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Workshop Teaching Learning Focus Day

“Transformational teaching delivered in a very accessible and energising way.”

 

Bring inspiring and inclusive Workshop teaching to your church or community with a bespoke Focus Day.

Choose from any of the suggested themes below for your Workshop Focus Day, or contact us to discuss planning a bespoke event based on a different theme. Whatever your choice, look at the Running a Focus Day page for more detail on the practicalities and to book your Focus Day.

‘Shalom’

-the peace that changes everything

ShalomShalom understood from a Jesus perspective expresses the totality of his message, mission and hope. Here is spirituality in all its completeness, the whole gospel in a single word. Here is nothing less than the secret of the universe! This vision is as vast as the cosmos, yet at the same time it is deeply personal and always practical. First and foremost it is about relationships. Shalom is the peace that contemplatives seek, yet it never fails to inspire activism.

The day will include the themes:

  • One holistic vision of shalom
  • Three absolute requirements of shalom
  • Four essential relationships of shalom
  • Six active responses to shalom

‘Tree of Life’

-nurturing a values-based spirituality

Tree_Image_SourcePageJesus says quite clearly, “By their fruits you will know them”. True godliness is hallmarked by a life-giving character alone; by a liberating spontaneity and freedom unstained with legalism. The ‘Tree of Life’ is a global spiritual icon, which speaks to all faiths and cultures shaping their ethics as well as their world view. The ‘Tree of Life’ image is found throughout the biblical text, as a call to individuals and communities to live by radical alternative values rooted in the Spirit.

The day will include the themes:

  • Tree of Life: root and branch spirituality
  • Spirit of Life: freedom and wisdom
  • Fruit of Life: spirituality made visible
  • Light of Life: beacon spirituality

‘Peacemeal’

-exploring radical table possibilities

Freshly Baked Traditional Bread

Food is spiritual. Shared meals can change the world. Jesus only leaves us with one physical thing with which to build community – that is a table with food on. Everyday shared meals have the potential to become something quite profound. Everything needed to be both a Jesus-disciple and community is found within the Peacemeal. Here is a space for robust discussion, deep contemplation, plus celebration; somewhere to find healing and inclusive welcome.

The day will include the themes:

  • Peacemeal: thinking opportunity
  • Peacemeal: preparing and sharing
  • Peacemeal: nurturing spirituality
  • Peacemeal: building community

‘Naked and Unashamed’

-embracing sexuality and spirituality

Naked manWe don’t have a body – we are a body. Made in the image and likeness of God, sexuality flows through every fibre of our being, physically and spiritually. We are created to be naked and unashamed. Yet we live in a society where sex is ruthlessly exploited, marketed and perverted. A Christian biblical perspective offers a response that is truly liberating and life-giving, yet never legalistic; always truthful about the diversity of human sexual identity and expression.

The day will include the themes:

  • ‘Neither male nor female’: gender and difference
  • ‘Whatever turns you on’: orientation and debate
  • ‘Celebrating sex’: singleness and marriage
  • ‘Casting the first stone’: questions and behaviour

‘Face to Faiths’

-learning through interfaith conversations

Muslim WomanChristians living in multifaith cultures have numerous questions and responses. How often do we really address these? What does scripture actually say? People of every faith have a unique spiritual story. How similar is theirs to yours? What shared questions and issues do we both have? Putting a personal face to other faiths is essential. Listening and understanding one another, building relationship and trust, working together for change, is the path of hope.

The day will include the themes:

  • Circle of connection: exploring shared values
  • Faith friends: listening to their stories
  • Faith friends: enlightening conversations
  • Circle of diversity: God, Jesus and other faiths

‘Jesus and Wild Nature’

-following his creation-inclusive example

IMG_6187 copy 2Jesus calls us to an earth-based and creation-focused discipleship. Inviting us to experience a deep personal connection with the sacredness of all things, alive with God’s free and feral Spirit. Jesus brings metropolis and wilderness together. Instructing us to, “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.” Amid today’s global ecological crisis, he offers radical practical pathways of real hope.

The day will include the themes:

  • Wild wisdom: Son of man and true meekness
  • Wild footprints: eco-discipleship and discovery
  • Wild encounter: connection and reflection
  • Wild futures: questions, choices and vision

‘Parchment to pavement’

-connecting with scripture today

 

ParchmentToday, many find the ‘Christian Bible’ a strange book. It is ancient. A whole library in two sections, yet a single volume. Its documents range from legal texts to strange visions, with a great deal more in between. Its stories are fascinating, but where to start? How can we use it as a spiritual guide? There are, however, simple steps that will begin to open up its complexity and reveal its beauty: steps not just for beginners, but for seasoned readers too.

The day will include the themes:

  • The woven tapestry of the Jewish scriptures
  • Ancient Hebrew insights for today’s world
  • Exploring the mosaic of the New Testament
  • Early Christian wisdom in a secular age

‘Speaking truth to power’

-working for change in an unjust world

PowerAuthentic spirituality always motivates us to work for deep transformation in both local and global society. As the early Quaker leader William Penn said, “True godliness does not turn people out of the world, but enables them to live better in it, and excites their endeavours to mend it.” Biblically truth is not just about the accuracy of our information, but also the quality of our character and cause. What values are needed to shape valid Christian activism?

The day will include the themes:

  • Justice: ‘putting everything right’
  • Faith: ‘making happen what God wants to happen’
  • Wisdom: ‘creative strategies for change’
  • Meekness: ‘strength under perfect control’