Thread: Lent Groups and growing in faith Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.
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Posted by Clotilde (# 17600) on
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A friend asked me about Lent Groups and wondered if I knew any.
Not really was my reply. I know they differ and I have come across recently the Churches Together in Britain and BBC courses.
What she was looking for was a course which would double up as a relaxed friendly discussion, and also serve to equip christians with thoughts and ideas for Christian living - how to read the Bible, Prayer, decision making, worship etc.
Has anyone any thoughts or experience of such a course (which may have to be tailor made). Maybe its about reading a book with shortish chapters on this sort of thing.
Can you help or offer ideas?
Posted by Aravis (# 13824) on
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Who is likely to come to the group? It sounds as though you are looking at the basics of Christianity, but for people who already have a Christian faith - so are you thinking of new converts (e.g. a group moving on from Alpha) or people who go to church regularly but whose knowledge of their faith may be patchy? Or both? Are you also catering for people who are more knowledgeable? Do you want something evangelical, charismatic, Catholic, middle of the road?
Sorry about all the questions, but I'm very much aware that not all courses suit all groups.
Posted by Galilit (# 16470) on
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Tell her not to get ahead of herself.
Voice of Bitter Experience hat on: sometimes you prepare so thouroughly for Lent that you are thoroughly sick of the whole idea of it all by the 2 1/2 th Sunday (which of course occurs on the Wednesday preceding the 3rd Sunday)
Posted by Galilit (# 16470) on
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Such a traumatic memory I spelt
"thoroughly" wrong
Posted by L'organist (# 17338) on
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Why is there this strange belief that study/bible reading is somehow better kept for Lent?
If your friend wishes for guided reading and prayer from that try the Bible Reading Fellowship (which also runs Quiet Days which your friend may find of interest).
Posted by Barnabas62 (# 9110) on
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This looks an interesting course = 2014 Churches together
Sure, it isn't a kind of basic guide to the points you addressed in your OP, Clotilde. IME focused courses like this are very often a good way of opening up the "yes but how" questions of Christian living. What challenges do we face today? How do we respond in our lives, individually and together? How do the normal disciplines of Christian practice (prayer, contemplation, worship, study of cripture) help us to do that?
Like all studies, a lot depends on the quality of the group leaders and how they understand the dynamics of small groups. Good material can fall into a black hole if you haven't got that. Not everyone is good at it. Good study guides may have frameworks (what to do) in their material, but IME it's rarely enough to apply a kind of "cookbook" approach i.e. this is a good recipe, lets follow it precisely.
Factors such as how well do you know group members, their relative experiences, their different understandings and their maturity in the faith are be at least as important in a study group as finding a good, coherent set of studies.
Posted by Jengie Jon (# 273) on
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There is also the York Courses who have a course on Attending, Exploring, Engaging.
However, I have seen Christianity Explored can be used for Lent style group. It actually gives people, who are committed, space to explore how they formulate their faith.
That said the important thing will be the environment. You could have good material and if there is a didactic leader the group will not share. You can have terrible material and if the leader is open and generous the level of sharing can be high.
Jengie
Posted by Jengie Jon (# 273) on
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I forgot Living the Questions which might also work like Christianity Explored.
Jengie
Posted by Clotilde (# 17600) on
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How helpful! Thank you. Thats a lot of food for thought.
Jengie - the York Course while it seems good also seems a bit out of date - 'with audio tape...' we don't really have casette players nowadays. Maaybe they offer CDs.
I like the one Barnabas suggests - but not its name which seems so mpney / economics focussed. The idea though of a course on the parables is a very good one as the Lord had a mixed audience and found story telling the best way! Yes, I'll suggest that certainly.
Posted by Jade Constable (# 17175) on
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I've done Christianity Explored and there's a definite con-evo emphasis.
Posted by Amos (# 44) on
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Is anyone near you doing the new Pilgrim Course?
http://www.pilgrimcourse.org/
Posted by Clotilde (# 17600) on
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quote:
Originally posted by Jade Constable:
I've done Christianity Explored and there's a definite con-evo emphasis.
And thats not my friend's setting. Why does the middle ground not get more such courses off the ground!
Posted by SvitlanaV2 (# 16967) on
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The York course is used by my local churches, unless they do their own thing. It seems to be well-liked, and it isn't especially evangelical. I didn't realise that the recordings were only available on cassette, but if you're running the course ecumenically then surely one of the churches in the group can provide a cassette player?
Posted by Clotilde (# 17600) on
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quote:
Originally posted by Amos:
Is anyone near you doing the new Pilgrim Course?
http://www.pilgrimcourse.org/
Never heard of it, and the website while partly informative doesnt give a hint as to its flavour / tradition. Is this another evangelical course?
Posted by Jengie Jon (# 273) on
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Christianity Explored seems to be the update of Emmaus. Now I have seen Emmaus used in congregations that are not Con-evo with skilled leaders and it worked very much as a time of sharing opinions rather than determining doctrine.
90% of how successful this is will depend on the leader. The ability to trust a group to come to its own conclusion instead of wanting to direct is all important.
More recent York courses are on CD. I suspect it is just that the people at York are not technical enough to get it onto CD themselves and have no money to hire someone to do it for them for what are very low level sales with old courses.
Jengie
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[ 15. January 2014, 16:59: Message edited by: Jengie Jon ]
Posted by Clotilde (# 17600) on
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quote:
Originally posted by Jengie Jon:
Christianity Explored seems to be the update of Emmaus. Now I have seen Emmaus used in congregations that are not Con-evo with skilled leaders and it worked very much as a time of sharing opinions rather than determining doctrine.
90% of how successful this is will depend on the leader. The ability to trust a group to come to its own conclusion instead of wanting to direct is all important.
More recent York courses are on CD. I suspect it is just that the people at York are not technical enough to get it onto CD themselves and have no money to hire someone to do it for them for what are very low level sales with old courses.
Jengie
[NN2ST = No Need to Sign Twice]
Thanks for those wise and insightful comments. I like the distinction you make between sharing opinions and determining doctrine.
For myself, and I know tyhis is personal, I like the idea of learning from others and their insights rather than being preached at in a course.
Posted by JoannaP (# 4493) on
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My church did the York Course produced for that Lent last year and it was certainly on a CD.
Posted by Sacristan&Verger (# 17968) on
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I generally find Lent courses a little disappointing as they always seem to start from scratch and some of us would like something with a little more substance. Of course in a mixed group it's difficult to get the level just right.
I'd love to lead a group using Stephen Cotterell's 'The Nail' - it could be a real challenge.
Posted by Clotilde (# 17600) on
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Yes I can see that Sac and Verger, however, I still personally warm to the listening to the parables and talking about them approach suggested. It seems they can often still speak at such different levels and it can be refreshing, and humbling, to hear, say, a child or young person's take on the Good Samaritan (Luke 10.25-37).
Posted by leo (# 1458) on
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quote:
Originally posted by Sacristan&Verger:
I'd love to lead a group using Stephen Cotterell's 'The Nail' - it could be a real challenge.
We did that last Lent and it was very effective.
Posted by 3rdFooter (# 9751) on
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quote:
Originally posted by Clotilde:
quote:
Originally posted by Amos:
Is anyone near you doing the new Pilgrim Course?
http://www.pilgrimcourse.org/
Never heard of it, and the website while partly informative doesnt give a hint as to its flavour / tradition. Is this another evangelical course?
We are seriously considering using this as the basis for a course probably outside of lent. I have read the material and I am quite impressed. I think the second book (The Lord's Prayer) is stronger than the first (Turning To Christ)
It is pretty anglican and MOTR really. It asks questions rather than sets out too much in the way of doctrine. The units are quite closely coupled, so I think it would work better as once a week for 6 weeks, then take a break than once a month for ever.
For those casting around for some source material, I think it is definitely worth a look.
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