Posted Tuesday 04 May 2010
60 Lay Readers from across Scotland will meet this weekend at Tulliallan for a 48-hour Conference, sponsored by the Diocese of Glasgow and Galloway. This is the first time such a gathering has been held in the Scottish Episcopal Church.
The purpose of the Conference is to affirm Readers in their valuable ministry and discern how they might best serve in the coming decade in an increasingly mission-shaped church in and for a changing Scotland. To this end, the Primus (The Most Rev David Chillingworth) will give the key-note address setting the Scottish scene, and the event will be threaded through with reflective inputs and Bible Studies offered by Canon Dr Christina Baxter, Principal of St John’s College Nottingham, who will be acting as theological reflector. Throughout the event, participants will be invited to enter into the story of the dawning recognition of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24.
The Conference is the brainchild of Brian Woodburn, a Reader from Dalbeattie, who was enthused a few years ago by a Church of England gathering he had attended, and wanted to offer something similar north of the Border.
Workshops will be offered on particular areas of ministry seminal to the vocation of Readers as communicators, theological educators and people standing at the interface of world and church:
Bereavement and Funeral Ministry: Janet McKinnell and Amanda Wright
Faith in Older People: Mary Moffat
Preaching in a Visual Age: Geoffrey Stevenson
Ministry with Children – Godly Play: Carrie Upton and Michelle Brown
ICT 1: Powerpoint and Internet resources: Kennedy Fraser
The Conference Prayer:
Lord God, we thank you for calling us into the company
of those who trust in Christ and seek to obey his will.
May your Spirit guide and strengthen us
in mission and service to your world:
for we are strangers no longer but pilgrims together
on the way to your kingdom. Amen.
Category: Dioceses, Glasgow & Galloway
