Sowing seeds – how a parish can be ‘divinely renovated’

In June 2024, I visited Harrogate for the first time. However, I did not have much time to enjoy the ambience of this Victorian spa town as I was there for a three-day conference at the Harrogate convention centre with the four other members of my parish senior leadership team.

The Catholic Parish Summit was organised by Divine Renovation Ministry UK. The Divine Renovation Ministry has developed a model of parish renewal that my parish, St Francis de Sales, Hampton Hill in the Diocese of Westminster, has embraced. More than 830 delegates attended the summit, including archbishops, bishops, priests, deacons, parish lay leaders, and others from 19 countries, from the UK to New Zealand, from Canada to Lithuania, and from Holland to Australia. 

During the summit, we had the privilege to listen to inspirational speakers and testimony givers and share in poignant moments of worship and prayer with uplifting music, ranging from Gregorian chant to contemporary praise songs. These experiences, coupled with the abundant opportunities for networking with others with a passion for parish renewal, left us feeling inspired and hopeful. On more than one occasion, I wished I could have teleported in my whole parish community to Harrogate so they could see what we saw, hear what we heard, and experience what we experienced.

Fr James Mallon, a Canadian priest, founder of the Divine Renovation Ministry, and author of the book Divine Renovation: Bringing Your Parish from Maintenance to Mission, gave one of the keynote talks. He spoke powerfully about the importance of vision in parish renewal, describing vision as a “God-given picture of the future that produces hope and passion”. Immediately after Fr James' talk, my parish team and I were invited onto the main stage to give our testimony. We shared something of the story of what has been happening in our parish over the past year, especially about how we have been casting a vision for what a renewed parish might look like and how our journey of renewal is going so far.

It was a privilege to be invited to share our story, especially to do so immediately after Fr James, whose vision has inspired me to take my parish on this voyage of renewal. It is both humbling and amazing to think that the story of renewal just beginning to happen in my parish was shared with so many people and that it might inspire and encourage other parishes to embark on this voyage of renewal. Indeed, for the rest of the conference, people stopped to thank us for what we had shared and said how it had inspired them. One such encounter happened immediately after the morning session at which we had spoken. Markus, a charming gentleman from Austria, rushed over to us, asking lots of questions and thanking us for sharing our story so far. Markus desperately wants to see renewal happen in his parish in Austria. We invited him to come and visit us in Hampton Hill, and he invited us to visit him.

It is all the more incredible that we should have been asked to share our story when we are still only in the early stages of our journey. To continue the voyaging metaphor, we have untied from the dock and are leaving the harbour, but we have yet to reach the open sea and hoist the sails. Using a different metaphor, we might say that a seed has been planted and is beginning to take root.

The weekend after I returned from Harrogate, I used my Sunday homily to share with my parishioners what had happened at the summit. With providential serendipity, the Gospel for that Sunday, which included the Parable of the Growing Seed and the Parable of the Mustard Seed, made for an appropriate homiletic connection. Both parables speak powerfully about the nature of God's kingdom and offer insights into how a parish can experience spiritual growth through renewal in our context.

In the parable of the Growing Seed, Jesus describes a man who scatters seed on the ground and then goes about his daily life, sleeping and waking, while the seed mysteriously sprouts and grows. The man cannot fathom how this growth comes about. The parable emphasises that while we are called to sow seeds of faith, it is ultimately God who causes growth. For me, this is a humbling reminder that the renewal of my parish does not rely solely on me, the SLT or even the parish as a whole. St Paul tells the Corinthians, “I did the planting, Apollos did the watering, but God gave growth” (1 Cor. 3:6). The task of those seeking parish renewal is to be faithful in planting and watering the seeds of the Gospel through our actions, words, and ministries, trusting that God will bring them to fruition in ways beyond our understanding. The Divine Renovation Ministry started in the heart of one priest, Fr James Mallon. I have had the privilege of meeting Fr James several times. He would be the first to say that moving a parish from maintenance to mission is the action of the Holy Spirit working in the Church through clergy and laypeople who long to see a Church which fulfils Christ’s Great Commission to “make disciples” (Matthew 27:19).

The Parable of the Mustard Seed offers further insight into how renewal develops in a parish. Although Jesus describes the mustard seed as the smallest of all seeds when planted, he says that it grows into a shrub big enough to provide ample shelter for the birds, an image that speaks to the extraordinary potential that renewal can bring to a parish that longs to bring people to Christ. As I envision the renewal of my parish, the Parable of the Mustard Seed encourages me not to underestimate the impact of the small and sometimes seemingly insignificant steps we are taking to bring renewal to our parish as we seek to implement what the Divine Renovation Ministry has identified as the “three keys” for unlocking parish renewal: the Primacy of Evangelisation, the Best of the Leadership and the Power of the Holy Spirit. Our decision to give primacy of place to evangelisation through the Alpha Course, our efforts to enhance the Sunday experience of Mass through radical hospitality, impactful and engaging homilies and the introduction of contemporary songs of praise which, as Fr James has written, “move the heart”, are the mustard seeds from which God is growing something extraordinary in my parish. By celebrating and rejoicing in the small wins, it is my conviction that we are participating in God’s transformative work of renewing the parish.

Jesus said that the mustard plant grows large enough to provide shelter for the birds. I dream that my parish should become a place which “provides shelter” where people can come to know the person of Jesus Christ and enter into a deep personal relationship with him, lived in the power of the Holy Spirit. The Catholic Parish Summit has challenged me to recognise and celebrate the early signs of growth and renewal, every story of personal transformation, and every new ministry initiative as signs of God's work among us.

As the Parables of the Growing Seed and the Mustard Seed remind us, the Kingdom of God advances in ways that are often hidden and mysterious. The Catholic Parish Summit has encouraged me to keep generously scattering the seeds of renewal, trusting that God, the Divine Renovator, can and will bring forth a rich and bountiful harvest.

Fr Shaun Church is Parish Priest, St Francis de Sales, Hampton Hill.