Church history – the what, when and why

The minister at Grove Lane Baptist Church, Ruth Gouldbourne, is delivering a national, online course on church history starting this January.

This is a free course from the ecumenical organisation, HeartEdge. It will provide an introduction to and an overview of church history. Ruth says “If we are to see a humbler Church and a bigger God, we need to deal with the history of the Church to understand where we are now, and why.”

The course starts on Monday 24 January and runs twice a month at 7.45 pm on Mondays until 25 July.

Week 1 – Introduction; why church history? Jan 24
Week 2 – The Fathers – who they? Feb 7
Week 3 – Creeds, Councils and Controversies Feb 28
Week 4 – Augustine towers over us all March 14
Week 5 – Christendom; love it or hate it, you need to deal with it March 28
Week 6 – A thousand years when nothing happened April 11
Week 7 – Middle ages; Light April 25
Week 8 – Middle Ages; Dark May 9
Week 9 – Middle Ages; Shadow May 23
Week 10 – Reform of all shapes and sizes June 6
Week 11 – Reason and romanticism June 27
Week 12 – Expansion and disintegration July 11
Week 13 – Reconfiguration – and nothing new under the sun. July 25

Register for your free place here

Ruth Gouldbourne has been a Baptist minister for more than 30 years, ministering in churches in Bedford, London and Cheadle Hulme, as well as being a tutor at Bristol Baptist College. An Associate Fellow of Spurgeon’s College, she is also Senior Research Fellow of IBTSC Amsterdam, and a Research Fellow of Bristol Baptist College.