Feasting on the Word: Children’s Sermons for Year C by Carol A. Wehrheim is hot off the press. Whether you are clergy or lay, staff or a volunteer, this book is for anyone who who leads children’s sermons/messages every week, once a month, or even on occasion.
Read MoreGrowing Disciples 21C
If you are interested in having a stroll through the ideas of someone who has been working in the field of faith formation for a long time, and who has significant runs on the board of encouraging people towards discipleship then the blog of UCA Education specialist Craig Mitchell is a great place to start.
Read MoreAbout Pilgrim with Bishop Stephen Cottrell
Bishop Stephen Cottrell visited Australia recently. As one of the co-writers of Pilgrim: a course for the Christian journey, he was only too happy to sit down with Jonathan Sargeant and answer some questions about the course...
Read MoreA Doubter's Guide to the Bible
Dr John Dickson appeared on Brisbane's 612 ABC station recently to talk about his new book, A Doubter's Guide to the Bible. Introduced by announcer Steve Austin as a historian, Dickson gives a masterclass in apologetics.
Read MoreCOMING SOON – Big BIBLE360 news
You’ve already heard about the new modules in the BIBLE360 series coming your way. That’s Introduction to the Prophets and Exploring Anglican Spiritualities, in case you missed that news. Both of those are dynamite and manage to combine learning and personal faith growth material too.
But on the way is some big news about the expanded “360” family of learning experiences for your parishes.
Read MoreThought about Christian Meditation?
How much time do you spend a week being still? How much time in actual intentional prayer?
Maybe you’ve wondered about experimenting with Christian Meditation but didn’t know where to start...or maybe you enjoy it and could use some new resources?
Read MoreThe new Monasticism?
Spirituality expert Mark Berry is visiting from the UK to share about the new monasticism that Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby is encouraging.
Read here to find out when he'll be in Brisbane...
Read MoreReady for a Bible Odyssey?
Ready to look a bit deeper into the Bible?
Bible Odyssey is the website for you.
It features the latest work and ideas as well as a cornucopia of material on every facet of the Bible.
Read MorePaula Gooder on the Bible
Paula Gooder, co-author of the wonder Pilgrim: a course for the Christian Journey series speaks here about the Bible and does so in a creative and interesting way. And it's less than three minutes long! What do you think?
Read MoreSmall group resources - Exploring Life’s Big Questions
Small group material that deals with topical common questions about faith are like reality TCV shows: there’s a lot of them out there and most of them are rubbish!
Finding material written by terrific and trusted authors that get to the heart of issues without being bogged down is much harder. So that’s why the new SPCK series Little Books of Guidance are so valuable. There are four in the series so far.
Read MoreNew BIBLE360 modules on the way!
After the huge success of BIBLE360: Introduction to the Bible, work is underway on a range of modules to extend your knowledge and engagement with Scripture. First out of the gates will be BIBLE360: Introduction to...
Read MoreFaith Formation for Yrs 10-12?
Got a few young people on the edges of your parish but no resources to do things for and with them? Maybe their parents come to church but the kids are a bit on the outer? Senior Ichthus sounds just right for you. Run by our own AYCF department, Senior Ichthus will help those young people to consider their own faith and enable them to bring that wonderfully positive experience back to their parishes...
Read MoreUsing Pilgrim: Tips from Rev Michael Stalley
Thought about using the Pilgrim material? Looking for some wisdom from an experienced user? Here, Rev Michael Stalley talks about what attracted him to the Pilgrim material and offers some tips for those new to the program...
Read MoreLatest Pilgrim books available
The final two books in the Pilgrim: a course for the Christian journey series have been released.
Following the order of issues in the Catechism, the final two books are The Bible and Church and Kingdom. These use ...
Read MoreNew website for Education for Ministry
There 's a new website for Education for Ministry (EfM) based in the states! This website hosts information, resources and more to make it indispensable for group members but also useful for anyone wondering what the program is all about.
Read MoreConversations with the New Testament
Every time I visit a parish to lead the BIBLE360: Introduction to the Bible program, the questions of 'where to from here' is posed towards the day's end. The program raises heaps of possibilities to answer that question, from starting small groups to further in-depth reading. This new book will now...
Read MoreAnswering the tough questions
Question and answer sessions are an essential part of any state school Religious Education teachers methodology. They tend to allow us get to the point. The itch gets scratched!
With Episcopalian Questions, Episcopalian Answers, Ian Markham (Dean and President of Virginia Theological Seminary) has written a slim volume that does just that. He provides brief answers that manage to
Read MoreRegister your Pilgrim group/s or your intent to start one
Here's an important hint (for the sake of repetition). Register your group (or your intention to start one) with Jonathan Sargeant. Why? Doing so will give you...
Read MoreLenten resources for 2015
Planning ahead for lent in 2015? Here's an idea or two...
The Archbishop of Canterbury's lent book for 2015 is In God's Hands by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Here's what the publishers say...
In God`s Hands is the 2015 Archbishop of Canterbury`s Lent Book. In this little gem of a book, Archbishop Desmond Tutu distils the wisdom forged through a childhood of poverty and apartheid, an adulthood lived in the glare of the world's media, and the long and agonising struggle for truth and reconciliation in South Africa, into the childlike simplicity which Jesus tells us characterises the Kingdom of God.
Archbishop Tutu has produced a meditation on the infinite love of God and the infinite value of the human individual. Not only are we in God`s hands, he says, our names are engraved on his palms. Throughout an often turbulent life, Archbishop Tutu has fought for justice and against oppression and prejudice. As we learn in this book, what has driven him forward is an unshakeable belief that human beings are created in the image of God and are infinitely valuable. Each one of us is a God-carrier, a tabernacle, a sanctuary of the Divine Trinity. God loves us not because we are loveable but because he first loved us. And this turns our values upside down. In this sense the Gospel is the most radical thing imaginable.
It is extremely moving that in this book Archbishop Tutu returns to something so simple and so profound after a life in which he has been involved in political, social and ethical issues that have seemed to be so very complex.
Or there's this one...
Sacred Space for Lent 2015 by the Jesuits in Ireland. A budget choice at $3.95 here's the blurb...
Now in its ninth year of publication, Sacred Space for Lent 2015 continues to attract and retain a devoted readership for whom it serves as a complement to the hugely popular website sacredspace.ie, and as a daily Lenten resource of unmatched quality. Sacred Space for Lent 2015 is a convenient, pocket-size book that makes it easy to enter into prayer during Lent—the most important season of the year.
Using the simple six-step method first developed by St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, this booklet provides the same daily readings and prayer starters, accompanied by the weekly Lenten themes found in the larger book. Inexpensive and portable, Sacred Space for Lent 2015 is the perfect gift for your parish, campus ministry program, small group, friend, a family member, or for yourself.
And finally, Tom Wright's Reflecting the Glory
'You can't love an abstraction. You can't even love the idea of love. You can only truly love a person. The deepest, richest meaning of love must be personal love. The relevance of knowing God in Jesus is that when we love God in Jesus we discover how that love, that personal love, is given to us in order that it may be given through us.' This book of Bible readings and reflections, for every day from Ash Wednesday to the first Sunday of Easter, explores how we reveal Jesus even at the lowest and weakest points of our lives. Drawing on New Testament passages, with a particular focus on Paul's letters to the church in Corinth, Tom Wright shows that through God's Holy Spirit, the suffering but also the glory of Christ can be incarnate in our lives, enabling us to be the people of God."
Last minute Advent idea: Nativity story stones
Darren Wright's Digital Orthodoxy blog has an enormous quantity of great ideas, mostly simple and easily achievable for ministry with younger and not-so-young people.
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