|
|
This course tries to strike a balance between explanation and exploration. There is liturgical material - rites to mark the different stages of the journey - and information about sponsors to accompany people on the journey. Emmaus has three stages - Contact, Nurture and Growth – and is published in six volumes, so, unlike the other materials, starts a lot earlier and goes a lot deeper.
Emmaus is for seekers, beginners and disciples. Youth Emmaus is also available. Many churches using the Alpha course, use Emmaus growth courses as part of the follow up.
Strengths:
The authors of Emmaus come from a cross-section of Christian traditions. The resource materials can be used in a variety of different settings.
Weaknesses:
Because there’s a lot of it, it can seem complicated
COMMENTS
Whatever course is used, the Emmaus Contact book will be of enormous benefit in thinking how you will get people to come on a course, as will the Emmaus Growth modules for following up basic exploration and instruction.
Liz Welters – Schorne Team
Last autumn we ran an Emmaus Nurture Course, based in Waddesdon. Fifteen people came regularly: four seekers; eight wanting to be confirmed; and three mature Christians. We used sessions 1-6 ‘What Christians Believe’, plus two extra sessions for confirmation candidates, selecting relevant material from ‘How Christians Grow’. Those not being confirmed were also keen to attend these sessions. Different people - lay and ordained - led the evenings.
A strong sense of fellowship soon developed. At the end, ten people were confirmed and two of the original seekers are exploring more in a home group, also attending church regularly. We didn’t serve food at the sessions, but ended with a party.
Although Emmaus contains a lot of material, it can easily be tailored to meet the needs of participants. When I remarked how full the sessions were, someone replied, ‘We don’t just think about things at the meeting, but chew it over through the week.’ It was helpful to have mature Christians who were able to share their stories – personal stories probably had more impact than anything else in the course!
Roy Burgess, Priest in Charge St. George's Owlsmoor
We have been using Emmaus material at St. George's, Owlsmoor since last Easter. It began with an open evening a year ago, headed up by Bishop Stephen Cottrell, the Bishop of Reading - a co-author of the material.
The meeting was open to all local churches and we had representation from several of them, at least one of which has since run an Emmaus course.
Last summer we, at St. George's, began the fifteen week Nurture course with twelve people, including one Muslim young woman - and I would like to add here that her presence has been enriching to our discussions. We included one evening when we had a shared meal and were able to chat informally about areas of the course we had covered, and it was there that the germ of the notion that there was an enthusiasm to continue further began to grow.
The exciting thing to come out of the Nurture course was the fact that two of the members have now offered, and are preparing, to run that course this coming summer. That has freed me up to run the 'Growth - Knowing God' course, which is the next stage in Emmaus. That is now under way, with the same number taking part, including one new person who heard about it on a Baptism visit I made, and wanted to learn more. During Lent, the intention is to use the material from the course as a Lent course which will be geared in such a way that it can be open to others to 'buy into' - maybe they may feel the need to continue on the remaining weeks of the course after Easter!
We now foresee that we will be running a four year cycle, using the other two modules relating to growth in Christian Faith.
Finally to say that the young people don't miss out either, as I am using the Youth Emmaus as the basis of the junior Confirmation classes this year. Clearly I have yet to know whether this will work, but to date, the young people have been enthusiastically responding to the material.
Shane Griffiths - Assistant curate in the benefice of Icknield
Before I came to Watlington there had been a series of successful Alpha courses within the Benefice. More recently (2004 onwards) myself and other members of the ministry team have run both Nurture and Growth groups using the Emmaus material and Youth Emmaus for the teenagers.
Listed below are some of the positive things to come from having followed first an Emmaus Nurture course followed by a Growth course. This was aimed at existing congregations within the Benefice.
- It brought together people form different parishes
- It was a safe place in which to ask questions without the fear of looking and feeling silly.
- Enabled people to look at the possibilities of changing things within the church that would enhance services.
- Challenged people to ask the question what is church: the building or the people
- Helped forge stronger links with the wider community.
- Its good to share fellowship with others
Having started work on the community within the church my lastest task was to target people within the wider community that did not come to church. Having overheard mother's saying " I'm going for a coffee and some cake when I've droped off the children" gave me my next idea, why not see if a Emmaus Nurture course might interest these Mum's and they can have coffee and cake at the same time.
So I now run a Nurture group of 4 mum's on a Thursday morning entited Coffee, Criossants and Christianty!
Comments
"Its nice to be able to answer some of the questions about God when my daughter asks me!"
"It good to know that the Church can engage with those of us who don't go to church"
Susie Simpson – SS Mary & George High Wycombe
I have used the 'Nurture' element of the Emmaus course several times as a basis for confirmation classes with adults, first at All Saints' and also at St Mary and St George's and St James'. The most successful time was with a mixed group some of whom were new Christians preparing for confirmation and some were people whose confirmation was long ago, hidden in the mists of time.
We found the Emmaus course covered all the major areas we wanted to cover, and we liked its inclusion of the sacraments which suited our churchmanship. It was flexible enough to be used as just the basis of the course; we also added the idea from the Catechumenate of each person writing down three questions to which they wanted to know the answer. These ranged from very deep searching questions about suffering, or the nature of Christ, to odd things like 'why do priests wear black?' that people had always wanted to know but were afraid to ask.
What the course leaders found helpful was having ready prepared handouts and activities to use with the group rather than having to think of interesting ways to approach different topics. We also liked the inclusion of liturgies to use in church along the way so that the whole congregation was aware of the group preparing for confirmation.
The course suited us in that it acted as a springboard for discussion, it does not attempt to give you all the answers.
Edwin Clements – United Benefice of Blewbury, Hagbourne and Upton
We have used various courses form the Emmaus syllabus for a number of years. The wide range of courses and the flexibility of the material have been extremely useful. We have used courses to prepare adults for confirmation, to train group leaders and for Lent Courses.
The material is very clear and particularly appropriate for novice group leaders. We have found that the content suits our particular tradition and is non-threatening to those who are very new to the Church. The strength of Emmaus lies in its inherent adaptability.
Mark Charmley - St. Leonard's Banbury
We have started to use Emmaus with a group of regular members as a "refresher" and as a Confirmation Course for 3 people wanting to be confirmed. We did open it to baptism and wedding contacts as an intro to Christianity but none took us up on it this year.
So far, 5 weeks in the group seem to be finding it useful, and it is fairly user friendly from my perspective too.
John Castle – Sandhurst
I have just come back from the 3rd session of our current Emmaus (Nurture) course. It's the 3rd we've put on in the last 12 months, and it seems to be going as well as the other 2 have. We've had such good feedback from the course members of the other 2 courses, who are excited by what they're learning and can't get enough!
Pat Freeth - Shires Edge Benefice
For 2 years running I have used 'Youth Emmaus' as a basis for the Confirmation course for young people. There are three sections - What Christians believe; How Christians grow, and Living the Christian Life. The material can be adapted. It provides a helpful framework which helps young
people step forward on their Christian journey; learning about God and other aspects of Christian faith. The Emmaus book includes a CD-ROM and there is useful photocopiable material to use as handouts.
