Everything you need to know about the Story Of Us
Details about the structure of the course, who wrote it, how to use it and FAQ below!
A 5 week course designed to be run in Church youth groups
Designed to be run over 5 weeks, this course contains engaging video content, discussion guides, reflection guides and a leaders guide to make it as easy as possible for you to run. It is designed to run over the course of your talks and discussion time on a typical night. Each session has around 18-20 min of video content and 30 min of discussion time factored in.
The detailed structure of each week is designed to run at around 45min-1 hr (depending on discussion)
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Video: Introduction & The World's Story 6 min
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Discussion Break 5 min
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Video: God's Better Story 6 min
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Discussion Break 5 min
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Video: Living the Better Story 6 min
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Reflection time 5 min
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Discussion and Bible study 15 min
The Five Weeks follow this structure:
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We Are Made by God
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We are Made for Relationships
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We are Made Embodied
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We are Made to Grow
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We are Made for Christ
"This is a course which is written from an authentic and warm place.Simon shares himself, he acknowledges loneliness, he validates confusion, he promotes vulnerability in real relationships, and heconstantly reminds us of our home base, God’s love, before steppinginto ethics.The Story of Us says yes, this Gospel thing, this Christian stuff istrue, but it’s also good for you, and for your friends!”
Toby Knights, Youth Minister at Barneys Broadway
What people say about The Story of Us
Created, written and presented by
Simon Swadling
Simon is an ordained Anglican minister who serves as an assistant minister at Summer Hill Anglican alongside his role at Living Faith. He recently completed a Bachelor of Divinity at Moore College, after starting his theological studies at Youthworks college. He's passionate about thoughtful engagement with culture and helping people know God, and the goodness of the life he offers. At Living Faith that looks like bringing both his own personal experiences and years thinking about topics around sexuality in how he speaks and writes. Before working in ministry, he was a pastry chef and sometimes still dreams of opening a bakery/bookshop in some sleepy town.
Have a look at a sample of the discussion guide booklet
The course comes with a complete discussion guide for you to give your participants. It contains space to take notes in the videos, the discussion questions for the end of each section, reflection questions and full Bible study. To look at a sample section click below
FAQ
How long is this course?
The course is designed to run for 5 sessions. Each session has around 18-20min of video content, and we advise leaving another 20 min at least for discussion. All up, it would be safe to factor around 45 min each week to work through the material.
Who is it designed for?
This course has been designed with school-aged youth in mind- around ages 13-18. Youth to the older end of that spectrum will probably get the most out of it due to the content and complexity, but younger youth will certainly get plenty of of it too.
Do leaders need specific training?
Not at all! We have made this course precisely so that those running it do not need any extra special training, in running it you just need to facilitate discussion. There is a leader's guide provided with some tips on how to do that well, and some tips on navigating pastoral conversations that may come up due to the topics covered.
I'm not running a youth group, could I still run this course?
Absolutely! The course has been designed for youth but that just means we have worked really hard to make it as clear and engaging as possible, and some of the worked applications are geared towards youth. It isn't full of youth slang and would be perfectly accessible for other age groups too. You could work through it as an individual, with a bibile study or any other group.
What topics do you cover across the course?
The course is designed to build a Theological Anthropology that helps users to engage with many topics, as such it touches on many ideas.
Possibly sensitive topics: Sexuality, Gender, Biological Sex, Marriage & Singleness.
Theological Concepts: Creation, Sin, The Trinity, Adoption, Union with Christ, Eschatology, The person and work of Christ
