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Resources for Exploring Christian Faith

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Yesterday I led a workshop on preparing young people and adults for baptism and confirmation. Here’s a list of resources that may be helpful. It is important to say that learners vary considerably, from those who have no Christian background to those who have grown up in the church, from teenagers to older adults. You need to find resources that work for your setting.

Also, stay tuned for an announcement about the forthcoming “We are the Uniting Church: Our Faith” series of six vidoes plus discussion guide.

Belonging Kit by Cheryl Lawrie (editor)
Uniting Church Press, 1998
Available from Mediacom

This is a modular approach featuring twelve sessions and a flexible range of teaching a learning options – group discussion sessions, mentor sessions, teaching notes, action learning activities, Bible studies and journaling. The themes combine exploration of belief with exploring discipleship.

The kit may be photocopied for local use (ie. you only need to purchase one copy). Includes a double CD of music and stories.

Session titles: Belonging to God; Belonging to God’s People; Belonging to God’s World; Believing in God; Believing in Jesus Christ; Believing the Good News; Growing in Worship; Growing in the Spirit; Growing with Scripture; Sharing Our Gifts; Sharing Our Faith; Sharing Our World.Continue Reading

Qualitative Research in Christian Education

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“Congregations of the old Protestant mainline denominations … continue to sponsor many educational activities, but they lack the intentionality, the coherence and the continuity needed to maintain and renew their identities as communities of faith.”
Charles R Foster, From Generation to Generation
(Eugene: Cascade Books, 2012), p45.

Today I’m going to start to blog about my doctoral research, simply by doing a 10 minute ‘brain dump’ every few days and see where it goes. I’m just completing writing 20 half-hour sessions of Christian education for congregations in the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand, which has been helpful for making think and write in bite-sized chunks. Plus it’s been helpful in doing some more thinking towards how to frame it as a book

In 2011 and 2012 I undertook a national research project for the Uniting Church in Australia, designed to help the Assembly consider its role in Christian education. The research included a literature review, gathering the views of Assembly staff, a consultation within each synod, and field interviews with 25 people in 21 congregations across Australia. The congregations were selected through a peer recommendation process from synod and presbytery mission and education staff, who were given criteria for selection. The aim was to find congregations and ministers/leaders who were deemed to be effective in Christian education. From about 80 suggested churches and leaders I constructed a sample seeking to reflect the diversity of the Uniting Church in terms of geography, church size, location, demography, theology, ethnicity, ages, gender and sense of mission. Ethnicity and gender were the two most difficult to achieve in terms of balance. The field inteviews took place in mid-2012, and were preceded by four pilot interviews which allowed me to refine my questions. All interviewees allowed me and the UCA to identify them. The interviews lasted 60 minutes to about 90 minutes. Interviewees were mainly ordained ministers, and included three married couples.

I produced an extensive report for the UCA Assembly at the beginning of 2013. My doctoral thesis was submitted in July 2018 and I graduated in December 2018.

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Uniting Church Young Leaders

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Young adults in the Uniting Church are not leaders for tomorrow but leaders today. We celebrate their gifts, vision, passion and wisdom.

Over 120 young adults from across the Uniting Church gathered at the most recent National Young Adult Leaders Conference. They spoke about what they value and hope for in the Uniting Church

NYALC and other events like it bring together young adults from the many cultures that make up the UCA – to encourage them in faith, to hear each other’s voices, to grow together in Christian community. These are powerful, transformative events because the Spirit draws people as one body in Christ. It is a taste of who we are becoming as the people of God.

In our 40th year, may we as a church encourage young people as leaders to have a voice, to make decisions, to challenge our structures, to shape our budgets, to dream dreams and see visions, to be prophets and evangelists and pastors and teachers and mission leaders.

All of this is us.

Our Church. Our Hopes. from Craig Mitchell on Vimeo.

“We are the Uniting Church” Video Launch

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maidie      eldercare

ben      phil

In October we’re launching the first Series of “We are the Uniting Church” videos telling something of the life, story and mission of the UCA. They’re designed for newcomers to agencies, schools and congregations – members, staff, volunteers.

The project arose from talking to people in UCA agencies and schools about how they induct their staff, and the need to give them a better sense of who we are as the Uniting Church. Last year we visited congregations, agencies and schools in various locations across Australia to gather stories and comments about the breadth and depth of the church’s life and mission. It was wonderful, inspiring and at times challenging to see and hear who we are as the people of God.

The aim is to give a broad brush view of our values and commitments, our people and programs, our faith’s words and deeds. The videos last for about 7 minutes each. They are designed mainly for use in groups, but can also be embedded in a church or agency website.

We also filmed 6 videos for Series 2 on the faith of the UCA. These will be released early in 2017. We worked with flipcreative in Brisbane on the project.

The videos are all be available to download, share or embed in websites for free – details at assembly.uca.org.au/weareuca.

You can also buy DVDs from MediaCom for $24.95 (Series One) and $39.95 (Series One and Two when available). Download the flyer.

uca-dvd-coverSeries One: Our Story

  1. An Australian Church – an overview of the Uniting Church
  2. Partnering in Mission – nationally and overseas
  3. Our Congregations – growing faith communities
  4. Supporting Communities – services across Australia
  5. Ageing Well – providing for elderly Australians
  6. Educating for Life – Uniting Church schools

Series Two: Our Faith  (available early 2017)

  1. Believing in God – Dr Janice McRandal
  2. Believing in Jesus Christ – Rev Dr Geoff Thompson
  3. Believing in the Spirit – Dr Ben Myers
  4. Shaped by the Scriptures – Dr Monica Melanchthon, Rev Stuart Cameron
  5. Living as God’s Church – Rev Prof Andrew Dutney, Rev Denise Champion, Rev Jason Kioa
  6. Serving God’s Mission – Rev Dr Amelia Koh-Butler, Rev Alistair Macrae

The videos will also become part of new baptism, confirmation and discipleship resources for the UCA.

We hope they’re informative and  useful. We hope to find ways to build on them into the future.