Mission, Bible & Community for the Margins
ONLINE COURSE
A follow-on course for those who have completed our Mission, Theology & Ministry for the Margins course, and who want to go deeper into Scripture, community, and life at the edges.
Together we will explore how the Bible speaks from below, how mission is shaped by place and poverty, and how communities formed in fragility become sites of wisdom and hope. Biblical theology is brought into conversation with trauma, homelessness, neurodiversity, suicide, prophetic witness, and coaching practice — resisting easy answers and centering upon faithful presence.
Rooted in real communities, this is a course in formation rather than technique: learning to accompany rather than fix, to stay soft in a hard world, and to discern the compassionate Kingdom of God already breaking in among the margins.
Course Overview
The course, will include passionate teaching which fuses together Biblical studies, theological reflection, interviews with people with lived experience, cultural analysis, historical case studies and cutting edge research on addiction and trauma to inspire and equip the church to engage with those on the margins in a way that looks and loves like Jesus.
Sessions
Session 1 - The Compassionate Kingdom
Locating our missional story within God’s great story
Session 2 - Living on the Edge
Mapping poverty, place, and the hidden wealth of communities
Session 3 - Breaking the Mould
Neurodiversity, welcome, and belonging
Session 4 - Job and the Death of Easy Faith
Trauma, protest, and bad theology
Session 5 - Fire Before the Machine
The early days of the Salvation Army
Session 6 - A People Who Speak for God
The prophetic voice of a community shaped by Scripture
Session 7 - Suicide and the Church
Theology, pastoral care, and responsibility
Session 8 - Staying Soft in a Hard World
Formation, resilience, and faithfulness
Session 9 - The Opposite of Homelessness Is Community
UK homelessness, loneliness, and the gift of community
Session 10 - Coaching Without Control. (Guest Speaker: Katie Boyes)
Walking alongside vulnerable adults with dignity, agency, and hope
Course Delivery
We are excited to be able to offer this online course to people worldwide. The course will be delivered live-streamed via Zoom, all you need is a device and an internet connection. Each month the online content will consist of a mixture of live-lecturers, pre-recorded video resources, reading material and conversations between tutors and other practitioners working with those on the margins, with session recordings sent out to students afterwards.
Cost
Full Course Fee = £200
Unwaged = £100
Course Tutors
Rev’d Jon Swales MBE
Jon is an Anglican Priest, pioneer, prophetic theologian and poet who heads up Lighthouse West Yorkshire, a church for those who are battered and bruised by the storms of life. He oversees ‘Lighthouse School of Missional Theology’ and has taught at the Niagara School of Missional Leadership, the Leeds School of Theology, St Hild Theological College, and Westminster Theological Centre. Jon studied Theology at the University of Leeds and Biblical Studies at both Sheffield University (M.A) and Trinity College, Bristol (MLitt, ADMT). Jon is passionate for the church to engage more fully its missional calling to reach out to the most vulnerable in society.
Liz Harden
Liz is Senior Pastor at Lighthouse and brings a wealth of experience from both Christian and secular settings as a pastor and teacher. She is part of the senior leadership team for Dreaming The Impossible and tutors for the Youth Elective Program at Vineyard College. Liz and her husband are passionate foster carers, opening their home to support and care for young people in need. She brings this same heart for nurture, inclusion, and transformation into all areas of her teaching and leadership