Brought to you by Lifelong Learning at Virginia Theological Seminary
What is evangelism? How can we be formed as evangelists and form others? How do we build and articulate our understanding of God? Join us at “Evangelism Base Camp” – a place to gather, prepare, and equip ourselves for the journey. The Rev. Dr. Patricia Lyons will lead this expedition, sharing her engaging, entertaining, faithful, and contagious Episcopal vision for sharing the Christian faith as a way to go deeper in our own relationship with God. We’ll review the Episcopal Church’s theology, sacramental ministry, and commitment to social justice and their essential role in mainline Christianity and in the public square.
In each class, we will:
- Learn and deepen our understanding of theology to better articulate the foundations of our faith that form the basis of effective evangelism.
- Engage as a community of learners in active dialogue as to best methods for putting into practice the theory.
- Apply learnings to real situations in individual contexts.
Our end goal is for class members to develop their own blueprint for in their context. The expected time commitment, between the reading and class, will be about 3 hours per week. But, we’ll provide expansive sources for anyone who desires a deeper dive into a certain topic.
Patricia M. Lyons teaches and serves as Senior Advisor to the Dean for Evangelism Initiatives at Virginia Theological Seminary. Her newest book, What is Evangelism?, examines what evangelism means in the 21st century, reminding us that the first step is to listen. She is a member of the presiding bishop’s cabinet on evangelism and the working group for the “Way of Love” curricular and support resources. An honors graduate from Harvard College in the Comparative Study of Religion, she holds a Master of Divinity degree from the Harvard Divinity School, and received her doctorate from the Virginia Theological Seminary.