Our Churchwarden Wendy attended the previous Real LIFE course and this is her story:
“I attended Real LIFE in its first year (2018-19) – a course that is run by the Southwell and Nottingham Diocese’s School of Discipleship.
The course runs for three terms and looks at ten different markers of being a disciple of Christ. Each term consists of ten weekly evening sessions. The first term looks at the basic markers of discipleship, the second term revisits the same aspects but links a Theologian to each one and the third term talks about how we can apply each marker in our own lives. Each week’s session starts with a time of worship followed by a talk, a time for small group discussion, a chance for the speaker to answer questions and ends with a time of prayer.
In the previous few months I was trying to make the decision as to whether or not to enrol on the course. I didn’t know very much about what it would entail; I didn’t know anyone who was going and most of all I was worried that I wasn’t ready – that I wouldn’t understand what was being taught. I am so grateful that Jon’s advice was “just enrol – you’ll be fine” and I’m really pleased that I took that advice!
The course is based around the 9th chapter of Luke’s Gospel. In this Gospel we hear Jesus saying
“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it”.
By attending this course I feel I have planted myself firmly on the path of discipleship. I feel that God is working in me and leading me along that path and by the power of his Holy Spirit I am becoming more and more confident about sharing my faith which I once wrongly assumed was a private matter between me and God and not something I needed to talk about or share – how wrong I was!
So, in summary, I would definitely urge anyone who is keen to dig deeper into their faith and to explore what it means to follow after our Lord Jesus Christ, to enrol on the course, at least for the first term, and see for yourself what Real Life really is.
Finally, I have recently read a book on prayer which suggests that we have no need to pray for God to be with us or others as we know that he has already promised to be with us all – Matthew 28 v 20 says “Behold I am with you always, to the end of the age”. Rather we must open our ears, hearts and minds to that knowledge and really accept Jesus and all that it means to follow after him. Enrolling onto the Real Life course will really help with that and how better to enable us to engage with our own vision here in Bingham of Loving God, Sharing Christ and Serving One Another.
Wendy Forbes-Buckingham
