what is crucible? |
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A melting pot, where antiquated structures are made pliable and reshaped.
A place where different cultures or styles can mix together and produce something new. A time when powerful political, social, intellectual or economic forces converge. |
who is the course for?Christians across western culture are facing profound challenges and fresh opportunities. The long era of ‘Christendom’ is coming to an end. We now live in a plural society, with multiple religious options alongside the prevailing secular assumptions, in which Christianity has lost its position of dominance and privilege and churches are on the margins of society. Although we seem to be declining in numbers and influence, this context offers many new possibilities – if we have the courage and imagination to grasp them.
Crucible is for Christians with courage and imagination, who suspect that:
We need to operate as cross-cultural missionaries because we live in a cross-cultural mission context. We need to think creatively about incarnating the gospel and planting new kinds of churches in emerging and diverse cultures. We need to recover the biblical vision of shalom and reflect on how we live as followers of Jesus in light of this all-embracing vision. We need to pay particular attention to the margins, because we serve the God who frequently does new things there: - On the margins of society among the poor and disenfranchised. - At the margins of culture, where creative thinking explores new possibilities. - On the margins of the familiar, the spaces all around us, neglected or ignored, but full of potential. |
crucible online |
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Crucible Course has run in various locations across the UK since 2005 as weekend courses.
Since 2020 whilst social distancing restrictions have been in place, the course has run successfully online, still maintaining its participatory elements. This has opened the course to people both from within and from outside the UK, which has enriched the course. Each module will involve four online events spread over eight weeks: Wednesdays: 14 April, 28 April, 12 May, 26th May 2021 |
what is taught? |
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After Christendom
After Christendom is the first module of the Crucible Course and sets the scene for subsequent modules as the core module which sets the context for all that we explore together in Crucible. The module investigates the many opportunities, as well as the challenges, that the end of imperial Christianity presents. Sessions on previous After Christendom modules have included:
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session schedule
Mountain time/Eastern time
11.45/13.45 Zoom call open 12.00/14.00 Welcome 12.10/14.10 Session 13.10/15.10 Break 13.15/15.15 Session 14.15/16.15 Reflection 14.30/16.30 Close |
dates
Wednesday 14 April
Session 1: What is post-Christendom? (1) Session 2: What is post-Christendom? (2) Wednesday 28 April Session 3: Reading the Bible after Christendom Session 4: Post-Christendom, post-secular, post-colonial… Wednesday 12 May Session 5: Missio Dei Session 6: Jesus, kingdom and church Wednesday 26 May Session 7: A paradigm shift (Bible study: Acts 11:1-18) Session 8: Living between paradigms |
trainers |
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The course will be taught by a team of experienced trainers, mainly drawn from the sponsoring agencies, all of whom will have practical experience and the ability to reflect theologically on the implications of mission in a changing culture. The core team and planning group consists of Alexandra Ellish, Simon Jay, Sara & Barney Barron, Stuart Murray Williams, Simon Mattholie and Carmel Murphy-Elliott.
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Sara Barron is an accredited Baptist minister and until recently she has had a pioneering ministry on a large council estate near Portsmouth where she lived for 16 years. Sara is a trustee of the Incarnate Network and a development worker for CURBS, which resources, trains and supports children’s workers in urban and estate areas. Having recently moved to Looe in Cornwall, Sara is spending a year of missional listening in this new context before embarking on pioneer ministry in Looe. Sara is married to Barney, also a Baptist minister, and they have four children.
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Stuart Murray Williams spent 12 years as an urban church planter in East London and has continued to be involved in church planting as a trainer, mentor, writer, strategist and consultant. Under the auspices of the Anabaptist Network and Urban Expression, he works as a trainer and consultant, with particular interest in urban mission, church planting and emerging forms of church. He has written books on church planting, urban mission, emerging church, the challenge of post-Christendom and the Anabaptist tradition. He is married to Sian and has two grown up sons and three grandchildren.
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South African by birth, Alexandra Ellish spent her teenage years in England, studied theology in Edinburgh and later Prague, where she was also ordained as a Baptist minister. Alexandra has been part of Urban Expression in various ways since 2009 and is now part of the team of co-ordinators for the organisation. Alexandra, her husband Philip and their two children live in Peckham, South London, where Alexandra is also the minister of Amott Baptist Church. Alexandra loves the Anabaptists, Woman’s Hour and long walks with her Jack Russell, Westley.
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Simon Mattholie is an accredited Baptist minister. Following a career in banking, Simon trained as a church planter/evangelist in the late 1990’s, with a passion for the rural context. Simon has led small and medium-sized churches as well as acted as a consultant for mission and church planting for the local Baptist associations. Since 2011, Simon has served Rural Ministries as the Chief Executive, promoting investment in mission which allows people to have permission to fail. Simon lives on a smallholding in Suffolk with numerous animals, his long-suffering wife, daughter, son-in-law and grandson.
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partners |
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Crucible Course is based in the UK and is run by partner organisations:
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Crucible Course USA is brought to you by
The Baltimore-Washington Conference and The Mountain Sky Conference of The United Methodist Church
contact us:
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Manchester skyline image: Carmel Murphy Elliot