We believe …

We are not alone, we live in God’s world.
We believe in God:
who has created and is creating,
who has come in Jesus,
the Word made flesh,
to reconcile and make all things new,
who works in us and others
by the Spirit.
We trust in God.
We are called to be the Church
to celebrate God’s presence,
to love and serve others,
to seek justice and resist evil,
to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,
our judge and our hope.
In life, in death, in life beyond death,
God is with us.
We are not alone,
Thanks be to God.

So goes a creed from the Anglican Church in Canada. There are plenty of others to challenge us: A Worker’s Creed from The Nicaraguan Campesinos Mass;  from Iona; from the St Hilda Community; from Zimbabwe; from the Masai people of Tanzania. While in the Church of England we usually say the Nicene Creed or the Apostles’ Creed. In some ways, that Canadian Creed is about the implications of belief; what then for us?

This course is a module from the Diocese of Chelmsford’s Course in Christian Studies, run and honed for more than 30 years. It runs over 10 weeks, two weeks for each of the five elements: 1. God in Trinity : The Lord Jesus Christ; 2. God in Trinity : God the Father, Almighty, Creator; 3. God in Trinity : The Holy Spirit; 4. The Life of the Church; 5. The Future Hope. Each section has a short teaching video with the Dean of Chelmsford, some text and image input and numerous opportunities to share your views and explore those of others. And an optional weekly “video café” with “guide on the side” Peter Nicholls where we chew the fat on any matter from the profound to the trivial!

We use a website learning environment that you log in to at your own convenience: whenever and from wherever. Typically you’ll visit the website 3 or 4 times a week, maybe for 30-45 minutes each time, but the breakdown of this is entirely up to you – just budget 2-3 hours a week. Among other things, we’ll be discussing Jesus’s identity, the meaning of the cross and resurrection, whether or not God suffers, how your church might celebrate God’s good world, what the church is for and how our hope of eternal life affects our life in the here and now!

You’ll learn from the course material, from each other, from the course tutor (hopefully), from yourself as you push your boundaries and clarify what you do actually believe, and from the Holy Spirit as this course is ‘wrapped’ in prayer and worship, week by week.

To enrol or to ask any questions, please get in touch with Peter Nicholls. If you’re an AWA, please enrol via Sue Hemsley Halls (the small fee is waived for AWAs).