Dates: October 2008 (Mon-Thursday 9am-5pm) This course is offered by the Congregational
Life Centre. Arrangements can be made to take it for credit at St. Stephen's
College.
Instructors: Clair Woodbury and Joyce Madsen
This is a course that goes beyond theory to provide the tools and resources
needed for personal development and the transformation of an organization. You
will use the "Prisms process" to explore your personal gifts and develop
facility with this powerful resource for identifying a congregation or organization's
strengths. You will develop "Wings Like Eagles" that let you soar
as you meet the challenges of providing leadership in your particular situation.
There will be insights around working in a team environment, understanding one's
community, and creating a plan for effective action. Mornings will be used for
developing our individual abilities, afternoons for insights into group leadership.
You will leave with a rich "toolbox" of resources, and a plan that
includes goals and actions for personal growth and organizational change.
We offer a number of courses at the Congregational Life Centre, in partnership with St. Stephen's College. Registration is through St. Stephen's. 780 439-7311
Dates: October 1, 2007 through May 31, 2008.
Instructors: Joyce Madsen (lead) and Clair Woodbury
Thriving congregations are in touch with who they are and with their context.
They are congregations with vision, energy, a mission and a plan. They are congregations
where staff and core laity see themselves as a leadership team working to make
their vision a reality. This course, using Wings Like Eagles as the primary
resource, takes you through the whole congregational transformation process.
As you finish, you will create a plan for transforming your congregation. Requirement:
Approx. 3 hrs. per week.
What participants say: "This course has clarified the discomfort and provided a path and strategy to address the concern." January 2006.
Dates; December 2008. Registration deadline, beginning of November.
Instructors: Clair Woodbury and Joyce Madsen
This course provides an introduction to the development of theology and church
practice from those incredible early days when missionaries set out to win the
Roman Empire for Christ to the modern day reinvention of the church. We'll ruminate
in the gloom of the dark ages, watch St. Francis set out to rebuild the church,
participate in the excitement of the Reformation, examine the enlightenment
and the light it shed on our understanding of God. We will explore the question
of how God acts through people of faith to affect society as a whole - and how
society in turn affects the church and the way we hear God. At each stage we
will ask how the events of historic times shed light on our current understanding
of God and the church.
Dates: May 12-16, 2008. (Mon. - Fri. 9am-5pm)
Instructors: Clair Woodbury and Joyce Madsen
The God who intervenes has gone. The God who keeps us company while life is
happening is alive and well. The new face of God is appearing through cracks
in the rigid plaster walls of the institutional church. This course explores
who God is on the other side of the sound bite, the cell phone, and the satellite
image. We have lived through two centuries of scientific accomplishment. Many
feel we entering a century of spiritual rebirth. We will take a cloister walk
with Marcus Borg, Ian Barbour, John Dominic Crossan, Stephen Hawking, Diarmuid
Ó Murchú, John Polkinghorne, John Spong, Paul Tillich, and a host
of others - hearing their questions, assessing their understanding of God, and
becoming clearer about our own faith. Maximum enrollment: 10.