A Faith Sharing DVD Course by Red Earth Films and the Queensland Synod of the Uniting Church in Australia.
“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