In this workshop we will read and write all the brilliance and beauty of what we have survived and what we are building. Using prompts, free-writes, the magnificent muck of our lives, and the full wing-span of our imaginations, we will create new writing across genres. Be prepared to dig deep. In our writing, we …
View course details “Gay Magic: Writing Down Our Queer and Trans Lives”

Most North Americans grow up in a culture that worships money, embedded in an economic system that holds money up as the only true measure of value. But money is a failed god, as we see in the fear that threatens our personal well-being and our relationships, in the overwork and overwhelm that guts community …
View course details “Putting Money in Its Place”

This course is centered around enhancing French linguistic and communication skills for pastoral contexts. This includes grammar revision, the sharing of French resources such as church and biblical vocabulary, preparation of prayers, and role playing pastoral care situations. Participants may take this course as part of the Certificate in Bilingual Ministry or as a stand-alone …
View course details “French For Ministry: A Week-Long Intensive Course”

Martin Luther University College and the Institute for Christian Studies will present the conference, “Beyond Culture Wars: Fostering Solidarity in an Age of Polarization.” Hosted at the campus of Martin Luther University College (Wilfrid Laurier University), this event will be an education and discussion forum for faith communities, and for the larger public, to counter …
View course details “Beyond Culture Wars Fostering Solidarity in an Age of Polarization Conference”

Though preaching is one of the oldest Christian practices and has been a staple of worship for millennia, it is constantly in the process of change. Indeed, like the proverbial river that cannot be stepped into twice because the flow of the water is constantly remaking it, it is not possible to preach the same …
View course details “Rethinking Preaching Conference 2024: Crossing Boundaries Toward Healing”

Vancouver School of Theology Attend in person or via Zoom Access recordings through June 30 The creative visual, musical, literary, and performing arts help shape ideas and beliefs. Sometimes, art can communicate more quickly, powerfully, and universally than words can. Within spiritual traditions, arts express stories, attitudes, and emotions. Teachers use arts to introduce their …
View course details “Sacred Arts in a Pluralistic Society: An Inter-Religious Conference”

This is a hands-on preaching and digital ministry course for new preachers. Learn to preach from the ground up comfortable in the pulpit and online. This will NOT be manuscript preaching! We will practice a conversational, video-friendly, note-free sharing of Good News. Preachers will learn to: Use the ‘Triangle Preaching Process’ – Scripture, situation, self. …
View course details “Practical Preaching in the Digital Age”

The poet Dana Gioia once asked in a book of this title, “Can Poetry Matter?” That question of course begs another question: matter in what ways? We may read poetry for any number of reasons, but this class considers how poetry nurtures, and enriches, our spiritual lives. By our close reading of poems together from …
View course details “Reading Poetry Devotionally: How Poems Nurture Our Spiritual Lives”

How we read may matter as much as what we read. What can we learn from the tradition about how to read the Bible spiritually? In this course, we will look in particular at Dorothy L. Sayers’s way of reading. Raised by an Anglican priest, Sayers was well-versed in the tradition’s way of reading Scripture. …
View course details “Reading as a Spiritual Practice”

For centuries many have perceived a strong bond between the work of the Spirit and artistic creativity. Talk of inspiration, spirituality, and the life of the spirit abounds when the arts are in view. This course asks why this might be so. What is it about the arts that lends themselves so easily to “spirit-talk”, …
View course details “The Holy Spirit & the Arts”