Time to Talk of God

This resource has been produced by the Methodist Church to help members recover Christian conversation as a way of nurturing discipleship. It has the following sections:- Christian conversations in our contemporary culture Conversations with the Jesus of the Gospels Conversations with the Methodist Tradition Current blocks to conversation within the Church A restored conversation It was produced in September 2005 and has been used by a number of churches to help members regain confidence when talking about their faith.

Reaction:

I have led two groups - one as a part of Sunday worship and the other as a fellowship group. Neither seemed to be very popular – but that might have been more a comment on the leadership than the material. The report encourages people to think seriously about how God relates to their everyday lives and how they can talk to others about their experience, but the different sessions go over the same ground, even if in different ways. The chapter ‘Current blocks to conversation within the church’ was included in ‘Talking about our faith’, but in future courses I would include aspects of the chapters ‘Conversations with Methodist Tradition’ and ‘A restored conversation’ in other sessions to make better use of the material. I was keen to read and use the report when it was published and it has much useful material to encourage people to share their faith.

Rev. Brian Spencer (Superintendent Nottingham South Circuit)