1. 7/7 Discipleship Being a Christian in our working lives Session 5

2. Making connections Or …. Pause for thought

3. Theological reflection This is what we have been doing so far in this course. In this session we are ‘reflecting on our reflections’.. Looking at how we have been reflecting to see if the method might be applicable to other situations.

4. Freda’s Story ….

5. Freda’s story Freda faces a difficult situation at work. She is a Christian and wants to tackle the issue in the way that God wants her to. She used both her mind and her heart as she considered how to act. She consciously brought to bear all the faith resources she had access to. We are not told what decision she came to – which is right because the actual outcome of the process will be different for each one of us.

6. Read her story… then …………. How did Freda tackle her problem? In small groups, make a list of the things Freda did in order to try to consider her problem from a Christian perspective. Do you think all of the things she did were sensible / useful? What would you have done?

7. How did Freda tackle her problem? She had a relationship with the people involved She found out as much relevant information as she could She prayed She studied the Bible She attended worship She spoke to the vicar She discussed the matter with as many relevant people as she could She made as many connections as she could between all of these.

8. And afterwards … Freda (and perhaps her colleagues) made the necessary decision and acted upon it The process doesn’t stop there Freda’s theological reflecting will continue as she becomes aware of the consequences of her actions, looks back over how she went about the process of decision-making and learns from it for the future.

9. Making connections … What connections do you think Freda might have made between all the different ways in which she considered her problem?

10. Ways of making connections We can begin to see that the process of making connections between our Christian faith and how we live our lives never comes to an end. We go around the process of reflection and we come back to the same place … only not quite.. We have always been changed by in some way by the way we allow God to act upon us as we reflect. This could be called a ‘Reflective spiral’ and is illustrated in your booklets and on the next slide.

12. See if you can relate some of the activities that Freda engaged in with the stages on the reflective spiral.

13. Now for us … Look back and pick out one event or decision in your life. Try to identify: – What led up to it (facts, relationships, emotions) – What were the consequences – Five other things (people, issues, events) that were connected to it (either before, during or after) – Where did you/could you bring the resources of your Christian faith to bear on your reflections about the event? – You might find it works to draw the connections on a poster-sized piece of paper

14. Can you make any connections between your reflections and the stages of the reflective spiral?

15. Suggestion for the week You might like to continue this process of reflection for yourself during the week ahead. Finish the reflections you have started in this session and then try another one if you have time.

16. Closing worship ….