In her classic book on evangelism Out of the Saltshaker Rebecca Pippert confesses that there was a time when, “there was a part of me that secretly felt evangelism was something you shouldn’t do to your dog, let alone a friend.” On the surface many kind-hearted mainline Protestants in Canada today would agree. Many folks …
View course details “Practicing Evangelism in a Post-Christendom World”
Stewardship is our faithful response to the mission of God. We can join in God’s mission with confidence and hope as stewards of God’s abundant gifts and invite others into that stewardship. What is God calling us to as individuals, as a parish, and as a diocese? We know there is a culture shift happening …
View course details “Stewardship: A Faithful Response to God’s Mission”
Creating a parish mission action plan is about intentional listening for the Spirit, prayer, engagement with parishioners, and a willingness to risk a bit. The plan, which is completed in four one-hour gatherings, is comprised of two to three initiatives in three areas: Adult Faith Formation, Changing Parish Culture, and Community Engagement. Leaders for each …
View course details “So You Want to Facilitate the Mission Action Plan Process…”
New Monasticism might sound strange to those of us within the church because it conjures up images of people being overly pious and wearing medieval clothing. It does, however, very accurately describe when a community comes together intentionally to commit to a rhythm of daily life, to pray and meditate contemplatively, to be radically shaped …
View course details “Introduction to a Missional New Monasticism”
Many people are familiar with the concept of an overarching narrative (storyline) when looking at the history of our faith: from the Old Testament, through to the New and on into the history of the church, we can see God at work. However, when people think of, say, the Old Testament, disconnected images come to …
View course details “Christian Foundations: From Abraham to Jesus”
Through prayer, creativity, and reflection participants will be encouraged to be innovative partners on the creative edge of where the Spirit of God is recreating the church and what it means to be a “Missional Church” while keeping the history of Indigenous Peoples in mind. The history of Indigenous Peoples is one important element of …
View course details “Connecting with Indigenous Knowledge”
In these unprecedented times, God continues to lead us in new challenges where the precedented ways of leadership are not always helpful. Yet, this changed and ever-changing world remains the object of God’s missional intentions. God’s Spirit continues to give us gifts for these ventures of faith. We can join in God’s mission with confidence …
View course details “Adaptive Leadership in Anxious Times: Called to Lead When You Don’t Know Where You Are Going”
How do we connect God’s mission, and therefore the mission of the church, with the culture in which we live and speak in ways that help people make sense of their lives and their purpose through the lens of the Gospel? How can our words as preachers help others follow Jesus’ Way of Love more …
View course details “Missional Preaching”
We do not have to look far to find churches that are no longer the thriving congregations they once were. This can cause us great heartache. We can feel discouraged by the declining church engagement we see around us, and many of us long to find those ways to “fix” what seems to be an …
View course details “The Persistent Parish: Pursuing Missional Movement in Cozy Congregations”
This course introduces students to Paul the Apostle as a person, as a Christ-believer, as apostle-preacher-pastor-missionary, to the disputed and undisputed Pauline letter corpus in the New Testament, to major themes of Paul’s theologies, and to Paul’s role in the formation of early Christianity. These studies will be situated in the social, cultural, and theological …
View course details “Paul–NT501”
