Programme Overview

‘Conviviality - diaconal life in diversity’ inspires a new practice of everyday life and diakonia. It supports a new understanding of what it means to be a diaconal church and works out the implications for professional diaconal workers and their organisations. It is open to surprise and innovation! It recognizes the ambiguity and complexity in the situation and the need for creativity. The new practice of diakonia relates to situations of diversity and polarisation, of injustice and the desire for peace. Out of everyday experience, it supports efforts for empowerment in the locality and towards power holding institutions and organisations which shape life for good or ill.

Who is the programme for?

The Learning Programme is for groups who would like to develop their understanding of being diaconal actors and being a diaconal church in the present challenging context. It is for people in local churches or in church districts, or who are involved in diaconal work or organisations. It is also for people who are studying diaconia or social and pastoral ministry. In some cases, it can be very useful for a group with leadership responsibility to build up a common vision.

What are the key themes of the programme?

Experiencing 
Experience and relationships are at the core of conviviality. It can be in everyday life, work life, in the local congregation or faith group and with a diverse group. This approach also can be expressed in professional work in social, youth or community work or diakonia

Seeking Conviviality 
In this Section of the programme, the focus is on conviviality, how it is understood and how it can be used to reflect on practice and reality and how it shapes what is hoped for. It includes a perspective on diakonia through this lens, in relation to everyday life and social practice of people with diverse faiths and motivation. 

Reflection on Practice 
The third Section of the programme builds on the work done on personal experience and practice, both the practice of everyday life and diaconal practice and the deep digging into the understanding of conviviality. The focus of this what conviviality means in practice – the practice of everyday life and ‘pastoral’ or ‘professional’ practice. It also explores how wider social, economic, and ecclesial structures can support or undermine convivial life together. 

Working for Change
The fourth Section is concerned with putting ideas into practice, in everyday life, in professional work and also by changing the structures or the culture of organisations, including churches and diakonia. It opens up the practice of working for a convivial social and economic policy and take environmental sustainability into account. In this Section, members of the programme group will work out their personal action for change and where appropriate the group will also develop common action for change. 

How is the learning process organised?

The Sections of the programme build together a common process and the design maps a series of steps:

• Everyday life and convivial life together
• Towards a convivial diaconal church and diakonia
• Towards convivial diaconal practice
• Towards conviviality in the social and economic context

Each of the four Sections take about 15 hours of contact time and is generally broken down into about 90-minute sessions. The learning is in a process, so each session builds on the one before, as does each Section. This means it can be organised flexibly and so it can be in a series of one day workshops or four weekend workshops or longer. 

What is the role of the programme leader?

The learning programme may be led by one person, but it is also worth thinking about creating a small leadership team. The leader is responsible for preparing and steering each session and there are resources in the form of Handouts, PowerPoint presentation or suggestions for activities which can be accessed via the button, ‘Material for Programme Leaders’ on the web page. This also includes some more general ideas that can be used in different sessions as needed. Other resources are to be found via the button, ‘Publications on Conviviality’.

Support for the leader

The leader or leaders are not alone! If the leader needs support, or has any questions there is a link on the web page, accessible through the button ‘Programme Support’

Building  up the Network

We would like to build up a network of people who are using the programme or implementing ideas related to ‘Seeking Conviviality’. It might also be interesting to link with others who are using the programme and ideas stemming from it in your region or in other contexts so please also check ‘Programme Support’ It is not only for use in case of any questions you may have!!