GROWING GOOD IS A FREE seven-session course from the Church Urban Fund (CUF) that helps churches grow in knowledge about their local community, develop confidence for mission, and build local connections.
Each session includes reflection on scripture, time for discussion, inspiring stories from local churches and simple next steps. The sessions are flexible, practical and easy to use, and the Training Hub for group leaders provides everything you need to get started.
Growing Good can help you reach out through loving service and social action, grow spiritually through prayers and reflection on scripture, and develop a culture where everyone is invited to be part of God’s transforming work.
The Growing Good sessions
Presence
Consider how your church can be an active and visible presence in your community, and hear from an inner city church that has become a beacon of hope in its local community.
Perseverance
Explore the value of investing in communities, even when it’s hard and slow, and find out how one church has invested in local schools over the long-term, and seen fruit.
Hospitality
Discuss the importance of offering a welcome that goes beyond offering food, and learn how a church worked with its local community to start a vibrant café and build relationships.
Adaptability
Explore how being open to doing things differently can encourage new growth and find out how one church has adapted their worship to involve people of different ages, cultures, ethnicities, and backgrounds.
Participation
Consider how participation in social action can be a way for people to become part of the life of your church and hear what this meant for one family after they had a faced a difficult time.
Justice *NEW SESSION FROM SEPTEMBER 2025*
Explore how acting for justice begins with building relationships and listening to one another’s stories and learn from church that is building relationships, developing local leaders and challenging injustice through faith-filled community organising.
Next steps
Reflect on the things you have learned from the Growing Good sessions and the practical next steps you might take individually and as a church
Who is it for?
Growing Good can be used by churches of all sizes, traditions and settings. It has been used successfully by rural churches and urban churches, with teams of churches and across deaneries. Rather than being prescriptive, the materials offer a framework for conversations and actions that grow out of a deeper understanding of your church’s context and community, and your community’s particular strengths and challenges.
Churches have found the course particularly useful at key moments in the churches calendar, including at the start of a new year or during Lent. Others have used it when planning for mission or putting together a parish profile. And some have used it with groups of people who volunteered for a church activity to help them get to know each other and establish a shared culture. For example, a church that was about to start a regular community meal gathered their volunteers to use the hospitality session.
A number of churches have taken the Bible readings, films and learning objectives from a session to create an outline and content for Sunday worship – some churches have used the themes as a sermon series.
How it works
Each of the sessions lasts around 90 minutes and follows a consistent structure with a variety of elements designed to be accessible and engaging for all participants:
- Opening question
- Bible reflection
- Case study film featuring stories from churches and insights from research
- Group activity or discussion
- Prayer
- Optional next step
The sessions focus on practical actions and activities that you can implement straight away. Each session finishes with suggestions for takeaway activities that can be completed by people after the session, and the final next steps session provides tools to help the group present their ideas to the wider church and leadership.
It’s also important to consider how you will include your church leadership in your Growing Good journey. If the church leadership aren’t involved running the course they could be invited to attend one of the sessions or you can use the templates in the next steps session to share a summary of your ideas and reflections.
Resources included
All the session materials are accessed via the Growing Good website and can be viewed online, downloaded and printed.
The Training Hub for group leaders offers a full introduction to running the course including tips for preparing and leading the sessions, and a video introduction for your group members featuring Bishop Lynne Cullens. The team at CUF is also on hand to offer support or answer any questions you might have.
Additional material includes resources for specific church contexts (rural; small congregation; churches without a building) and a video from Bishop Rob Wickam digging deeper into some of the biblical themes that can inspire us to engage with social action as part of our commitment to Christian mission.
Tried and tested by churches
Growing Good helps churches grow in knowledge about their local community, grow in confidence for mission, and grow new and deeper relationships. Growing Good has helped churches to reflect, celebrate, and step out to listen to and serve their community.
“We found it incredibly encouraging to hear the stories of others who were doing simple things to connect to their community and connect their community to faith.
– Rev Dan Scott, Christchurch Three Mills, East London
We reflected on our presence as a community and the many ways we are present, and this inspired voices that otherwise wouldn’t be heard to suggest new ideas.
We also developed a deeper desire to listen to our community… how we can be people who listen to our community and play our part in seeing this community flourish.”
Based on research
Growing Good helps churches reflect on the key insights of the GRA:CE project, a three year research project from CUF and Theos that identified some common themes shared by churches that are growing in number, depth and impact. Growing Good sessions are shaped around these themes.
Easy to use
Group leaders tell us that the Growing Good sessions are flexible, practical and easy to use. Our Training Hub for group leaders provides everything you need to get started, from an overview of each session to top tips from churches who’ve used the course.
We’ve created the Training Hub to give you all the information you need to feel confident about running the Growing Good course. Each short video covers an aspect of the course material, from an overview of each session to top tips from churches who have used the course.
“It’s really adaptable to your own place and situation.”
Growing Good in East Yorkshire
“The small group of eight who originally did Growing Good together were motivated by a desire to do something in the village and see a change. People have been at St Peter’s for a long time and it can be hard when you’re not seeing much growth.”
- – Rev’d Eileen Connolly, Curate at St Peter’s Church, Wawne
Prompted by the Growing Good course to consider specific needs in their village community, a small group at St Peter’s, Wawne, had the idea for a pop-up café at the village hall. Presence and hospitality were key themes for the group as they considered how they could reach out into the community.
“The experience of the pop-up café has brought a new energy and a new life to people in their faith. A growing expectation of what could happen as a team working together with different skills. That has strengthened possibilities which has been a real encouragement and it’s given us a confidence as a church and a team that we didn’t have before.”
Related resources
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