Schedule
Registration for Connect 2012 begins at 14:00 on Saturday 28 July with our opening meal & celebration beginning at 18:00. The conference will end on Saturday 4 August at noon. Highlights of the week include: an outing to the city of Cologne (Köln), Creative Worship night, Prayer for the Nations, etc.

Daily Schedule

Workshops
Each day, you will be able to choose from many different topics during the workshop time. Sign-up sheets will be available at the on-site registration on the day of your arrival. Possible titles include:
Leading Worship, Understanding Islam, Photoshop, Web Basics, Gender Studies, the Holy Spirit, Sharing the Faith, Counseling, Leadership, Small Group Tune-Up, Be a Friend – Reaching International Students, Life After University, Is the Bible reliable?, Biblical Global Justice, Find Your Calling, and Do you have to be dumb to believe?

Courses
When you register, you will be asked to choose one (1) course from the list below. Each course will be taught over the course of 6 days.

Reaching Today’s Student

Moderator:  Kirk Priest
Instructors: Various

In this course you will have the opportunity to gain hands-on experience and learn about campus ministry from experienced leaders across Europe. In just one week, you will gain personal & practical growth in small group leadership, evangelism, prayer, worship, Bible study, and a whole lot more. After taking this course at Connect, you will return to your college or university with a deeper understanding of God’s purpose in your life and the lives of those around you. Plus you’ll take back some great tools and ministry skills to help realize that purpose. Come to be challenged, come to be filled, come to change the world.

Understanding Islam in Europe

Moderators: Mark & Dalene Good
Instructor: M. Yusef

This interactive course goes beyond the statistics and projections of the rise of Islam in Europe to giving insights into the thoughts, feelings and world-views of European Muslims. Sensing their heartbeat and understanding the cross-cultural challenges of engaging them with the Gospel is the goal of the course. Taught from a Muslim backround believer’s perspective this course will equip participants to effectually win the hearts of Muslim students. Instructor M. Youcef was born to Algerian parents and raised in France. Since his theological training in England and the USA, he and his wife Magali have served the Muslim community as educators and cross-cultural consultants in troubled neighborhoods of Lyon and Marseille. Within the local church, his ministry focuses on training and equipping believers from Muslim background. Youcef and  Magali are the parents of three children. Includes an outreach component.

The New Testament

Instructor: Dr. Amy Anderson

Dr Amy Anderson, former SfC missionary in Germany, Professor of Greek and New Testament at North Central University, and director of the Biblical Literacy Project, will begin with a course that covers a number of New Testament background issues such as:
·     the impact of gnosticism on the first century church
·     the formation of the New Testament canon
·     the inspiration of scripture
·     scribal habits in the transmission of the text resulting in the formation of the text types that stand behind our modern versions
·     Bible translation theory
This will be followed by a longer study of the literature of the New Testament, including an introduction to the Gospels, Paul, and Revelation.

Human Sexuality and Gender Roles

Instructor: Dr. Anita Koeshall

God’s Greatest Gift or Thorniest Challenge!
At the heart of what it means to be human lies the distinction between male and female. Based on human sexuality, gender roles are fluidly defined from one cultural context to the next and touch almost every aspect of life. These gender roles tell the story of a society’s organization. As we venture across cultures to study, work, or serve, misunderstood gender issues can produce potentially negative and unexpected consequences; while on the other hand, the ability to understand the meaning of male and female roles in other cultures can open doors and enable healthy mixed-gender teamwork. This course will seek to examine God’s purpose in creating humans as female and male and to develop a biblical foundation for understanding human sexuality and gender.

Faith Foundations & Building Blocks: What do you believe?

Instructor: Charles Gravely

Beginning with Jesus’ last words on earth, the commission to “Go and Make Disciples”, we will “zoom out” from that point to gain a “big picture” overview of what it means to be a member of the universal and eternal Kingdom of God. Our goal is to build an understanding of the foundational transforming teachings of our faith so that students will be strengthened to face some of the questions they encounter living as Christians on campus. Some of the questions addressed will be:

“What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus?”
“What did Jesus mean when he talked about the Kingdom of God?”
“Who is the Holy Spirit?”
“How does the Old Testament fit in with the New Testament?”
“What does the Bible say about the end of the world?”

For each major topic covered, a study guide will be given to help students do further study, and prepare to teach the topic to other students once they return to their campus.