This unit has been designed to provide clarity about the Gospel, to introduce some categories of systematic thinking around the Gospel, to set evangelism within a ministry of the Gospel more broadly, and to develop skills for evangelistic settings. It will also demonstrate how the Gospel serves as the coordinating centre of all theology and ministry, and especially evangelistic ministry, providing students with an opportunity to integrate personal, corporate and training dimensions of a their studies.

Be equipped to understand and articulate the Christian gospel and worldview, a biblical understanding of Christian ministry and leadership, and the centrality of the gospel in all of Christian life and ministry. This unit will provide you with an understanding of how gospel ministry and the Christian life is evangelistic, and be better equipped to share, commend, and proclaim the gospel.

This unit provides an introduction to some of the most significant tools for reading, interpreting and responding to select highlights of the New Testament, with particular exploration of the gospel of Mark, John’s Gospel, Acts, Romans, Corinthians, Hebrews and Revelation.

Journey through Israel’s history as God’s people face his inevitable judgment, are forced into exile from the promised land, cry out for his deliverance, and long for a time of peace and restoration. Imagine what it was like to be uprooted from the land God had given his people, or how it felt to be a prophet called to preach judgment to people who shunned God’s messengers. Marvel at the unparalleled beauty of the psalms, the deep insights of wisdom literature and the strange inventiveness of apocalyptic writing. While Israel despairs at its situation, see God set forth his promises, marry justice and mercy, and continue fulfilling his plan for the time when all people will call on his name. This foundational subject helps us to appreciate the richness and relevance of the Old Testament.

What are the core doctrines of the Christian faith? What does it mean to say God is Trinity or that Jesus is the Christ? How should we understand the role and nature of the Holy Spirit? The Church? Jesus himself? Through the lens of a number of historical Creeds, this unit gives students undertaking a one year course the opportunity to lay down some theological foundation stones for the rest of their lives and ministry.

Develop skills to design and facilitate a ministry among children and families in a local church. This online unit works through theological, cultural, and strategic foundations for children’s and family ministry, practices of discipleship among children and families, and practices for leadership in children’s and family ministries.

Anchored by Graham Stanton, Director of Ridley’s Centre for Children’s and Youth Ministry, this subject  includes specialised input from a stellar line-up of local and international practitioners and scholars.

Why did God command the killing of animals and apparently random food laws? Do modern priests need a turban and a temple to properly lead God’s people in worship? Is the whole Old Testament outdated and irrelevant for Christians? Hebrews is arguably the New Testament key to understanding the Old Testament. It also has much to teach us about preaching, pastoral care, faith, and enduring when Christian beliefs are despised by the wider world. Moreover, it gives us unprecedented insights into Jesus, his death on the cross, and what he’s been up to for the last two thousand years — insights you won’t find anywhere else.

The significance of Isaiah within Christian tradition cannot be overstated. The New Testament refers to Isaiah over 250 times. John Chrysostom refers to Isaiah as ‘the prophet with the loudest voice’. Yet Isaiah can be a challenging book to read, understand and preach from; its historical setting is distant and opaque, making it seem obscure; its poetic language is terse, making the book’s message seem veiled.

How can we seriously grapple with the message of Isaiah? What does Isaiah have to do with Christian life and ministry today? This unit looks at the message and theology of the whole book and examines representative passages and themes from the book of Isaiah, with the aim of mobilising you in the process of exegeting and applying Isaiah.

Leaders are made, not born. This unit will serve as a basis for your personal leadership development and effective organisational management. Whether you will be leading a Christian not-for-profit, a corporate organisation, or a church, you will learn theory, skills and tools to transform organisations, empower people, and manage yourself effectively. In the style of a mini-MBA, Principles of Leadership and Management will give you skills across a range of key leadership and management competencies. There is a particular focus on developing a transformational leadership style that embodies integrity, strategic focus and empowerment to promote growth and change.

This unit is designed to help students grow in confidence to use an Anglican Prayer Book effectively in pastoral and evangelistic settings.

What conscious and unconscious rules do we use when reading the Bible? How does the overall story hold together? How can we guard against choosing a page at random and making it say what we want it to say? This unit draws our attention to the different ‘lenses’ through which we approach Scripture. We learn and practise skills using a ‘microscope’: paying attention to the finer details of a passage. We rehearse the importance of the ‘telescope’: seeing where our passage fits into the big picture of God’s mission. We explore other lenses that different interpreters try – and, of course, we are concerned with how we can responsibly apply Scripture to our contemporary lives and churches.

The world in which the early church ministered (30-451 AD) is a lot like ours. Faced with the external pressures of persecution and misunderstanding, early Christian leaders had to defend the faith in the midst of crowd-pleasing philosophies and a domineering Roman empire. As they fought against enemies outside the church, they fought just as hard against those within, in an attempt to unite Christians in doctrine and ecclesiology. At the heart of it was the nature of the deity of Christ, and more broadly, the nature and existence of the Trinity.

Featuring fiery bishops, power-hungry Emperors, desert monks and famous thinkers like Augustine, Early Church History is a subject alive with people and ideas who have shaped the world. The progress of the Gospel in the first five centuries is a remarkable story, one Christians must examine, to learn how the early church defended the faith, so we can do the same.

From Adam and Eve to Abraham, Moses, King David and everyone in between, this subject encourages us with the faithfulness of God throughout history. We see how, in the midst of a fallen world, God created a people for himself and restored the ideals of creation through a tiny, insignificant nation and, eventually, through the royal line of David. We see the depths of Israel’s sin, their horrific acts of idolatry and apostasy; but we see also the heights of God’s love, the strength of his saving arm and his faithfulness to his promises. This subject provides a helpful overview of the first part of the Old Testament up until 2 Kings, with a focus on the Old Testament covenants and key themes that develop from Genesis to Kings. Along the way, we have the chance to think further about some of the difficult parts of the Old Testament, such as the topics of creation and Canaanite genocide, that arise in everyday conversation.

The challenges facing the early church in Corinthians 2000 years ago resonate strongly with many contemporary challenges facing churches today. This unit is designed to examine in detail 1 Corinthians, framing our enquiry around missiological and pastoral application of the concerns raised in the letters.

Students will also gain a deeper understanding of the theology and key themes, particularly as they relate to contemporary mission and ministry including nature of power and authority, sexual ethics, the nature and limits of Christian freedom, gender issues in family and church, Christian worship, the nature of ministry, and suffering in ministry. Students will discern the major practical and theological problems faced by the Church of God in Corinth, how the letter addresses these concerns, and consider how to apply this understanding to contemporary missiological and pastoral ministry situations.

What could be more practical than questions of suffering, the use of money and power, how to work and love, and the quest for order and purpose amid the chaos of life? This unit gives students the chance to see wisdom literature (Job, Ecclesiastes, Proverbs) not as impenetrable ancient near eastern philosophy, but timeless, beautiful, pastoral books which speak as powerfully today as when they were written. Students will come to appreciate how these books complement the rest of the Bible. This unit is designed to give students the confidence to preach, teach and apply the wisdom books as part of the whole of the Old Testament.

It’s so easy for pastors to spend their time putting out ‘fires’ that have cropped up among the people under their care while neglecting other important aspects of their role. This unit is about learning to be proactive rather than reactive in pastoral care, and how to set up churches so that care occurs naturally in groups and not just through the lead pastor.

As part of the unit, an experienced local pastor will take the students through theology of pastoral care before looking at how church structures and training can help develop a church’s care culture. Throughout the semester students also have the opportunity to learn how to pastor people through different stages of life including marriage, divorce, and illness.

You will also have the opportunity to explore areas of interest, ranging from the pastoral care model of the puritans to pastoral care in a particular book of the Bible.

Given that ministry can be so word-focused, this unit ensures students focus on pastoring as well as they preach, on loving while exhorting.