Theme Learning Circles 2021-2022

Theme Learning Circles 2021-2022

Is 2021-2022 the year you follow your calling? Will this be the year you dig deeper into the topics that matter to you? Is this the year you rediscover yourself as a learner? Will this be the year you reconnect with a community who learn together? Is this the year that your passion and the needs of the world meet?

We’ve got you covered, with a great line-up of theme learning circles. Whether you’re finally taking the plunge to follow your call to Diaconal Ministry, or whether you’re seizing this opportunity to explore the big questions of faith, culture, justice, relationships, and identity, we’ve got something for you.

The Learning Circles

August 16-27, 2021 is Learning on Purpose, our 2-week master class on learning in community. This is a great introduction to the Centre for Christian Studies and to the diaconal themes of social justice, spiritual care, and education. And this year, for the first time ever, it’s online, so you can take it from wherever in Canada you are.

August 25-September 1, 2021 will be a special United Church Admittands Orientation circle, specially designed for clergy coming into the United Church from other denominations. We are pleased to be working with the United Church of Canada to support ministers in the admissions process.

September 29-October 6, 2021 is Culture and Identity. This week-long online intensive will explore what it means to be something, and how your something can enter into enlivening conversation with someone else’s something. This is the first time we’ve run this particular circle. It will be an exciting opportunity for intercultural learning.

October 21-28, 2021 will be Right Relations. This week-long online intensive will be an exciting collaboration with the Sandy-Saulteaux Spiritual Centre. We will be seeking a vision of just, mutual, respectful, and healing relationship between Indigenous and Settler peoples in Canada. I’m especially looking forward to this one.

October 30-December 6, 2021 is Ministering by Word and Example, our exploration of the diaconate in the Anglican tradition. This will be a great circle for anyone thinking about becoming an Anglican deacon or just interested in what a deacon is. It runs over the course of six weeks, with two online sessions per week, so you can take it from wherever you are. [UPDATE: Due to low registration, Ministering by Word and Example has been cancelled for this year.]

January 11-February 17, 2022 is Spiritual Practice. This is another six-week, two session a week learning circle, perfect for the mid-winter blahs. Reconnect with your spirit, and discover ways of accompanying others on their spiritual journey.

March 23-29, 2022 will be the Relationships learning circle. Fingers crossed, this will be an in-person learning circle at the Centre for Christian Studies in Winnipeg. This week-long circle will be an opportunity to understand your various relationships more deeply and to think about how to support others in forming healthy life-giving relationships.

March 31-April 6, 2022 is Power and Privilege. Explore a variety of social justice issues and the themes and structures that connect them in this week-long learning circle. (This circle is back-to-back with the Relationships learning circle, so why not book off two weeks and make a meal of it?)

April 26-June 2, 2022 will be Ages and Stages. We finish off the school year with this six-week, two sessions a week learning circle on ministry and Christian Education with various ages. Youth ministry, children’s ministry, senior’s ministry, intergenerational ministry – we’ve got it all.

For more information about any of our upcoming learning circles, please contact CCS.

Would you like to advertise upcoming CCS learning circles in your worship service or church meeting? Here are some powerpoint slides you can use if you want.