Upcoming Workshops
IFD100 How to Provide Your Workshop Online - September 8 - 19, 2008 -- $100
This is a two-week workshop designed to familiarize participants with the mission of the Institute for Discipleship and BeADisciple.com, the basics of planning and teaching online workshops, and the basics of the use of Blackboard software. Participants will complete a series of exercises. In the first week, you will use the software as a student in order to give you familiarity with the perspective of the "students" in online workshops. You will also begin to think about a potential workshop you might want to offer online. In the second week you will be given a workshop site of your own to administer as if you were leading a workshop. Many participants who come into the How To workshop with ideas end up developing much of their actual workshop in the second week. Once you have completed the How To workshop, you will be certified to offer your own workshop through the Institute for Discipleship and BeADisciple.com.
Disciple Making 101 - September 8 - 28, 2008 -- $10 until price increases to $20 on August 1, 2008.
What is the simplest system one can use to make disciples and mature them spiritually to the point where they can make their own disciples?
A flood of new ideas and methods in evangelism has made us skeptical. The innovation that is needed in churches today is far more elementary yet entirely sufficient: Jesus is Lord.
How can we overcome resistance to this innovation?
This workshop offers a specific, step by step plan of spiritual formation based on the discipleship systems of the world's largest and fastest growing churches.
Participants will learn practical spiritual disciplines based on the Great Commission that operate in pre-venient as well as sanctifying grace to develop Christians into better disciples and then disciple makers.
This online workshop is based on Dr. David Kueker's 2007 Doctor of Ministry project on evangelism, church growth and organizational change at Fuller Theological Seminary (www.disciplewalk.com).
This short, seven session course at an introductory rate is a great way to try out online learning at BeADisciple.com.
Participation limited to 18. It will be offered September 8 - 28, 2008.
Maximizing Disciple In Your Church: A Workshop for DISCIPLE Facilitators" -- currently not scheduled
This workshop offered by Bishop Richard Wilke, author of DISCIPLE, and Lisa Buffum, DISCIPLE facilitator, is intended for pastors and lay persons who already facilitate, or would like to facilitate, DISCIPLE Bible Study in their home church.
With the use of a wonderful DVD featuring Bishop Wilke, we will explore the need, purpose, structure, and expectations of DISCIPLE. The DVD also includes ten ways to mess up DISCIPLE in a church and helpful hints. There will be a new assignment every two days to give the participants time to watch a short video and/or read a section of the book. Discussion will center on helping DISCIPLE Bible Study to flourish in your congregation.
This is not DISCIPLE training nor is it intended to replace DISCIPLE training. The intent of the workshop is to assist currently trained facilitators and potential facilitators in the growth and use of the DISCIPLE program within their church.
The course will be offered from July 7-21, 2008, at the cost of $100 which includes required texts and shipping.
Effective Communication with Little or No Money - August 18-29, 2008 -- $100 -- Back for a summer encore with updates based on feedback from the spring! (Read what others have said!)
Have you considered different approaches for reaching internal and external audiences?
To meet church goals, do you use printed publications, news releases, magazine advertisements, radio spots, TV commercials, televised worship services, webcasts, websites, e-mails, surveys, billboards or direct mail?
Have you explored ways you might use volunteers working in ministry teams to provide communication outreach?
How large should your budget be? What if you have no budget?
This two-week workshop, led by seasoned communications director Scharmel Roussel, will provide the BASICS of communication outreach for a church with little or no money to spend. It will begin August 18 and run through August 29, 2008. The cost for the workshop is $100. CEUs are available.
Day 1 - Our Online Community
Day 2 - It Starts With Print
Day 3 - Advertising and Marketing
Day 4 - Church Websites
Day 5 - Online Surveys
Day 6 - Target Audiences
Day 7 - Communications Budget
Day 8 - Volunteer Ministers in Communication
Day 9 - Timeline
Day 10 - Wrap Up and Evaluate
Reading the Bible in a Whole New Way - August 25-29, 2008 -- $20
How do scholars and preachers read the Bible differently from the average layperson? Why do they come up with interpretations that seem so odd? This is a short course in various ways of reading the Bible: historical criticism, narrative criticism, form criticism, etc. Don't know what those are? Well, that's the point, isn't it? Let's learn!
Offered at an introductory rate by Dr. Martha Myre, this workshop requires no textbook and is a great way to try out online learning in the Blackboard system.
RINGS OF FELLOWSHIP Youth Bible Study Facilitator Training - September 8 - 19 -- $35
During this two week course, participants will learn how to effectively conduct the RINGS OF FELLOWSHIP bible study program for youth. RINGS OF FELLOWSHIP is Disciple Bible Outreach Ministries' youth Bible study curriculum.
First developed in partnership with the NC Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, RINGS follows the model of DISCIPLE and is designed to reach teens in an innovative format that promotes spiritual growth and positive peer dynamics. RINGS stands for Responsibility, Invitation, Neighbors, God and Service and teaches the Biblical themes of love for God and love for neighbor.
RINGS is suitable for use in a number of settings including local church youth groups, youth Sunday School classes, institutional settings or as a community-based outreach. Training in the RINGS program is provided to program leaders.
The workshop will be led by Dr. Mark Hicks, Executive Director of Disciple Bible Outreach Ministries of NC, Inc. and will be held online from September 8-19, 2008. Participants will need to order the RINGS materials.
"The Tie that Binds": An Online Book Discussion - September 22 - October 3, 2008 -- $25
This workshop will be an online book discussion about this newly released book, The Tie that Binds: Connecting with God, the Church, and the World, by UM Bishop Richard Wilke, the co-author of DISCIPLE Bible Study.
"Blest be the tie that binds Our hearts in Christian love."
Excerpts from the cover:
"Whether or not the words of this hymn are familiar to you, the notion behind them and this book is one of connectedness and community."
"Grounding his discussion in biblical background and Wesleyan roots, Wilke attempts to rouse the church to follow the command of Jesus to Go . . . and make disciples. The issue, he says, is not merely religion; it is salvation. The task is no less than drawing people of all ages, nationalities, backgrounds, and philosophical persuasions to the One who said, I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. And the method is to connect" with one another in the church, with children and youth, with the unchurched, with the Savior."
Order The Tie that Binds now from Cokesbury!!
Living Wet: Remembering Who We Are as a Baptized and Baptizing People -- September 22 to October 31 -- $100
We "get" Holy Communion as a sacrament and a nourishment of our personal and communal life, but what about Baptism? Why is it not understood as central to our identity and daily life? Why do we treat it as such an "after thought" in worship practice and in discerning the shape of the lives we are to live? What riches and resources lie fallow in our birth "by water and the Spirit"?
In this course, instructor Daniel Benedict will help participants explore some of the personal, biblical, theological, and missional dimensions of Christian baptism, and stretch our horizons toward more intentionally "living wet"--living our baptism in the church and the world. This will be for laity and clergy who suspect there is much more to our initiation into Christ and Christ's church, and who want to explore dimensions of immersion in Love's mission.
"Living Wet" will begin September 22 and run through October 31 with the week of October 13-17 break for reading and project work while the instructor is on retreat. The course requires a minimum of 8 enrolled participants, so encourage others you know to join with you!
Read a testimony from one of Dan's past online students!
Basic Storytelling for Lay and Clergy -- September 22 to October 4, 2008 -- $100
Once upon a time, storytellers were highly regarded members of the community. They held the communal history and taught each generation the lessons of the past in preparation for the future. Today, storytelling is regaining that favored place in the Christian community.
Clergy and Lay preachers are using storytelling in a variety of settings to share the gospel and open people to new ways of hearing the "old, old story."
This workshop will help preachers learn and improve basic storytelling skills. Participants (lay and clergy alike) will learn and chat online about the elements of stories and storytelling. They will prepare a story, tell it, receive feedback, make revisions, and tell it again.
It's a two-week workshop offered by Beth Perry, where daily interaction will be encouraged and continuing education units will be available. Access to a web cam and high speed internet access will be required. And, hopefully, we'll all live happily ever after!
Visual Technologies for the Church -- October 6-20, 2008 -- $100
This workshop is an exploration of the use of technology in the ministry of the local church. Participants will explore and discuss applications of visual technologies for worship, Christian education and effective communications. Facilitating the use of technology in the church will also be studied. This includes space design, computer and projector equipment, and presentation software.
Valuable information will be provided along with an opportunity to exchange ideas on the effective use of technology in the life of the local church. The workshop will be conducted online in eight sessions which will span a two week period. At session five, the participant will begin designing a Christian education or worship presentation. There will be a few days allocated for this task and the opportunity to discuss your presentations during and after development with the instructor and fellow participants.
The workshop will be instructed by Dr. Joseph Conte, Director of Church Relations and Instructional Technology at Wesley Theological Seminary. Upon successful completion, participants will receive a certificate of completion and 1 CEU.