Images from Learning on Purpose 2023

This year’s participants have just completed their two-week Learning on Purpose course. It’s a small group this year – only three participants – which means that these three are carrying the group discussion responsibilities that in other years would have been carried by ten or twelve. Also, it was really hot in Winnipeg at the beginning of the week. That said, they are bearing up well and learning a lot from each other and with facilitators Janet Ross and Scott Douglas, CCS Principal Alan Lai, and chaplain (and CCS Development Coordinator) Lori Stewart.

In the first week they explored their individual learning styles and it’s connection to the CCS action-reflection spiral. (We broke into groups based on our preferred learning styles and were asked to arrange some candies. It’s interesting how the active experimenters approached the task compared to the abstract conceptualizers, or the concrete experiencers compared to the reflective observers!) Field trips to the Canadian Museum of Human Rights and the Forks for Indigenous People’s Day gave us the opportunity to reflect on justice issues and practice our critical thinking skills. Participants led discussions of pastoral care, social justice, and education, and discussed group planning process in preparation for their work next week planning a session on conflict in groups. We talked about theology and practiced some theological reflection (including some emerging reflections on feet and vulnerability).

In the second week, students did some personal sharing – talking about their faith journeys to this point – and digging deeper into contextual theologies and biblical interpretation. Toward the end of next week students facilitated their student-led session on Conflict in Groups and explored diaconal ministry and diaconal identity with a panel of local diaconal ministers (and a potluck lunch with the diaconal community). And, as with most CCS learning circles, the course ended with an opportunity for students to offer each other feedback, appreciatively affirming the specific gifts they see in each other and encouraging each other to further growth.

They were a wonderful group to spend two weeks with, and the learning was deep.