Update on Plenty!

Many of you will have read about the progress of the Joy in Enough programme on the Green Christian website, or had a look at the Joy in Enough website. Some of you perhaps will have taken part in a Joy in Enough session at one of our On the Road events over the last few years before lockdown last March.
The revision of Plenty!, the small group discussion resource currently being developed as part of the Joy in Enough programme is now nearing completion. With the aid of a generous grant from the Sisters of the Holy Cross, as well as Paristamen CIO and the Saltley Trust, we have been working with Katherine Hogg, a materials developer, to rethink the approach and some of the materials originally developed for Plenty!. You can hear Katherine talking about her work here: A video update on Plenty – Joy in Enough
Through the support of our grant-givers we have also contracted a graphic designer, Sarah Fisher, to help us with the visual look and feel of the materials for facilitators and participants.
Plenty! is based on the model of a small group gathered informally around a table under the guidance of a facilitator, (perhaps in a coffee shop), becoming informed about and exploring a range of issues relating to the social, psychological and theological implications of our current economic paradigm. The aim is to examine the usually unexamined assumption that endless economic growth is essential to human flourishing; and to begin to imagine other ways of living together well. It covers Christian responses to sustainability, consumerism and economics. Plenty! is planned to comprise six 75-minute sessions, each session being divided up around key questions for discussion, a video clip and some pre-reading. The working titles for the six sessions are:
1. Plenty! – Inequality.
2. Just can’t get enough – Consumerism and advertising
3. Running out of planet – The climate emergency
4. God is in business – Economic justice
5. Growing pains – The growth imperative and debt
6. Joy in Enough – Towards sustainability and wellbeing
Katherine has been reworking our Plenty! approach so that the material can be used by on-line groups as well.as (in the future!) face to face ones. Each session is currently being trialled with selected groups, facilitated by Katherine or members of the Joy in Enough Enabling Group, to generate feedback and make the sessions even better.
We envisage that some pilots of the full Plenty! programme, with all its six sessions, will be able to go ahead in March and April, and the programme formally launched in May – discussions about what the launch might look like are taking place shortly. We have already had some offers to be involved in these pilots by local Green Christian groups.
There are several ways in which you can support the development of the Plenty! programme:
1. The Green Christian Board of Trustees has agreed to fund a 3-hours per week post to support Plenty! administration, once the programme begins to be rolled out. If you would like to be considered for such a role, probably starting in late March or April, please contact John Payne (johnpayne@greenchristian.org.uk ) for further details.
2. Some of you have already expressed interest in being a facilitator for Plenty!. If you haven’t been approached for this role yet, or you would like to be considered for it and you haven’t yet expressed interest, please write to John Payne, as above or another member of the Joy in Enough Enabling Group
3. If you are interested in offering general support to Joy in Enough as a volunteer, to work with John or the paid administrator, please again contact John Payne, as above
4. If you think your local Church, or a local Christian group you’re part of, might be interested in running Plenty! after April this year, please let John Payne know.
There is no exactly similar course for Christians currently available, we believe, and we are all excited by the prospect of Plenty!’s 6 sessions getting underway. Please contact John if you would like any more information.
John Payne
johnpayne@greenchristian.org.uk
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Comments on "Update on Plenty!"
David Rhodes:
Excellent video update! A very engaging (and resassuring)presentation by Katherine Hogg who struck exactly the right tone. Loved the e-word tease which helped to keep us interested. Well done!
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