Gospel Living

Starting from the position that all life is for the Glory of God, this module looks at what it means to live a life for that glory. It will mean loving God and loving others, shaped by the cross and looking to the future glory that we will share with Jesus. Having laid this foundation the module then examines how this impacts daily issues such as decisions, friendship and possessions.

Gospel Relationships

The gospel impacts every area of life. This module examines some specific areas and shows how the gospel engages them. In this module you will look at everyday situations and issues from anger and conflict to marriage and singleness. Each time the module examines how the gospel that you’ve been looking at in ‘Gospel Living’ shapes and impacts our response to these situations and issues. It looks at how the heart shapes how we act and so seeks to engage us at that level, asking the question of ‘why’ so that the gospel can impact the very centre of the issue.

Gospel Change

Bridging the gap between what we are and what we ought to be is one of God‘s great interests, and it ought to be ours as well. We need to change. A shepherd‘s role is to help others change. Therefore it is critical that we understand how change takes place in our own lives and in the lives of those around us. This module looks at how the Gospel helps us to change. You will look at issues around repentance, faith, the head and heart and how the Bible, prayer and community relate to Gospel change. You will also take an indepth look at the issue of holiness – what it is and how it expresses itself in relationships, conversation and thankfulness.

Missional Community Life

It’s all about Mission… and this module shows you how. This module starts by arguing for why we are in a ‘missionary’ context. It then goes on to explain what it means for us to be a people on mission, or ‘missional’, and the difference between this and traditional approaches to small groups. Having set this basis for life, the module looks at the practical outliving of this mindset – how to engage the culture around, living normal life infused with the gospel, understanding the ‘rhythms’ of life around us and how the gospel shapes those rhythms. The module rounds off looking at how this missional life impacts everyday activities like hospitality and the stewardship of time and money.

Engaging Globally

This module lays out the principals, the history and the practical application of churches engaging globally. In this module you will work through from the Bible why it is essential for a church that reflects God’s character to engage with his global mission. Having laid this foundation the module will then take you through how churches have done this in the past, the present shape of ‘world missions’ before taking you through how you might engage with what God is doing throughout the world.

Keeping it Missional

It’s all about Mission. And this module looks at how everyday activities of the church can be kept all about mission. In this module you will look at how to keep the following all about mission: Sunday gatherings and prayer meetings, Bible studies, preaching, visiting, pastoral care and even business meetings.

Apologetics

Traditionally apologetics has been the attempt to show the Christian faith to be rational. However this makes the mistake of thinking that the rejection of Christianity stems from a rational argument. The Bible begs to differ. The problem is not rational, but the human heart. The heart needs something more than arguments to change it. What role then has apologetics? This module examines this question.

Evangelism

This module looks at the issue of the impact of God’s people upon the world, and the responsibility of God’s people for the world. Working from the premise that the ‘gospel’ is the whole counsel of God, the first unit works through what the message is that we seek to proclaim. Building upon that the module looks at who we are to be as messengers before moving on to practical issues of building relationships and proclaiming this message. Key to this module is also the life that we live as we proclaim. You will be taken through the importance of the Christian community to evangelism, especially in light of 1 Peter 3:15.

Culture

This module helps you understand ‘culture’ and engage with it from a gospel perspective. Too often Christians take one of two approaches to the culture around them. Either they dismiss it all without consideration, or they imbibe it without question. Both may be done with a desire to be on mission where we are. One to remain distinctive, the other to be relevant and engaging. This module helps examine what culture is, what story it is telling and how to engage critically, but not dismissively, and to celebrate without synchronism. In doing this you will look at the principles behind the concept of culture, how it is developing in our age, and using case examples of a film, songs and a book, how to engage with it from a Biblical position.