Learning Circles 2026-2027

This post was written by a person.

It feels weird to have to say that, but that’s the world we live in these days.

You might find some spelling errors in here. Or more likely grammatical errors, arising from me thinking I wanted to say something one way but partway through deciding I wanted to say it a different way, or coming back to a sentence later to add or change something but forgetting to adjust the verb tense in a previous clause, or whatever. Then again, maybe I’ll catch those errors in proofreading, or one of my eagle-eyed colleagues will catch it when I send them a draft. If I have time. Which I might not. Because I write relatively slow, which is to say, at the speed of someone trying to coax a human brain into arranging words in ways that are, fingers crossed, meaningful – to me and hopefully to you. Because, as I mentioned earlier, I am a person.

In this era of the A.I. bubble, when our relationships are often mediated through technology, and corporations are training machines to imitate people, and people are outsourcing tasks that traditionally relied on human creativity and wisdom to machines and settling for the results because they’re cheaper, faster, and less taxing, it seems like the question “What does it mean to be human?” is really important.

Here’s what I think. Church is about how to be human. At its best. How to be a human in faith, how to be a human in doubt, how to be a human who is hurting, how to be a human who is caring, how to be a human together with other humans who are trying to be human with each other. Maybe not the deepest ecclesiology in the world, but there it is.

And I think that this year’s learning circles offered by the Centre for Christian Studies are all about how to be human too.

This September the CCS students going into their Integrating Year (the final year of the CCS diaconal ministries program) will be going to Kelowna to take part in the DUCC (Diakonia of the United Church of Canada) gathering, deepening connections to their diaconal community and future colleagues in ministry. Immediately after that they’ll be going to the Naramata Centre for their fall learning circle. This cohort of six will be learning together throughout the year, with online meetings and then another in-person circle next spring. Each member of the group will bring their own unique personality, gifts, and struggles. There is no automated shortcut to building a supportive learning cohort, because people are messy, but these students have learned skills that they can put into practice.

In October (14-20) we have the Relationships learning circle. When people are in need of pastoral care, a lot of the times it’s about a relationship – a spouse, a child, a sibling, a parent, a lover, a friend, the lack of a friend. Relationships are a source of joy and a source of struggle. For spiritual care providers, understanding relationships – what makes them strong, what makes them vulnerable – is a vital part of helping people become more fully human.

Following that (Oct. 22-28) we’ve got Living Scripture. The Bible is not a plug-in-your-question-out-pops-an-answer machine. The Bible is the record of a people trying to live faithfully, read by people in another time and context engaged in the same project. The conversation brings scripture to life, and CCS educators Janet Ross and Alcris Limongi (and others) will enliven your understanding of scripture with their enthusiasm for language, interpretation, post-colonial criticism, creative bible study, and honest reckoning with that it means for scripture to live for us and for us to live scripture.

In the new year (starting Jan. 15, 2027), we have a special collaboration with Emmanuel College, St. Andrew’s College, and the Sandy-Saulteaux Centre. Our Culture and Identity learning circle will be offered in the form of an online course on Intercultural Leadership for Educational Ministry, led by faculty from the four schools. One (full) day of online classes per month over four months (plus time in between to work on assignments and collaborate on projects) with give students from different schools and different educational cultures a chance to learn from each other as they explore the dynamics of interculturality in the church.

Next spring (Apr. 7-13), we put on our social justice boots (or sandals) for Oppression & Resistance. The struggle to be human ultimately requires standing up in some way against the social, political, and economic forces that dehumanize us. This learning circle is about understanding the “isms” that hold power over us and lifting up the example of people who speak truth to power. This is where we find energy to “seek justice and resist evil.”

After that (Apr. 15-21), we explore the simplest (and maybe hardest) ministry skill. Ministry as Listening is a spiritual care learning circle on how to be really present with people. People are not problems to be solved, but mysteries to be embraced in all their messy complexity. We’ll explore how to get out of the way and listen deeply.

For a week in May (12-18) we’ll be online for Power & Privilege. Kind of a cousin of Oppression & Resistance, this social justice learning circle invites you into an analysis of how power operates in society. We’ll explore what kind of agency we have, if any, in the face of what Paul called the “powers and principalities”, and whether we can work together to shift the systems and structures of power toward justice and human dignity.

Do you want to be more human? (Is that a thing? Can we be more human? I’m pretty sure we can be less.) Learning circles at the Centre for Christian Studies can be taken as continuing education through our Continuing Studies program. You can take circles for credit, or if you don’t feel like doing assignments you can audit. 

CCS learning circles explore big human questions – practically, theoretically, experientially, reflectively, creatively – in the only way that makes sense: with other people.

For more information, you can email me at info@ccsonline.ca.