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Jesus in the City
The 2nd UK Urban Mission Congress
"Community Conflict and Celebration"
Belfast, 26-30 September 1998
Learning community - Jenny Richardson, Eutp.
The workshop will be highly participative, and the content will depend heavily on the contributions of those who
participate. Its style will reflect as much as possible the subject matter - that of learning together, from each other.
This summary outlines the framework of the workshop, and indicates key issues that may arise.
"Non-book" - What is it?
A comparison of the characteristics of Book and Non-book people, for example
- Book people think in straight logical tines, non-book people think in patterns of pictures
- Book people think in abstract ways, non-book in specific and concrete ways
- Book people learn alone, non-book people learn in groups
Non-book is used to mean a wide range of different things, which may overlap with
each other
- Those who "can read but prefer not to" (a tabloid culture)
Those who are illiterate
- Those who prefer computers and videos
- Those who are creative (using the right rather than left brain)
- Certain personality types and learning styles
The main focus of this workshop is those who are in the first category.
An example of non-book Bible study
A video (or a cartoon - or a newspaper article or ...) can be used to trigger peoples own stories of life In this workshop, we'll use part of the film "The Full Monty" to encourage people to tell their own stories of mates who've stood by them, and then compare their stories with the description of the early church in Acts Chapter 2. I don't know what the participants will discover.
The method used is based on the "Christian Learning Spiral"
Experiences --> 'Analyse" (What are the patterns?) --> Action --> Reflect
Laurie Green, "Let's do theology"
Peoples experiences are drawn out using "codes" (Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed) - something that acts as a representation of their situation, that enables them to tell their own stories. It's a group, not individual method. There are no right and wrong answers - it gives the Bible to the group of people, allowing them to make their own connections, rather than receive theological wisdom that has probably been written in cultures very different from their own.
The issue for the person leading such a group is a consideration of how much power he / she is willing to relinquish to the group members, and where his / her "bottom line" is in terms of Biblical interpretation - at what point will he / she feel she must step in to ensure that the group does not fall into "heresy". Each individual must come to his / her own conclusions
Eutp materials:
- "How the other half learn" gives more detail on the differences between book and non-book people.
- "Go For It' is Eutp's Bible pack, based on "The Full Monty"
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both available from:
Eutp
336k City Road
Sheffield S2 LGA
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