Monday 11 October, 9.30 am – 4.00 pm
Plenary sessions with Chris Walker:  Discipleship for the 21st Century, and Making Disciples: A 12 week program exploring Scriptures, saints, skills and social issues.

Elective sessions include:

• Discipling through Christian Service: Sandy Boyce
• Discipling in Rural Communities: leader t.b.a.
• Nurturing the Spiritual Lives of Adults: Mark Hillis
• Congregations as Communities of Healing and Hope: Sharonne Price
• Fostering Practices of Everyday Discipleship: Craig Mitchell

Cost: $10. BYO Lunch.

Tuesday 12 October

10.00am-12.30 pm Shaping Belief: theological leadership in ministry: Chris Walker

1.30 -3.30 pm Godly Play: engaging children with the Scriptures: Mark Hillis

7.30 -9.00 pm Godly Play: engaging children with the Scriptures: Mark Hillis
(repeat of afternoon session)

Cost: $5 per session. BYO Lunch.

Register by Friday 1 October. Contact Uniting College on 8416 8420 or email info@unitingcollege.org.au.

Download a brochure here. (600kb PDF)

The resources are helpfully bundled, so that, for example, you can order those resources that relate to ‘Cafe Church’, Community Development, Rural fresh expressions, youth ministry, etc.

The publications are also available at the Adelaide College of Divinity library in Brooklyn Park.

It shouldn’t really be twist at all. However, after years of superficial reading, Tim Keller shows us that many of us have really missed the point of the parable. Often when we study the parable of the two Son’s in the Luke 11 we think of it primarily as a story of grace to a repentant sinner and not a story of judgment against a self saving religious older brother. Tim Keller spells out the context of the story and its liberating message not only to the repentant sinners who know they need saving but also to the religious one who don’t think they do. Although we don’t like to admit it, that includes most of us ‘good’ church going folk! It is the type of story that causes many a Christian to wriggle in their chairs and look again at the prodigal grace of God.

“The Prodigal God” is a study series with DVD by Rev Tim Keller, Minister at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. The DVD curriculum consists of six sessions which correspond to the seven chapters in the book of the same name. It is a very profound book but also a simple read which most people should be handle well. It’s concepts and overall message are very accessible to a typical small group. However it is not “a walk in the park”. Some of the home truths that are revealed in the study are quite confronting, particularly where our hidden religiosity is exposed and bathed in the gospel.

One quote from the book in the chapter ‘redefining sin’.

“Here, then, is Jesus’ radical redefinition of what is wrong with us. Nearly everyone defines sin as breaking a list of rules. Jesus, though, shows us that a man who has violated virtually nothing on the list of moral misbehavior’s [the elder brother] can be every bit as spiritually lost as the most profligate, immoral person. Why? Because sin is not just breaking the rules, it is putting yourself in the place of God as Savior, Lord, and Judge…” (pg. 43)

I led this study in our church throughout Lent and it had great impact, particularly leading up to Easter. Some said it was the most significant Lenten study they had done. The curriculum comes with the six sessions on DVD and a discussion guide. The first session is a 38 minutes sermon by Tim Keller on the passage and all the other studies take snippets from that sermon to discuss in detail. Each participant will need the book (133 pages) to get the most out of the study.

Highly recommended. Should be available from most Christian Book stores – particularly the bigger ones.

Rev Simon Dent
Clare UC

I visited Luther Seminary in 2008, and we’ve had Dr Roland Martinson here in Adelaide. It is an excellent teaching institution with a world class faculty.

“Faith Sharing” is an Australian made small group resource designed to encourage disciples of Jesus to authentically share their faith stories with non Christians. It is an eight week DVD based curriculum which comes as a 8 video segments and an embedded PDF file with the study materials.  These can be printed out easily enough for group participants.

The eight sessions are:
Session 1 – An Introduction to Faith Stories
Session 2 – Why Share Faith?
Session 3 – Relationships – The Key to Faith Sharing
Session 4 – Relationship Skills – Listening & Dialogue
Session 5 – Identifying the Divine Clues
Session 6 – Connecting Stories with Friends
Session 7 – Coaching for Faith Response
Session 8 – Discipleship in Community

With such a wide variety of big budget DVD curriculums coming from the US.  “Faith Sharing” stands out for its “domestic” quality.  (Yes, sorry it looks homemade: not terrible but noticeable). However, there is a real Aussie honesty about the DVD which shines through and hopefully once you get over the production values issues you discover a strong, positive and helpful message.

For me the greatest value of this DVD was the ordinary Australians sharing their stories. It is culturally honest.  There is no sense that these people are the great evangelism gurus who are unique in their ability to share the gospel.  In simple, honest and practical ways this course encourages and equips everyone to share their story in very natural, non threatening ways.

Each session has a video introduction presented by Peter Armstrong (UC Minister in Queensland) alongside reflections from other Christians and role plays (One of the roles plays is a little cringey). The rest of the session includes guided discussions through written questions, biblical reflection and the opportunity from personal and group prayer. Each session also invites people to a ‘homework” task to reflect on in the following weeks sessions. This may be some reading reflection or some kind of action research.
One of the key aspects is the use of support groups of no more than 4 people who pray for and encourage each other in their faith sharing journey.

I would have no hesitation in encouraging the people in my community to use this resource.  It is a home grown curriculum that achieves what it sets out to do.  That is take the fear out of faith sharing while not avoiding the believers responsibility to share the hope they have. It is a helpful and practical equipping resource for a small group keen to grow in their discipleship to Jesus.

“Faith Stories” is available from MediaCom and costs $100. The “Faith Stories” website is here.

Rev Simon Dent
Clare Uniting Church

Thanks to Jonny Baker, CMS worker for making the resource available online.

Download ‘40 Days of Yes’ (1.5 mb PDF)

Dave Andrews

Dave Andrews, author and mission activist, will be the keynote speaker at the SA Presbytery & Synod meeting on Saturday morning 27 February, Adelaide West Uniting Church, 9.00 am – 12.15 pm.

Dave will be speaking about “Plan Be: Be-Attitudes for 21st Century Disciples”. We are promoting Dave’s book, “Plan Be”, and accompanying study and personal reflection resources to congregations for use in 2010.

Participants in the “Plan Be” program can undertake a 6 week daily prayer and reflection, read Dave’s book, and join in a weekly small group discussion (discussion guide and DVD available.) The Plan Be resources are available for purchase from the Mission Resourcing Network. The resources will be available for perusal and purchase at the February meeting, and also at the Synod office.

“Plan Be” Resource Details (PDF 800kb)

Further resources related to “Plan Be” and stories arising from “Plan Be” will be featured on this website throughout the year.

The themes of the studies are:
Week 1: People of the Way
Week 2: Daring to be different
Week 3: Knowing the story
Week 4: Living the story
Week 5: Co?operating with God
Week 6: Walking the way of the cross

The studies may be downloaded here. (PDF document, 800 kb)

Dr Peter Mallen, Director of Discipleship Education for the Uniting Church, Victoria, has produced a set of Bible studies for Advent based on the lectionary passages. You can access them here.

Peter is a New Testament scholar who previously lectured at Tabor College in Melbourne. He is a member of North Ringwood Uniting Church.

We are about to plan “Pathways” workshops for 2010, so if you’d like to host one in your region, email us. Please don’t confuse this with ‘Pastoral Pathways’! Click on the link above for more information.

Please join our e-group or Facebook group to keep in touch. We’d love to hear your stories about how you are seeking to grow disciples. And you’re welcome to comment on any post by clicking below the title.

Welcome to our community. We’re passionate about life-long, deepening faith in God, and learning the risky way of Jesus.