Leeds School of Theology are pleased to partner with Lighthouse West Yorkshire in facilitating a dynamic learning community which will serve Christians already working alongside the marginalised or who have a heart to pioneer in this area. Lighthouse is a fresh expression of church that serves adults with multiple and complex needs including poverty, mental health, homelessness, trauma and addiction.
Course Overview
The course, will include passionate teaching which fuses together Biblical studies, theological reflection, interviews with people with lived experience, cultural analysis, historical case studies and cutting edge research on addiction and trauma to inspire and equip the church to engage with those on the margins in a way that looks and loves like Jesus.
Topics Include
Visions and Values of Healthy Theology
Missional Theology for the Margins
Justice and the Heart of God
The Image of God
Suffering, Lament and Spiritual Warfare
Building Community & Leading Accessible worship for Vulnerable Adults
Why the Hell do Bad Things Happen?
Addiction and Recovery
Contemporary Church and the Witness of the Past
Helping without Hurting
Trauma: Hope for Healing
Signposting and Working with the City
Tutors
Rev’d Jon Swales lives in Leeds and is married with 4 children. He heads up Lighthouse – a church for those who are battered and bruised by the storms of life and serves as a Team Vicar at St George’s Leeds. Jon has been a New Testament Tutor for Westminster Theological Centre having studied Theology at the University of Leeds , and Biblical Studies at both Sheffield University (M.A) and Trinity College, Bristol (MLitt, ADMT) and currently teaches Old Testament at St Hild theological college. Jon is passionate for the church to engage more fully its missional calling to reach out to the most vulnerable in society.
Katie Ojukwu is a modern languages graduate from the University of Leeds and Senior Pastor at Lighthouse. She has a particular interest helping those who have experienced trauma and is passionate about how the church can respond to some of the most vulnerable and hurting in society in a way that is both radical and sustainable. A passionate communicator, Katie has led seminars and performed spoken word poetry at national conferences such as Soul Survivor, ISAAC and JustLove.
Course Delivery
We are excited to be able to offer this course both to those who are based in and around the Leeds area, and to those nationwide. The course will be delivered to these two groups separately but the content and the tutors will be the same. You can select the course most appropriate to you when you register.
1. Leeds Course – this is for students who are based in and around the Leeds area. This course will be delivered, initially, via online content until the Covid-19 restrictions are lifted and students are able to meet in person legally, safely and meaningfully. When this happens students will continue the course by meeting together for live in-person teaching. The online content will be a mixture of video resources, live Q&A times hosted via Zoom, and conversations between practitioners working with those on the margins.
2. Online Course – this is for students who live nationwide. This course will be delivered fully online. Each month the online content will consist of a mixture of video resources, live Q&A times hosted via Zoom, and conversations between practitioners working with those on the margins.
Dates
The two courses will run with slightly differing dates throughout 2020-2021 with the aim that these avoid School Holidays, Christmas and Easter.
The dates for the Leeds Based 2020-21 Margins course are:
The dates for the online course are
The online course will be hosted via Zoom, with videos shared with students each month and a close Facebook group that will allow students to interact with Tutors and the rest of the student community.
The Leeds based Course will function in the same way as the online course above until students are able to meet for live in-person sessions. These will take place at St George’s church Centre in Leeds City Centre, 60 Great George Street, LS1 3DL. Free parking is available in Joseph’s Well car Park (LS3 1AB), across the pedestrian footbridge on the other side of the A58. The venue is also close to both bus and train connections.
Register
The price for the both courses is the same. The course costs £205 for the year. To sign up head to our Register Page.
About Lighthouse
Lighthouse West Yorkshire is a fresh expression of church and registered Leeds-based charity which reaches out to those who have been battered and bruised by the storms of life. There are over 150 men and women who call Lighthouse their church, many of whom have multiple and complex needs including homelessness, addiction, trauma, poverty and mental health struggles. In addition to our specialised pastoral care, signposting and crisis intervention we gather together three times a week on Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons to share food, friendship and the gospel of Jesus through a friendly and confident mixture of story, scripture, prayer, testimony and song. In the past five years we have seen over 60 be baptised, 70 head off to residential Christian communities and many lives be dramatically transformed through the power of the gospel.