Body

You may have seen the Foundations of Faith course advertised in the notices, so from someone who went on the course, here is a little insight into what we got up to.

Foundations of Faith was an eight week course held on Sunday evenings in the Parish Hall. It was given largely in response to people who have been on the Enquirer’s course in the last three years asking ‘what can we do next?’ We were lucky enough to have a pastor in adult education from the Bradford Diocese, Reverend Steve Allen, who wrote the material and led the course with huge knowledge, humour and kindness. It was also great to have a full spectrum of attendees with a mix of ages and professions, and from both the family service and high mass.

We covered the four areas of ‘Using the Bible’; ‘The Church’; ‘Missions Matters’ and ‘Spirituality & Vocation’. Steve came prepared with excellent content and the group came armed with lots of questions. This led to a good balance of learning and time for open discussion and reflection on our own thoughts and interpretations. For example, the topic of which books are included in the Bible led to some good, challenging debates, as did the discussion on what the Church represents, particularly in modern times.

In the last two weeks of the course, as we moved on to discuss spirituality and vocation, the mood of the group seemed to shift and mellow. Whereas before we may have had uncertainty as to why a certain book was left out of the Bible, there can be no questioning how God is moving in our own lives, the journey we are on and the calling we may have. The challenging disappeared and we had a wonderful opportunity to share our own experiences of faith and offer each other encouragement.

We are so lucky to have a church, our Vicar and pastors such as Steve who are there to take the time to help us grow in faith and propel us on our journey. We are also blessed with a wonderful church family and opportunities such as Foundations of Faith to learn and get to know each other better. So if we are lucky enough to be able to run the course again in the future, be sure to sign up, you never know what you might learn or where it might lead.

Catherine Wormald