animate: Practices 3 launches today

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The third and final part of the animate: Practices series in conjunction with Augsburg Fortress launches today, and it’s another great one: this time, we’re led by scholars, authors, and pastors Shane Claiborne, Enuma Okoro, and Doug Pagitt in re-animating our engagements with three seemingly-mundane concepts: money, service, and community.

Shane offers his own experiences and learning on how we as Christians are called to think of and use money (and stuff and other resources), how the Bible can make us feel at odds with the world around us as well as offering us freedom and peace from this oddness. Sharing what we have and emphasizing a gospel of enough are practices that are both biblically-mandated and spiritually life-giving.

Likewise, Enuma Okoro reminds us that service isn’t something that just happens “out there” in third-world countries or in desperate hardships or labor; it’s also something we’re called to every day, in ordinary and small ways. Making ourselves available to each other and seeing the image of God in each other are what service is all about.

Finally, Doug Pagitt tells about his experiences with community as a transformative practice of mutual growth. He invites us to re-think what we expect or do when we welcome newcomers into our midst.

All three of these presenters offer thought-provoking talks on vital practices for the Christian life, and help breathe new energy into our faiths. Click here to learn more about this third course or to register.

We’re proud to partner with Augsburg Fortress in presenting some of the animate series as ChurchNext courses. The  series is unique in that it not only tackles some of the big questions of our faith, like “Is God real?” and “Is there such a thing as too much Bible?” but it does so not in order to teach a certain lesson or to impart fixed wisdom, but to challenge assumptions, spark conversation and dialogue, and encourage wrestling with the deep questions of our souls.

Shane is a founding partner of The Simple Way community, a radical faith community that lives among and serves the homeless in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia.  He is the author of several books including Jesus for President and Becoming Our Prayers.

Enuma is a writer, speaker, communications consultant and an award-winning author of four non-fiction books.  A graduate of Duke Divinity School, Enuma also served as the Director for the Center for Theological Writing at Duke Divinity Law School.

Doug is associated with the emerging church movement and is founding pastor of Solomon’s Porch in South Minneapolis. He is the author of several books including Body PrayerChurch Re-imagined, and Flipped.

Second of 3 animate: Practices launches today

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The second in the animate: Practices series launches today. We’re proud to partner with Augsburg Fortress in presenting some of the animate series as ChurchNext courses. The  series is unique in that it not only tackles some of the big questions of our faith, like “Is God real?” and “Is there such a thing as too much Bible?” but it does so not in order to teach a certain lesson or to impart fixed wisdom, but to challenge assumptions, spark conversation and dialogue, and encourage wrestling with the deep questions of our souls.

In this latest course, pastor Mike Slaughter and author-theologian Phyllis Tickle encourage us to take a second look at our assumptions about and definitions of both “worship” and “sacraments.” Both Mike and Phyllis remind us that these terms mean different things to different people, and that they have become in many ways slippery and changeable terms in our minds. And yet both of these words are crucial to the origins and future of our spiritual lives. Worship is a practice by which we connect with God and within a community of people on the same path; the sacraments can tell us a great deal about both what we believe we’re saying to God and what God may be saying to us as we participate in worship and sacred rites.

Check this course out — it’s a wonderful thought- and conversation-starter on some topics we may rarely consider. Click here for more information or to register.

mikeMike Slaughter, lead pastor at Ginghamsburg Church, is in his fourth decade as the chief dreamer of Ginghamsburg Church and the spiritual entrepreneur of ministry marketplace innovations. His life-long passion to reach the lost and set the oppressed free has now made him a tireless and leading advocate for the children, women and men of Darfur, Sudan, named by the U.N. as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today. Mike’s call to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted will challenge attendees to wrestle with God and their God-destinies.

Phyllis Tickle, founding editor of the Religion Department of PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, thephyllis international journal of the book industry, is frequently quoted in print sources, electronic media, and innumerable blogs and web sites.  Tickle is an authority on religion in America and a much sought after lecturer on the subject. In addition to lectures and numerous essays, articles, and interviews, Tickle is the author of over three dozen books on religion and spirituality.Phyllis Tickle, founding editor of the Religion Department of PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, the international journal of the book industry, is frequently quoted in print sources, electronic 

 

animate: Bible 3 launches today

In our third course of the animate: Bible series with Augsburg Fortress and Sparkhouse Publishing, we are challenged to rethink how we read, interpret, and relate to the Scriptures. William Willimon and Jay Bakker offer us hopeful reminders that, though the Bible is complex and in need of interpretation, the overall message is simple: love and grace and freedom. animate

Though many have limited and oversimplified the Bible — even using it as a tool for inspiring fear or guilt — this course reminds us that the Bible is more complex than that. It cries out for interpretation and ongoing study, with prayer and in community. William Willimon reminds us that the Bible represents all the complexity and unpredictability of our God and speaks to us, who are complex creations ourselves. And yet, paradoxically, the Bible’s message of love and forgiveness are heart-freeingly simple. If you grew up in a tradition in which the Bible incited fear, guilt, and distress, Jay Bakker invites you to revisit it through the “lenses” of Jesus and St. Paul. They just may set you free.

We’re excited to offer this third opportunity to reanimate our thinking about the Bible, with such engaging and wise instructors.  Click here for more information or to register.

Animate: Bible 2 launches today

We’re thrilled with the second installment of animate: Bible, which launches today and features engaging and thought-provoking presentations by Nadia Bolz-Weber and Jose Morales. As we continue to shake up — to re-animate — our beliefs about and relationship with the Bible, we are reminded that the Bible is a crazy, life-changing, unbelievably deep and rich set of books that reward any investment we give them.

Nadia Bolz-Weber offers two reflections on how surprising the use of the term “gospel” was when it animatewas used by the gospel-writers, how the news represented by Jesus was good — but different — and why this crazy news is actually perfect for us right now. Jose Morales uses his wisdom and experience as a DJ to offer a new way to think about the Bible as a set of books, varied in genre, purpose and style as the books in a library or the types of music played in a club.

True to the mission of the animate: faith series, both Nadia and Jose’s video lectures will have you thinking — and redefining — what the Good News of the Bible is and how it speaks to you. Click here for more information or to register.

Part III of Animate: Faith is open!

We continue to be excited about the potential for life-changing conversation that the innovative Animate series offers; the final course in this three-part series, Animate: Faith 3, launches today. This unique program is designed to spur thought, discussion, wondering, pondering, and spiritual growth not by offering answers to some of faith’s most difficult or basic questions but by offering new ways of considering them.animate

Animate Faith 3 features two more of the most engaging and sought-after speakers on faith today: Lauren Winner invites us to consider just why we read and re-read the Scriptures, and what makes them different from any other great book. She also suggests ways we might renew our daily Scripture reading, using “embodied cognition.” And Bruce Reyes-Chow helps us rethink what we mean when we call the church a “family.” He suggests that going to church — and being part of an often dysfunctional family group — can be the best decision we can make.

This course is produced in partnership with Augsburg Fortress Publishing, which offers the Animate Faith DVD curriculum as well as facilitator guides and journals for small groups. Click here to find out more.

For more information or to register for Animate Faith 3 please click here.

New Course: Making Sense of the Cross Part III: Theories of the Cross, with David Lose

davidloseWhatever we say about the cross, we are also saying about God. So what does the cross mean? What can it tell us about God? How can it help us approach, understand, and know God better? In Part III of this three-part series, David Lose introduces us to the three most popular theories, or ways of understanding the Cross, that Christians have turned to through the years.

This online course is based on the Augsburg Fortress DVD-based curriculum of the same name, so if you’ve experienced that teaching, this will be very familiar.

In this six-part class Dr. Lose walks us through:

  •  The Ancient Theory Explained
  • The Ancient Theory Evaluated
  • The Substitution Theory Explained
  • The Substitution Theory Evaluated
  • The Love Theory Explained
  • The Love Theory Evaluated

This is a pre-recorded online course that will take an average learner about an hour to work through. You can pause the class at any time and return to pick it up later.

This is the third of three courses in the the online learning version of Making Sense of the Cross series. Part One is called Experience and the Cross. Part Two is called The Bible and the Cross. None of these videos is downloadable, however there are text files included with the classes that you may download.

If you would rather purchase the 6-part Augsburg Fortress DVD-based series, click here.

For more information and to register, click here: Making Sense of the Cross III:  Theories of the Cross

 

Available Now: Making Sense of the Cross Part Two: The Cross and The Bible, with David Lose

Whatever we say about the Cross, we’re also saying about God.  And yet far more people are puzzled about the Cross than would claim to understand it. In this second of his three-part Church Next course called Making Sense of the Cross, author, theologian, and pastor David Lose helps us understand what the Bible can teach us about the Cross. For more information about Making Sense of the Cross Part II, click here.

davidloseThis online course is based on the Augsburg Fortress DVD-based curriculum of the same name, so if you’ve experienced that teaching, this will be very familiar.

This class includes six lessons:

  • A Man Hanging on a Tree
  • Why Four Gospels?
  • Matthew and the Cross
  • Mark and the Cross
  • Luke and the Cross
  • John and the Cross

This course helps us understand how each of the gospels can teach us something new about the Cross and about God; it is perfect for newcomers and lifelong Christians alike.

If you would rather purchase the 6-part Augsburg Fortress DVD-based series, click here.

Again, for more information and to register for Making Sense of the Cross Part II, click here.