On July 19th, 2023, we embarked on a journey to elevate our commitment to our dedicated minister community through the “Crafting Connections: The ROSIM Co-Creation Campaign.”
The objective of this campaign is twofold:
- To amplify our support to the community; and
- To ensure that each voice plays a vital role in shaping the future.
Before we dive into more news, we wanted to make sure that you’ve heard that ROSIM has officially been recognised as a professional body by HMRC! This landmark comes with a perk – ROSIM members can claim their subscription fees as a tax-deductible expense while filing their tax returns. This marks a significant accomplishment that fills us with immense pride, as it enhances the quality assurance for this remarkable assembly of esteemed professionals.
This is just a taste of the exciting changes and improvements we have in store for our ROSIM community. We are growing together and each one of you is central to that journey. We are looking forward to your continued support and engagement as we reshape ROSIM’s future.
We’ve summarised the emails for you so you can immerse yourself in all of the information without needing to find it.
EMAIL 1: UPLIFTING UPDATES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR OUR VIBRANT COMMUNITY
We hope you’re doing well in your ministry. We’re excited to update you on opportunities focused on enhancing our community experience. By fostering a positive atmosphere, we believe these initiatives will empower each minister. Read on to learn about our ongoing efforts and how you can get involved!
Quality Assurance: Growth and Excellence Through Continuing Professional & Personal Development (CPD): We understand CPD has various meanings, but in OneSpirit and within ROSIM, we envision it as exciting ongoing learning. We don’t have specific requirements for CPD and value your input on how it should look. Rest assured, CPD should be enjoyable and tailored to your interests. Reflection is key in ongoing learning. As an interfaith minister, we’d love to hear your thoughts on how CPD should shape our ongoing learning journey.
Empowering Ministers: Building a Stronger Community: Join our inner working groups, like the Ethics & Standards Committee, to make a difference and strengthen our community. Get involved to directly engage and leave a lasting impact on our collective growth.
Annual Return: Showcasing Interfaith Ministry Impact: We’re launching an Annual Return to highlight the diversity and impact of our ministering communities. By sharing your experiences, we can develop resources to support and empower our ministers. We need your input to make the Return engaging and comprehensive. Your participation helps us showcase the unique nature of interfaith ministry and build a stronger, more supportive network. We’re grateful for your feedback on this process, and for understanding the importance of launching an Annual Return!
EMAIL 2: ONESPIRIT’S ANNUAL RETURN
Firstly, Thank You: We extend our heartfelt gratitude to you all for your commitment and contributions to creating a more compassionate and inclusive world. Your constructive feedback is crucial to our continual growth and improvement, as it is you that we serve. We encourage proactive and innovative input to foster positive change.
What the Annual Return Involves: The Annual Return form allows us to collect both quantitative and qualitative data from our community to paint a comprehensive picture of our collective ministry. We’re currently developing questions that will inspire curiosity and invite deep reflection on your unique contributions.
Why We Are Doing the Annual Return: The Annual Return aims to capture the rich diversity of our minister community and showcase how our members put their training into practice. This insight will be used to create a compelling summary for external sharing, emphasizing your individual paths and showing room for a wide range of expressions within our community.
FAQ Section:
– What questions will be asked? This is what we’re seeking your collaboration on! We’re hoping to collaborate to formulate questions that will accurately reflect your ministries for our broader audience.
– How will the return information be used? The information will be used for creating a summary highlighting diverse minister works, connecting the public with ministers, and designing engaging pages on our upcoming website.
– How is my non-celebrant ministry showcased? Share about your unique services and ministries in the open-ended questions without obligation to answer every question. Not every question will relate to you, and that’s perfectly okay! Answer what applies to you and where you’re feeling compelled to respond.
– How can feeling invalidated by quantitative questions be avoided? We’re focused on appreciating your unique contributions, not on comparing numbers. The Annual Return is a celebration of our diverse Interfaith Ministry – nothing more. We’re simply looking to gather information so we know if what we are doing is working for our ministers, and what our ministers are doing to educate the wider public. It is not about comparisons, competitions, or stress. This will be a simple form that will only compel you to reflect!
– Why now? Introducing the Annual Return now helps us adapt to changes better, steer our educational efforts more proficiently, and showcase the spectrum of interfaith minister roles. You’ve seen the changes we’re making – we’re moving in a different direction, where our values remain but how we showcase them is more inclusive and welcoming. Also, why not now? We only want to showcase you and your work – as we all know, it’s needed now more than ever!
– Will I have more opportunities to provide feedback? Yes! Your thoughts and opinions are valuable, and we keep feedback channels open for ongoing input. You can always send us an email and we will respond the best way that we can. We are committed to maintaining an open dialogue with our minister community.
OneSpirit’s Ongoing Learning Offering: Insights from Survey Responses: Thank you for your survey responses, which have provided profound insights into your experiences. Your collective views have highlighted the need for clarity around our Continued Professional & Personal Development (CPD) approach and have suggested more diverse learning styles.
We understand the importance of keeping learning stress-free so that you can focus on growth and are dedicated to addressing these concerns. We assure you that we took everything you provided us with to heart, and we’d like to revamp our offerings for you!
EMAIL 3: WHY JOIN ROSIM? WHY DOES IT EXIST?
Why ROSIM?
Personal Growth and Empowerment
ROSIM provides a nurturing environment in which members can flourish both personally and professionally. Upon joining ROSIM, you become not only a member of an organisation but an integral part of a vibrant, supportive community dedicated to mutual advancement. Sharing and learning from varied experiences can significantly enrich your understanding and perspective, leading to profound personal growth! This process fosters elevated confidence, self-awareness, and a deepening of empathic understanding.
Access to Resources
ROSIM provides access to a dynamic, cooperative circle of interfaith ministers. The community, abundant in shared wisdom, experiences and knowledge, can invigorate and refine your personal ministerial practice and vision. To further this, we’re developing ‘forums’ on our soon-to-launch updated website. In these forums, you’ll be able to exchange relevant information, resources, guides, etc. with fellow ministers.
We recognise the strength of our group’s diversity and are trying to create better ways of facilitating closer connections. Each member brings unique expertise, from discovering insightful books for spiritual journeys to mastering the conduct of funeral ceremonies. The forums are where you’ll be able to share your insights with other ministers!
Networking Opportunities
ROSIM constitutes a professional gathering of ministers; a community akin to you, unified in amplifying the influence of interfaith ministry. Membership in this professional body provides access to the wisdom, experiences, and insights of fellow members. There’s a dedicated Facebook group for OneSpirit Interfaith Ministers—don’t hesitate to rely on each other for support and encouragement along your journey.
ROSIM embodies unity with a shared purpose. It’s our responsibility to look after one another. As an educational charity, we offer resources, courses, and ongoing learning opportunities. However, your individual experiences are your foremost teacher. Harness the power of our community!
Amplify Interfaith Ministry Recognition
As an interconnected collection of ministers, each making unique contributions to the interfaith tapestry, ROSIM offers the collective strength to amplify the voice of interfaith ministry. Our unifying objective is to expand the recognition and understanding of interfaith work within the wider public. By joining this body, your participation helped to enhance the accessibility and relevance of interfaith work. Your individual experiences, wisdom, and efforts not only strengthen our community internally but also contribute crucially to our outward representation. Together, we are more capable of promoting the significant role of interfaith dialogue in fostering understanding, acceptance, and peace within our diverse societies. When you joined ROSIM, you made an actual contribution towards reshaping the perception and heightening the appreciation of interfaith work.
To summarise, we have definitely shared a lot of information, forms, updates, and words with you. We understand that this can be overwhelming. This email serves as a reminder of the objective for ROSIM, the significance of this professional body, and our aspiration to make positive changes for you all.
Our developments and endeavours as an organisation are designed solely to enhance your experience as a member of this community and as an integral part of OneSpirit Interfaith Foundation. We require your assistance in redefining these opportunities while bearing in mind that we are only human. Your constructive feedback and suggestions for change are highly valued. Rest assured that we are considering your responses and seeking ways to implement them. In doing so, we hope that you will offer your words with care. ROSIM is already an impressive force, but our unity will make it even stronger. Empower yourself and help strengthen the impact of our collective interfaith work!
EMAIL #4: EXCITING NEW CHAPTER
As we usher in an exciting new era, we’re thrilled to share that our new website will merge the “OneSpirit Ministers” and “OneSpirit Interfaith Foundation” platforms. Our main hope is that by merging these websites we can draw more traffic to our ministers and their unique offerings. Additionally, we are united and want/need to appear that way for our online community. Our minister community is a large part of who we are and we want to put you front and center. Our redesigned site will include a page for Minister spotlights, improved connectivity, forums for networking and resource sharing, and more. The revamp aims to support all, from our ministry community to new seekers, enhancing our shared interfaith journey.
Main Website Purpose: Our updated website embodies our mission, empowering you within the interfaith ministry. It strengthens connectivity, fosters collaborative forums, provides educational opportunities and creates an inclusive and vibrant community space.
Minister’s Hub: The newly designed Members Area offers a hub for connection, learning, and sharing. As a valued ROSIM member, you’ll benefit from enriched profiles and interactive forums.
Member Forums: One of the most exciting features of our new website is the ‘Forums.’ While we will elaborate on the forums’ functionalities at a later stage, we couldn’t resist giving you a sneak peek now. The Forums serve as a magnetic hub for rich connections and stimulating discussions, designed to foster energetic community interaction. Here, you’ll be able to exchange wisdom, expand your knowledge and uncover enriching conversations with fellow ministers. At the heart of interfaith ministry, there’s a yearning for dialogue with diverse individuals, and we aim to provide ample opportunities for connection. As an educational charity, we actively support your growth with resources, courses, training, and events. However, we believe that learning from fellow ministers propels your journey even further. We’re so excited for you to embark on this unique path alongside like-minded ministers, embracing the different experiences, and discovering valuable insights through the Forums. Let’s come together and create a flourishing community where we inspire and learn from one another. Although your journey is aligned with a common purpose, each one of you treads a unique path, gathering different insights and experiences along the way. The information you come across and the lessons you learn might be an unexplored realm for a fellow minister. Our forums serve as an inviting space for you to engage with others, share your unique insights, learn from diverse experiences, and collectively root for each other’s growth.
Member Profiles: Your journey and practice can be showcased via your personalized profile on our new website. With personalized log-ins, you control your profile, ensuring it accurately reflects your journey in real-time. With the new website launching, you’ll have a chance to personally design your profile from the start! Your page should be a place where people can find you and learn more about you, so make it as unique and fun as you want! For our ministers who do not have separate social profiles or accounts, we hope that these new and improved profiles will be comprehensive enough to provide your clients with everything they need to reach you and learn about you.
New Website Pages: Our website revamp will introduce enhanced pages to enrich your experience. Our “Our Ministers” section, “Minister Connections” and revamped “Month of Ministry” page will all spotlight your individual journeys while highlighting our organization’s diversity and evolution. We are launching the website soon, and cannot wait to share all of the new pages that we’ve created to showcase you and your ministry!
Continued Professional & Personal Development (CPD) Section: We’re committed to shaping your growth journey to be continually inspiring and stimulating. We have been diligently listening to your thoughts and feedback on our Continuing Professional Development (CPD) offerings.
EMAIL #5: ONESPIRIT’S ALUMNI NETWORK
OneSpirit Alumni Network: Two Membership Options: At the core of our Alumni Network, we present two membership options tailored to our diverse community’s needs. Irrespective of your choice, the aim stays the same – make a significant impact at the community level. We know that ROSIM may not make sense for some of our ministers who are not in a public-facing role. By offering an additional tier, we hope to provide you with the connections, resources, and recognition that you need, in a way that makes sense for your personal ministry.
OneSpirit Community Impact Fund: Encouraging Engagements of our Advocates & Allies for Community Empowerment: Central to this initiative is the creation of a Restricted Fund. Through this fund, all Alumni membership fees will be put to work— effectively and transparently —to bolster the projects led by our dedicated ministers. This means all money derived from membership fees will not be available for general OneSpirit operations, or core costs, but will be reserved exclusively to fund minister-led projects at a community level. Based on the amount we accumulate, we aim to award small grants ranging from £500 to £2,500. This financial backing is designed to support individual ministers or groups of ministers who are seeking backing for projects that they want to lead in their communities.
The Application Process: To be Announced: The criteria and process for applying for these grants will be announced in due time! We are dedicated to creating a system that is fair and encourages proactive contribution.
Showcasing Success Stories in Our Annual Report: An added bonus is that these projects are going to feed into OneSpirit’s annual report, allowing us to share stories of impact, innovation, and progress across our network. This initiative continues our drive for transparency, accountability, and celebration of our community’s work. We’re always on the hunt for more ways to showcase you, your assistance, your exceptional capabilities, and your individual adventures. Through awarding this grant, we’re hopeful that you’ll take part in even more community events. In turn, this gives us more heartening stories to share, that really put you in the spotlight!
An Exciting Shift: Changing OneSpirit’s Cultural Landscape: Above all else, this initiative represents a substantial shift towards a more palpable presence in social action. OneSpirit, at its foundational core, is actively seeking to enhance our ways of standing alongside our ministers and those who form the fabric of our community. We wholeheartedly hope that this announcement symbolises a new dawn for OneSpirit—a time for increased collaboration, strengthened support, and remarkable community impact. Let this exciting phase unfold a promising ethos of commitment, unity, and transformative change. Together, we will shape an era that truly embodies the spirit of OneSpirit in every action we take.
EMAIL #6: ROSIM COMMUNITY, THANK YOU!
I’m putting a quick pause on our usual emails just to say one important thing – THANK YOU! Seeing how you’ve jumped on board and gotten involved with our campaign has been really amazing. I mean, the campaign is exciting on its own, sure. But your participation? For me, that takes it to the next level! And when you share your thoughts and feedback, it’s clear you’re not just along for the ride – you’re really invested in what we’re doing together, and that was our biggest hope.
Our goal is to make sure you really feel the changes we’re pushing for in our ROSIM family, as well as in our wider OneSpirit community. As an educational charity, we’re all about helping you grow, giving you unique resources, and providing opportunities to learn – both in personal and professional ways. We’re doing our best to make sure all our relationships in this community are authentic and equal. Your participation, your constructive feedback, and your thoughts as valued members of this community are really key to the change we’re trying to make here. Stay engaged! Our inboxes are open and we are receiving your feedback and running with it.
There are still a few more updates and opportunities lined up for you. But for now, I simply wanted to take a moment to appreciate you. Thank you for being who you are and being a part of this incredible community. Being here, with all of you, is pure joy. Here’s to more fun, learning, and growth together!
