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Faith@Home with Blended Learning

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Some how the last month disappeared in a blur of helping churches in our presbytery respond to the COVID-19 crisis. Now that Easter is past, I want to focus on how we can help leaders resource the faith growth and mission expressions of their communities in the coming months. What will church look like down the track? Will we simply go back to old patterns or will we build on our learning about being church differently. This is an unprecedented opportunity to help faith communities shift from a mainly gathered focus to both non-gathered and gathered expressions of discipleship. John Roberto (of Lifelongfaith.com) first talked about gathered and non-gathered ways of being church in his Comprehensive Approach back in the late 1980s.

Churches have tended to centre their programs and activities on certain locations (mainly the church premises) and times that suit the faithful. Roberto and others such as Dick Hardel pushed leaders to think about other settings – home, school, workplace, etc – as well as letting people choose their own times to engage in faith development. More recently, Roberto has prompted churches to think about the digital environment as broadening the faith formation ecosystem to include 24/7 anytime, anywhere, connection to faith development resources or opportunities.

So I’m going to exploring the intersection of three things over the coming months.

a. Daily practices of discipleship – how can these be fostered more intentionally in this time – both inward and outward practices

b. The Blended Learning spectrum – mixing online and offline learning opportunities, with people being able to make choices about when, where and how they learn

c. Local and regional strategies for Christian education and faith formation – helping congregations learn both within and beyond themselves, connecting within and drawing on wider learning resources.

This is going to be a work-in-progress within our presbytery.My aim is to help leaders’ thinking about these things as well as their practices, and to work with some congregations on some pilot stuff. I hope also to connect with what others have done or are doing in these areas, both in Australia and overseas.

Feel free to tag along.

Meanwhile, here are a couple of short videos that I made with John Roberto a couple of years ago.

Forming Disciples in a Missional Church – Workshops

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Early next year I’m planning to run my first ever workshops based on my recent doctoral research into faith formation and education in the Uniting Church. These are hosted by Port Phillip East Presbytery at two locations in Melbourne.

The focus is on congregations as lifelong learning communities of missional discipleship – connecting how we grow in faith with how we live for God’s purposes. The research is based on visits to 13 churches around Australia, a sub-sample of what began as 21 churches. Lots of great examples of church ‘culture’, leadership, programs and activities, and the dynamics of faith development.

Thursday 5 March, 10am-3pm

Glen Waverley Uniting Church, cnr Bogong Ave & Kingsway

Thursday 19 March, 10am-3pm

Centre for Theology & Ministry, 29 College Cres, Parkville

  • Stories from Uniting Churches across Australia
  • Insights from recent research
  • Congregational practices for growing disciples
  • Guides for intentional leadership of learning

Cost is $20 which covers lunch and morning tea.

Registration details will be available soon on our Presbytery website. In the meantime, download a flyer.

Download Forming_Disciples_PDF

“Into the Desert” and “Deep Calls to Deep”

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Here are two mobile devices apps for daily devotions, added to my Pinterest page on Mobile Apps for Ministry. Both are produced by the Anglican Board of Mission in Australia.

“Into the Desert” is a 40 day spiritual journey designed for Lent. but it can be undertaken any time of year.

“These Lent resources have a particular focus on Australian landscape, history and writing, Aboriginal reconciliation and the long Christian tradition of desert-shaped theology.”

Available for both Apple iOS and Android devices.

“Into the Desert” is also available in print and there is an accompanying optional simple set of small group reflection questions available here.

“Deep Calls to Deep” is an post-Easter journey exploring faith.

“Deep Calls to Deep is a 46 day journey into the mystery of the cross that begins in Holy Week and ends on Ascension Day (but it is suitable for any time of the year).”

Available for both Apple iOS and Android devices.

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An Hospitable and Generous Church?

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What does a community of hospitality and generosity look like? What habits does it exhibit? What leadership does it need? A few weeks ago Amelia Koh-Butler and I hosted the annual national gathering of Uniting Church lay and leadership educators here in Adelaide. It is a small group of people who work at a state and national level, peers in adult education and faith formation.

We explored the theme of the church as a community of practice over the three days. The group agreed to play with an idea that I’ve had for a leadership retreat, where we experience and reflect on what it means to be a community who learn together about our shared purpose.

9781922129772Our text for the 3 days was the recently published “Moroccan Soup Bar” cookbook by the wonderful Hana Assafiri. The book contains stories and recipes from a renowned Melbourne cafe/restaurant which I’ve had the pleasure of visiting once. It is so much more than a cookbook. Alongside many great recipes, Hana speaks her from own story, from the heart of her remarkable Soup Bar and also of her team.

The stories are rich with the clear purpose of the Soup Bar, and bursting with culture and character. Interwoven through family-inspired vegetarian recipes are narratives of heritage,  creativity, welcome, courage, forgiveness, welcome and generosity. I could say much more but I want to encourage you to buy the book! Many of the stories are about cultural identity and cross-cultural interactions.

So instead of meeting in church offices for 2 days, we met in a home, a country town cafe, a brewery-cafe, a winery, an Afghani restaurant, a beach cafe, and outdoors near a take-away food place. I admit that we did start off in the synod office.

When we gathered on the Monday I introduced people to Hana’s story and the story of the Moroccan Soup Bar. I shared a little from Etienne Wenger’s “Communities of Practice“. We read Acts 2:42-47 and prayed using Tess Ward’s “The Celtic Wheel of The Year.”

moroccan-mealOn Monday evening we gathered in the home of two of the locals (thanks Amelia and Terry!) and we cooked recipes from the cookbook. We worked in small groups and together to prepare recipes that we’d never seen. The aim was to experience working in the kitchen together, to converse, to learn, to share, to tell stories, to celebrate. We had a great evening, and the food was fabulous. (I planned and directed the proceedings, and they did all of the hard work…)Continue Reading