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Focus:

• To learn more about the context in which participants operate – eg, youth; rural.
• To learn how I can improve what I am doing – eg:

  'How do people help me be a better reflector and problem solver?' Each participant might tell their story or present a problem; other participants would only ask questions, which are designed to help the 'presenting' participant understand the situation better and, where appropriate, work towards a solution.

  'How can I be opened up to see more within my situation by listening to what others see?' Participants ask advice from one another and comment on each other's projects.

  'How can I discover more about what God thinks about my situation?' May involve a retreat. Participants may address an issue, listen silently to God for insight into the matter, share reflections arising from that silence, share Scripture or a 'word' from God.

  NB – these three approaches are not exclusive, but one will tend to predominate: 'this is typically how we work together.'

• To get handy tips and answers to questions – participants might email each other questions like, 'Anyone know good resource material for reflective prayer, suitable for people at an early stage of their journey into faith?'
• To learn more about underlying principles – participants might be educators, coaches/mentors, researchers.

Format – includes thinking about (in no particular order):

• Time frame – will this network be ongoing or have a limited life span?
• Mode of meeting – face-to-face and/or online
• Frequency of face-to-face meetings (if any)
• Nature of online interaction
• Numbers – open to all-comers or a ceiling on numbers
• How do people join – eg, by invitation or as a result of advertising our network on Share?
• How much structure – loose vs structured
• What is expected of each individual – eg, do members have to commit themselves to a level of participation?
• Are there minimal rules of interaction – eg, each member can send a maximum number of emails to prevent members being barraged by emails.
• To share findings from the network with the wider church.

  Not all learning networks will want to do this, but for some their focus will include sharing their findings with people outside the group.

  A method of capturing knowledge during meetings is needed

  For these networks, a method of capturing knowledge during meetings is needed – maybe a flipchart which can later be typed up for future reference, or someone taking notes during the group work.

  If knowledge is gleaned during online discussions, someone from your network could summarise them.

  Provided there are no confidential or sensitive details, Share would like to provide a space for your findings to be seen. Please visit: What are learning networks discovering?

Here are three examples of formats for learning networks. These are fictitious but based on real networks:

1. An ongoing learning network of practitioners in the Diocese of Barchester, convened by the missioner, the Reverend Harding. The group comprises a dozen people who are involved in developing fresh expressions of church as more than 50% of their job.

They meet four times a year for the inside of the day and always including lunch. At each meeting, they comment on problems or issues members bring with them, using relevant case studies, sharing wisdom with each other and drawing on some of the material in Share.

The group are part of the online Share Community and discuss issues regularly on there in between their face-to-face meetings.

2. An 'action learning' network in the Plumstead circuit. ('Action learning' is a particular way that a group can learn – as laid out in the book Action Learning by Ian McGill & Liz Beaty, and also covered in the mission shaped ministry half-unit on 'mentoring and coaching'.)

This group comprises six people called to develop fresh expressions from Anglican and Methodist churches. The group meets for an evening every six weeks and looks in depth at one particular issue or experience following the 'action learning' methodology:

• one member shares their presenting issue/problem
• the group role is restricted to asking questions
• they must not share from their own experience
• they end by agreeing action

It arose from the group all sharing in the local mission shaped ministry course a year ago. As the group are in regular face-to-face contact, there is little electronic support.

3. A national network of people who are all involved in new midweek all age communities. The group meets annually for a two-day conference.

There is also a regular email list for members to recommend resources and share lessons learned from their own situations, discussion forums, a blog and the options of members emailing the whole group or some members requesting practical help and support.

In these three examples, note the frequency of meetings, the proportion of online/face-to-face contact, and the number of people in each network. These are different in each example, and yet they seem to work. What would work best in your situation, and why?

Facilitator - two areas of facilitation:

• Facilitator of the network – keep it going, keep to focus, make sure there are fruits, help people join and leave, initiate periodic reviews of progress, be aware of dissatisfaction/conflict and explore with network ways of addressing these, consult network on modifying the format if necessary, etc. Needs to be a member of the network.
• Facilitator of the group when it meets – put members at ease and set the tone, make sure purpose of meeting is clear, keep the group to task, make sure all members have a chance to participate, ensure group sticks to time, make sure everyone is clear about conclusions (if there are any) and the next steps (eg, follow-up action; date and time of next meeting). May come from within the group or outside. Could be a coach. 

Fruits – ie, desired outcomes. Eg:

• To be a better reflector, problem-solver and have more self-understanding
• To have a better plan for the next phase – 'I have new tools, insights and ideas on next steps to take'
• To have a better understanding of underlying principles
• To have engage more effectively with my context
• To feed back our learning to others in the fresh expressions constituency
• To forge new alliances and perhaps start a new project.

What are learning networks and why do they matter?

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