Montreal Dio is helping widen the scope of Christian formation by offering a series of courses each semester open to anyone interested in deepening their Christian faith and knowledge, and developing their skills for leadership in the Church.
These courses serve a diverse group of lay and clergy leaders in the Church and help them respond to the changing context in which the Church finds itself. To reach the widest possible audience, many of these courses take place over zoom.
There is often a group registration option which allows participants to build on course material through group discussion after each class. “The best part of the open enrolment online courses offered by Montreal Diocesan Theological College,” said Gail Turnbull, “is that it gives interested people (whether lay or clergy), the opportunity to study without restrictions or requirements of tests, writing of papers or opinions. We can sit back, breathe and enjoy the study.”
This past fall Dio offered six open enrolment courses (three of which were taught in French), including a bible study on Luke’s Gospel, an in-person retreat at the Villa Saint-Martin in Pierrefonds, and a preaching workshop.
The first course of the fall semester, “Reading the Bible in the Season of Creation: Christian Discipleship in a Time of Climate Crisis”, tackled themes of creation care in the bible in order to help students explore how to respond as Christians to our global climate crisis. Overall, the course reached about 70 people, some connecting from as far away as Chicago and B.C. Brenda Linn noted that the instructor, the Rev. Dr. Jesse Zink, gave to the chosen passages “a unique power to heal and restore us. This healing power was something that I think many of us felt directly as we engaged with the readings.”
Dio will continue to offer open enrolment courses during the winter semester. Topics include faith and childhood, pastoral care, the Book of Acts, and a training module on leading a bible study, among others. For more information visit montrealdio.ca/our-courses.
