Discovery Year

Discovery Year is a new approach to training from St Hild College (part of a wider programme called ‘Seedbed’). Our mission is to help you feel confident to play your part in your local church.

Discovery Year is for anyone who would like to explore their role in the church through Christian training and personal support and coaching.

The training style used in Discovery Year is non-academic, ensuring that you’ll feel able to learn regardless of your educational background. There are no written assignments, instead emphasis is placed on practical learning and application with support. This approach will help you focus on the topics through a hands-on and experiential learning.

To ensure an easy experience, you will have access to an app which will contain all the details for the track, such as dates and links.

Discovery Year is delivered in two parts: weekly online (Zoom) training on Thursday evenings and monthly in-person meetings in your local area about once a month (we'll agree on the day with the group). The programme runs between January and December 2024 (the dates are listed below, there are no sessions in half-term).

A typical evening online session might look like this:

7:20 pm Opening worship and prayer (10 min)
7:30 pm Introduction from the host and pre-activity (15 min)
7:45 pm Session input from a key practitioner (45 min)
8:30 pm Breakout into peer groups (20 min)
8:50 pm Summing up, application, next steps and questions (10 min)
9 pm End (tutor stays until 9:15 pm for any questions)

The programme for the year will cover topics such as getting ready to be used by God, personal foundations for Christian ministry, God’s call to mission and evangelism, identifying your personal vision, investing in church-life and leadership and teamwork.

To book in to the Discovery Year for the Diocese of Leeds, please use the link below. Please note, no payment is needed as the costs for this programme are being paid by the Diocese for those invited to join.