This educational course, for lay Christians in the Diocese in Europe, which will be called the ‘Bishop’s Certificate’, has been developed primarily in response to requests made by a wide range of lay people and clergy in a number of countries of the Diocese. The material has been produced by a working group, established under the auspices of the diocesan Ministry Team. 

The course aims to meet a variety of needs. These include: 

• Offering educational resources on central aspects of our Christian faith (expressed in the Anglican tradition) that can be used by local chaplaincy groups working with the guidance of clergy or Readers 

• Enabling lay Christians in the Diocese in Europe who, for various reasons, including distance, would not find it easy to meet in a physical group, to explore central aspects of the Anglican expression of our Christian faith 

• Providing a foundation course for people who may then wish to go on and train for a specific form of authorised ministry 

This course is designed to encourage you, as part of a worshipping Christian community, to explore and deepen your faith. If you have already undertaken a course such as the Alpha course, a confirmation course, or the Church of England Pilgrim course, it will encourage further learning. 

Ideally you will be able to follow this course as a group, supported by a locally based leader, in regular face-to-face discussions. We recognise that this will not be possible for all, so we aim to offer some opportunities for people who wish to meet online in groups from across the Diocese or a specific archdeaconry. We also aim to offer at least one online ‘live’ seminar for each module, provided centrally, for everyone who is participating in the module throughout the Diocese. 

The course is divided into four modules, and each module into five units. Each unit is designed to take about a fortnight to complete, allowing time for a meeting (if working in a group) and linked reading and reflection. One module should therefore take about three months to finish. This means that the course as a whole is intended to take a year to complete.  

The material is designed to facilitate working at different levels. Each unit has a basic core, plus extra ideas if you would like to travel further. We also draw attention to other resources, especially those that are easily available on the internet, which provide additional suggestions for exploring the themes that the course focuses on. There will also be some background material (to be published separately) designed primarily for group leaders.  

‘Walking Together in Faith’, a phrase drawn from our diocesan strategy, is an appropriate title for the course. It resonates with the motif of ‘journeying’, written deep into our foundational biblical documents, and it alludes to the importance of pilgrimage in the continent of Europe, in which those ancient pilgrim routes which criss-cross the lands are increasingly treasured. Each unit of the course includes a distinctive European perspective on the topic under discussion, to take account of our unique position within the Church of England, and the special insights that we can offer to the rest of our Church.  

We are planning ways to enable you to receive some form of acknowledgement of your participation if you wish. This will require you to submit a short piece of work – not necessarily written – for each of the four modules. We will be encouraging you to draw on your specific interests and talents – artistic, musical, practical, pastoral, speaking, writing – in your submissions.  

The four modules take their titles and focus from the four ‘pillars’ of the diocesan Rule of Life: 

• Knowing God 

• Growing in Christ 

• Building Community 

• Living Beyond Ourselves  

The starting point is to explore how we can ‘know God’ in our life of prayer, for which Jesus is our primary guide, then discover more about who Jesus himself was and what he did. This in turn leads us to look at what it means to be ‘in Christ’ as a member of his Body, the Church – and finally reflect on how both as individuals, and as Christian communities, we are called to ‘live beyond ourselves’, expressing God’s care for this world which God created and which God loves so much.  

So the modules invite you to take part in a journey which begins and ends with God.