Are you frustrated by the decline in church attendance and ministry participation at your parish? Perhaps you’re hearing the buzz around terms like “missional church,” “discipleship,” and “fresh expressions,” but are baffled about what those mean or how they might relate to your own parish. Or perhaps you are simply curious about whether a new perspective might help you and your parish engage differently with the gospel and with parish ministry.
This course seeks to define terms like mission and discipleship and to connect them in such a way as to inspire a new vision of the church that is life-giving for us and for the world.
The course is for anyone eager and willing to explore Christian faith in a fresh way that is at the same time ancient and yet relevant to today’s world. The course may not always be comfortable— changes in thinking and living are never easy—but it will be rewarding. It will also be demanding, requiring time and effort outside of the gathering times as well as inside.
What You’ll Learn
This course will introduce you to:
- Core meanings of words like mission, discipleship, evangelism—and even church!
- The skills of how to “read” a community, and
- Some basic practices of a missional church.
How It Works
Join our instructor, John Bowen, and a community of fellow leaders and missional practitioners, live online.
- Participate in six, two-hour sessions with John and the learning community.
The learning community will meet weekly on Tuesday evenings, 7:00p – 9:00p, October 4 – November 8. - Practice in your context.
Each week, there will be practical assignments for you and your parish team to carry out in your neighbourhood in order to apply what you are learning. - Reflect within the learning community.
Your new knowledge and experience will become more meaningful when shared with other learning practitioners like yourself. There will be the option of online discussions between sessions to further integrate your learning. Once the six-week course is over, there will also be the option, for any teams who are interested in going further, for a six month follow-up course, with Saturday meetings once a month. NB: taking Reimagining Church in no way commits you to this option. You can decide once Reimagining Church is over.
