Biblical Storytelling Weekly for Advent offers a relaxed but in-depth journey through Advent stories in Mark and John, along with suggestions for learning and telling (or reading) the stories.
This is designed as an Advent journey for both Biblical storytellers and liturgists who prefer to read! It’s not an introduction to Biblical storytelling as such, though learners will encourage one another to learn parts of the story by heart, as desired. Exploration of difficult as well as familiar sections of the stories of John the Baptist’s proclamation, Christ’s Incarnation, and Jesus’ call to hope and watchfulness will help learners develop skills for either telling or reading it.
In churches that follow the Revised Common Lectionary, Advent 2023 begins the year of Mark, who offers no Christmas story, so it’s a great time for study of the “other meaning of Advent.”
Six discussion board assignments will be spread over the five weeks, as well as one-hour Zoom meetings Mondays at 1 p.m. and evenings at 6 p.m. Central time. You may attend either one each week. Attendance at five of the six (as well as the Blackboard interactions) is required for a certificate. The last event of the course will be the Zoom sessions on Dec. 18.
This course has been approved by Discipleship Ministries as an advanced course in Lay Servant Ministries. It provides the required 10 contact hours.
This course is eligible for 1.0 CEU.
Quick Info:
Number of weeks: 6
Price: $70
CEUs: 1.0
Required books: No
Blackboard: Yes
Zoom: Yes, required
Certification or Series: Yes (Lay Servant Ministries)
Read course description for details.
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Price: $70
About the Instructor
Rev. Beth Galbreath is a United Methodist deacon whose specialty is “digital culture ministry.” Part of her ministry is over a decade of teaching online at BeADisciple. She loves to bring a multimedia, multi-intelligence approach to all her courses.
Beth serves on the pastoral leadership team of Compassion UMC in Brookfield, IL, a new church plant. Her ministry includes consulting, teaching, and small group leadership; she’s passionate about worship, spirituality and deeper connections with God through the sacraments, Baptism and Holy Communion. She is also an activist for solar energy, interfaith understanding, and eco-sustainability. She shares her passion for all these topics through her classes at BeADisciple.
Digital culture ministry is also about ancient-future worship arts and education styles, especially an emphasis on story; she is an ambassador of the Network of Biblical Storytellers International and coordinates the NBSI-related Chicago-area biblical storytelling guild. She’s taught biblical storytelling in Cameroon, Bolivia, Haiti, the Philippines, and India as well as across the United States.
Past Learners Comments…
“This course is amazing as well as fun. We as a class learned from each other as well as our instructor Beth. As we read each story we learned so much more, the commentaries were great Just an amazing class.”
“As usual, Beth was a great teacher. I have taken a variety of different classes from her and have always found her to be on top of her subject. … I was grateful that the Lenten and Advent studies were spread out a bit more given all the other activities going on during the two seasons. It is a great idea to allow us to work on storytelling without getting overwhelmed. Rev. Beth Galbreath is a United Methodist deacon whose specialty is “digital culture ministry.” Part of her ministry is over a decade of teaching online at BeADisciple. She loves to bring a multimedia, multi-intelligence approach to all her courses.”
