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Be a Disciple Online Facilitator

Submitted by gavin on Fri, 01/23/2009 - 12:58pm.

many of you, my faithful readers know that community can happen over the bits & bytes of the internet. the folks behind the disciple study series are seeking to cultivate some disciple communities that will study and grow together. they are currently looking to fill out their facilitator list if you are interested visit the site and drop your name into the hat. tell them i sent ya & they might still let you in. haha! shalom, -gav

 


DISCIPLE Bible Study -- Online

 

Do you have persons in your congregation who are missing out on the transforming power of DISCIPLE because of their schedules? Do you have some whose travel keeps them from committing to a weekly class meeting? Do you have some who might like to take DISCIPLE with others who have a similar life experience?

 

The Richard and Julia Wilke Institute for Discipleship is excited to offer Disciple Bible Study -- now online at BeADisciple.com.

 

Here is how it works. Persons simply go to www.BeADisciple.com and enroll in the Disciple Online class they wish to join. A $30 fee is required to underwrite the costs of nine months of technical support. Next, participants will need a manual which they can purchase online from the Cokesbury site or through their local church. High speed internet connection is recommended.

 

Disciple Online may be offered to groups of 12 within a congregation. A few members of a congregation in one state may join together to study Disciple with a few from another state or even another country. Or individuals may enroll in Disciple Online with other individuals from anywhere.

 

Disciple Online will be presented in a standardized format. Each group will need a facilitator to watch over the sessions and to encourage participation. The facilitator will remain “a learner among learners." In addition to Disciple facilitator training, online facilitators will need to complete the online workshop “How to Become a Disciple Online Facilitator ” prior to leading a group. This workshop will be offered periodically at BeADisciple.com for $50.

 

Participants will do their daily reading and reflection with their manual on their own. Participants may enter their daily scripture notes in the online workshop environment if they choose, and assignments will be available with instructions for weekly group work. This will include discussion questions to be completed in a group-interactive discussion board by the participant at his/her own convenience. Prayer requests and written prayer petitions will be included. This online work covers what is normally accomplished in the first half of a normal face-to-face DISCIPLE class.

 

 Each week, a short review of the week's scriptures by Bishop Wilke, the author of DISCIPLE, will be presented online for participants to watch. These will lead into key questions for weekly discussion.

 

 The class schedule will be determined by the group facilitator. Every seven days the facilitator will conduct a live session online (approximately one hour) which walks the group through more discussion, exercises, and time for prayer together. This section will be conducted similarly to the second half of a face-to-face class and will transition the group into the next week. Each session will be recorded so that participants who have to miss a live session may view the live session later.

 

 Disciple Online will use the DISCIPLE (Becoming Disciples Through Bible Study) participant manual and facilitators guide but not the UM Publishing House DVDS/videos which normally accompany the study. Participants are encouraged to gain access to these materials through their local church or through Cokesbury.

 

If you have any questions, or would like to provide some input into the development of Disciple Online, please email Lisa at beadisciple@sckans.edu.

 

 Bishop Wilke -- A message regarding Disciple Online

 

 Information for potential Disciple Online facilitators

what happened on 80449?

Submitted by gavin on Wed, 04/30/2008 - 10:39pm.
i got to watch most of the afternoon session. this happened to hold one of the bigger anticipation parts for this conference. this is where the church and society 2 group brought to the floor petition 80449 which dealt with restructuring the social principles on human sexuality. steve rankin, a delegate at gc has a very nice perspective.

Then comes a time for making amendments to both minority and majority reports. Because homosexual practice is so contested in our church, lots of amendments are made to the reports, frankly, incrementally, subtly to gut the meaning of whichever proposal the amender doesn't like. Once the amendments are made, then, people can make speeches in support of or against the report. A maximum of three speeches for and three against are allowed. Then comes the vote.

Now to the issue at hand. The committee had voted to remove the "incompatibility" language from the Social Principles statement in the Book of Discipline regarding "the practice of homosexuality," which now states that such practice is "incompatible with Christian teaching." Removing the "incompatibility language" and replacing it with a statement that our church is divided on the matter was, in sum, the majority report proposal.

The minority report proposal asked for the church to maintain its current position, recognizing and upholding the scriptural teaching against homosexual practice. To make a long story short, by a very narrow margin, the Conference voted to replace the majority report with the minority report, then voting to adopt it as the majority report. By a margin of 55% to 45%, it passed. So, the official stance of The United Methodist Church stays the same as it has been on the question of homosexual practice, but the margin of support was very close. We look like a divided church.

oh' the distracted delegates

Submitted by gavin on Thu, 02/14/2008 - 10:34pm.
robin has a great run down of all things new for General Conference. i suggest checking it all out. the one that i am uplifting for conversation are the rules governing general conference and technology.

To date, the conference’s rules committee has issued a set of recommendations, under the heading of “Distracting Behavior.” They include:

* Cell-phone use by delegates or observers is not permitted in the plenary hall or legislative committee rooms. 

* The use of laptops, PDAs, pagers and other electronic devices should relate to other General Conference business and be done in such a manner that it does not disturb other participants. (The presiding officer or members of general conference staff may ask individuals to leave the plenary hall or legislative committee rooms if they persist in behaviors that interfere with the participation of other delegates.) 

* All electronic devices should have audible alarms muted when possible.

what are the thoughts of you the methoblogosphere?
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