in the social sector.
• Elements of Ministry and Mission in Context—introduces you to key terms and themes relating to Christian ministry and mission in the church tradition / vocational context for and within which you are being prepared.
• ILCP B for Creative Communication—encourages you to integrate your current learning with your preferred style of communication.
• Mission and Apologetics in Contemporary Culture—enables you to analyse cultures and subcultures, to think missionally about the relationship between the gospel and contemporary Western cultures. Equips you with the apologetic skills needed to engage with people in contemporary cultures and enables you to develop appropriate strategies for missionary engagement with contemporary cultures.
• You will also be offered assessment options within some of your classes with a pioneering focus.

3. Modules within the MA course include:

• Reflective Practice: Mission and Evangelism—supports students in their ministerial development by engaging with the forms of theological reflection that underpin reflective practice in a ministerial / professional / vocational context.
• A dissertation module (either undergraduate or postgraduate) which could be focused around a theological exploration of particular aspects of pioneer ministry.

4. For your context experience, we can help place you in a pioneer context.

5. Are you an ordinand who will likely serve in pioneering contexts without an official ‘pioneer’ designation?

If this is you, you can still join our pioneering cohort for the teaching and learning sessions.

For more information about training as a pioneer at Trinity College Bristol, call or email our admissions office: admissions@trinitycollegebristol.ac.uk or 0117 968 0254. Read more about some of our recent pioneers here.