The 2024 Mission Formation Program will be held online:  

Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday, Sept. 17, 18 & 19, 12-3pm Eastern

Stay tuned for Registration details!

The 2023 Mission Formation Program was held in person May 2-3 at St. Mark’s Church in Tampa, Florida, in tandem with Missio, the Global Mission Conference that was held there May 3-5.

The 2025 Mission Formation Program will be held in person in tandem with Missio, scheduled for April 30-May 2 at Catedral Bon Pastor in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. 

Program Description:

The Mission Formation Program is intended to equip mission activists to participate knowledgeably and effectively in God’s mission globally.  The program’s centerpiece is a sequence of two or three day-long sessions over a two-year period.  As in 2023, each day can be divided into two half-days.  The program is typically offered just before the annual Global Mission Conference, though it was held online during the Covid pandemic, as it will be in 2024 for other reasons.  The program can also be offered locally or regionally upon request.

Participants explore biblical foundations of mission, mission history and theology, mission discernment and standards, partnership and companionship in mission, congregational and diocesan support groups, mission team and project development, leadership styles and group process.

In addition to program attendance, participants complete reading, carry out a project between Year 1 and Year 2, or over the 2-year period, and prepare mission reports. Upon completing the program, participants receive certification as Global Mission Agents.

Desired Learning Outcomes:

The GEMN Global Mission Formation Program is designed so that participants will:

• Be familiar with Biblical Foundations for Mission.
• Know the broad outlines of Anglican and Episcopal Mission History.
• Situate themselves among various options in Mission Theology.
• Develop Cross-Cultural Sensitivity.
• Understand Mission Companionship and how to develop it.
• Understand how to form Mission Committees in parishes and dioceses.
• Know the Episcopal Church’s Standards for Sending and Receiving Missionaries.
• Understand how to lead Short-Term Mission Teams, including youth teams.
• Identify their own Leadership Styles and how they interact with others.
• Cultivate Methods of Group Process.

Program Components:

The Mission Formation Program seeks to catalyze the desired learning outcomes through a number of components. Participants will:

• Attend the two or three daylong program days, one in Year 1 and one in Year 2.
• Complete a project over the course of the year between Formation Program sessions.
• Participate in a Mentor Group in the time between Year 1 and Year 2.
• Complete required readings and some optional readings from the Formation Program Bibliography and submit an evaluation of each book.
• Attend a diocesan or regional mission event.
• Participate in an international or domestic mission team, or undertake an alternative approved by the Formation Team.

Daylong Sessions:

Ideally, each participant attends two successive Formation Program sessions, but if circumstances make it difficult to attend in two successive years, one can extend the program over a longer period of time.

The sessions are designed to balance cognitive learning with growing spiritually. As the learning outcomes suggest, there is material to learn, but the sessions feature an inductive and discussion-based approach. The Formation Program provides a small, comfortable group in which to grow in God’s mission. Graduates have commented that they cherish the friendships that are formed and the inspiration that comes from sharing with one another.

Project:

The Formation Project is an undertaking related to global mission awareness or activity, and its focus can be local, diocesan, organizational or international. The project is proposed by the participant and approved by the Formation Program Team at the participant’s first daylong session or shortly thereafter. Each participant is assigned a mentor. The participant submits an update in January and a final report at the second daylong session. Examples of appropriate fieldwork include:

• A diocesan global mission inventory.
• A study of a particular parish, diocesan or organizational global mission initiative.
• A study of Companions in Transformation or Becoming a World where Love is the Way.
• Formation of a diocesan or parish mission committee, and reflection on it.
• Participation in a global mission team, and reflection on the experience.
• An interview-based study of a global missionary.