sustain:if:able kiwi

learning with Doug Gay: Church in Mission summer intensive

Doug Gay is in New Zealand for a summer intensive – Church in Mission: Theology in Changing Cultures. A Kiwi summer has many attractions, so why am I spending a week of it with Doug?

First, Doug has a gift for liturgy. I use one of Doug’s recent calls to worship with our KCML interns . Tasked with a call to worship for the induction of an artist as a pioneer minister.

Doug brilliantly framed theologies of reformation with a missional trajectories. Beautifully word-smithed, theologically rich, I use it with interns to consider how historic theologies are reforming, shaping future vision.

Seccond, experience in innovation. Doug was part of pioneering one of the first alternative worship communities, the Late Late Service in Glasgow. This was in the 1990’s. There were very few maps, certainly no emerging church and fresh expression books. Here is their Christmas service, televised live on Channel 5.

Doug then moved to London, and as a United Reformed Church minister, was part of birthing Host, exploring alternative worship in Hackney, north London.

Third, Doug is a fine public theologian. He completed his PhD in public theology at the University of Edinburgh and has written on national identity and Christian faith. In 2017, he gave the Chalmers lectures. They were described by Jason Goroncy as “informed, intelligent, lucid, timely, and hope-filled challenge not only to Scottish Presbyterianism (the prime focus of his reflections) but also to the wider church.” They have become a book, Reforming the Kirk, with St Andres Press.

Fourth, he’s a respected preacher, tag preaching in 2016 at Greenbelt with Nadia Bolz-Weber, and presenting at the sold-out Festival of Preaching in Oxford, UK in 2017.

Fifth, he is himself a gifted musician. He’s recently returned to the studio to record, a sign of a wellspring of creativity.

Creativity, worship, public theology, preaching and music. Worth a week inside, no matter how good the summer!

The intensive runs 22-26 January, 2018. Titled Church in Mission: Theology in Changing Cultures, co-taught by myself and Doug, it is a joint offering by the Department of Theology and Religion, University of Otago, and the Knox Centre for Ministry and Leadership.

The course can be undertaken in two way:
• for credit through the Department of Theology and Religion at University Otago course costs. For further details on this option contact Paul Trebilco, Department of Theology and Religion paul.trebilco@otago.ac.nz or 03 4798 798.

• for audit student by contacting the Knox Centre for Ministry and Leadership. This will cost $500, with further Ministers Study Grant subsidies available for PCANZ ministers. For further details on this option : The Registrar, Knox Centre for Ministry and Leadership; registrar@knoxcentre.ac.nz; 03 473 0783.

The course can be undertaken in two locations:
• In Dunedin, at the Knox Centre for Ministry and Leadership, with Doug and Steve face-to-face and a face-to-face tutor to provide interaction and contextual reflection

• In Auckland, with Doug and Steve streamed in via video and a face-to-face tutor to provide interaction and contextual reflection