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Essence aims to give an experiential introduction to the Christian faith in a culturally relevant way. The overriding objective is to help people who may view themselves as 'spiritual' to journey towards the Christian faith. Essence would work well in a variety of fresh expression contexts; alternative worship communities and café churches could use the course. Some youth churches, and those that arise out of a concern for the community or the local environment would find Essence very helpful.
Rob Frost is a Methodist Minister, the leader of Easter People and Director of Share Jesus International. Those considering using Essence may find it helpful to read his book A Closer Look at New Age Spirituality and his contribution to Evangelism in a Spiritual Age.
Strengths: Gives people an experience of God.
Weaknesses: Requires lots of organising by the leaders. Some of the language needs to be made more accessible to a non-Christian culture.
COMMENTS
We tried Essence as an evening course and were utterly surprised by how many people wanted to take part. We had a more than twenty on our first course, which was unprecedented. I took the liberty of adapting the material to consciously remove some of the more definite "input" - acting as a facilitator for spiritual discovery, rather than a course leader as such. This seemed to work well. In reflection after the event we all agreed that this was the right approach and we could actually have gone further in a selective adaption of the material. Great experience and we intend to repeat it at some point.
From a review of Essence on the Fresh Expressions website
Essence has been produced for the unchurched in particular. However, in the introduction the author relates how ‘hungry committed Christians are for something less cerebral and more experiential in their faith’. He then goes on to comment on how Christian participants have ‘found Essence stimulating and refreshing’. This is part of the appeal of the course. As well as opening up Christianity to non Christians, it would also be helpful in introducing Christians to wider, richer experiences of Christian faith and life.
A particular highlight of Essence is session three, ‘The Journey to a Better World’. This is a welcome recognition that Christian discipleship involves caring for God’s creation – an area often overlooked in many courses. The discussion in session five of ‘What is a spiritual experience?’ is also very helpful.” Fresh Expressions web site.
Catherine Moxon ran Essence in a home group attached to a Methodist Church in Blackburn. She writes:-
‘We were already an existing house group so everybody knew something about everybody else. It was an all female group, aged between 28 and 65. We ran the whole course as is set out in the material. At the end group members felt they had been given an experience of God rather than being told about him. They also knew each other better too.
It takes a fair bit of organising from a leader’s point of view. Each week is very different and requires different resources. Also, as a leader, you have to be ready for anything and everything that the course brings up. It can get very deep, with people voicing emotional issues that they have been struggling with for years. On the whole the course was a considered a success.
