Your hopes for the Growing in Faith Circle

We are asking all Circle members what they think the Growing in Faith Circle can achieve this year.
Some key questions:

• What are the important issues for our circle?
• What resources would be good for our church at this time?
• How do we enable missiological thinking and discipleship across the church? 

Here are some of the things people have said:

• What is discipleship and how do we nurture and develop it? 
  - We need a discipleship education resource which addresses ages and stages of faith.

• The changing nature of apologetic witness
  - How we move from didactic or Socratic argument of concepts, to the greater and less refutable reality and truth of experience and justification of faith from experience
• The changing nature of education
  - Most young people are increasingly exposed to education which is less chalk and talk and more collaborative inquiry-based learning. We need resources which help people create worship and learning experiences which are interactive and collaborative activities and which help people shape their own questions and then discover meaningful answers.
• The increasing validity in being more intentional about wellbeing
• The recent “Healing and Hope” (worship and prayer resources in response to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse) and “Tools for Listening” (a guide to engage children and young people on decisions that affect them) are examples of the Uniting Church responding to issues which demand the Church’s best efforts both now and into the future.
  Some other issues which require ongoing theological reflection include sovereignty of First Peoples, climate change, voluntary assisted dying legislation, domestic and family violence and standards of care for older people (which will receive attention this year through the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety).
  While these issues share common ground with other Circles and with work done in Synods, they also sit well within this Circle’s remit. It seems that when we take up our cross and grapple with challenging issues, individually and in community, the Spirit works within and among us and we grow in faith.

What are your thoughts?

Add to the conversation here or email circles@nat.uca.org.au