meeting me

G'day.

I'm Alan.

Currently I work with the Uniting Church in South Australia, as the Mission Officer for Rural and Regional SA. My role is to help build new models for sustainable ministry across the rural areas of our state, to encourage and support our ministers and lay leaders, and to help our congregations engage in God's mission. This is my first year in this role, though my work in the previous three years was similar, but focussed in a smaller geographical area. Previous to this, I worked for five years as the Mission Facilitator with the UCA in Tasmania.

I am a lay person, and have been involved in a range of Christian ministries and mission including Scripture Union (for many years), Mission Australia, and Baptist Community Services.

I have no formal theological qualifications, and a couple of years ago decided to embark on a B. Min. Whether I graduate is not the point. Its the journey and adventure I am enjoying. I'm finding my studies - one subject per semester - both enriching and stimulating, as well as refreshing. Missiology, evangelism and Biblical studies are my particular interests.

The phrase living the Bible in the title of this course caught my attention and interest. For too long we have spoken of Bible study. Putting those two words together is unhelpful. It says head. The Bible is about transformation. So I speak of Bible listening. Or Bible engagement. Or  Bible encounter. With a view to living the Bible. This week I'm looking for clues as to how I might do that better, and help others to do so as well.




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