Getting the big picture

To St Anne's for the last in our Christianity Explored course as part of our Bermondsey Christian Training programme.

We have been meeting each week on Wednesday night at St James and Saturday morning at St Anne's with a great mixture of people from both churches at both weekly sessions.

Next we have our Christianity Explored Meal & Social in ten days time and then after Christmas we begin phase two of Bermondsey Christian Training with a new course entitled 'The Big Picture' which is designed in eight weeks to give us an overview of the whole story of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.

Reading Mark's Gospel a couple of chapter each week with plenty of time for discussion (what struck you; what puzzled you?), watching the revamped videos (excellent), and learning from each other's insights, questions, and struggles has made it a very special time for us all.

Our tagline, Bermondsey Christian Training, has been deliberate. We've all been to school but we don't necessarily want to go back, but everyone has 'training' at some point in their adult lives, so why not have Christian training? And training speaks of something that is practical, that relates to life, that equips you for the job you are doing.

Christian training is like that. Its not about filling your head with facts or learning for an exam. It's about opening yourself to God's powerful word, taught to us by the Holy Spirit, so that we are better equipped for our job: living as disciples of Jesus here in Bermondsey.

And that's the exciting bit: as we go deeper in our faith, so we are better equipped to live for Jesus and be involved in his mission of telling the world what he has done and inviting people to put their trust in him.