JOHN CARSWELL recounts a day of discernment for the Craighead Institute

Since taking on the role of Director of the Craighead Institute of Life and Faith in November last year, I have had the privilege of meeting a wide variety of people to talk about the past and ongoing work of the Institute. I usually get one of two reactions: either a misty-eyed and grateful recollection of training with the Institute, or a blank expression that begs a simple question, ‘What is the Craighead Institute?’

My answer begins with our tagline, ‘We are about the integration of life and faith for a more just world. Our aim is to help people draw lines of connection between their life as faithful believers and their engagement with the world around them.’

Often, my inquisitor asks a second question, ‘How do you do that?’ Presently, I answer that we offer a course entitled Growing in Faith, Living in Hope, Serving in Love. This is a new course in Christian discipleship, based on the Beatitudes, which draws on the resources of Craighead’s year-long signature course, Integration of Life and Faith (ILF) and updates these to reflect on today’s key challenges, including climate justice, peace and reconciliation, and dialogue in polarised times.

These courses focus on listening, social analysis, discernment and methods of prayer and are well suited to groups seeking to live out the principles of synodality (see ‘Skills for a Synodal Church’, Open House February 2024 and ‘Integrating Life and Faith’, Open House March 2024).

These are good ideas, but any organisation must, from time to time, step back from its work to address the very question I am so often faced with: ‘What is the Craighead Institute and what does it do?’

Revd Dr John Carswell is Director of the Craighead Institute of Life and Faith. He is a Church of Scotland minister with thirty years’ experience in parish life. He holds a Doctor of Practical Theology from the University of Glasgow.