The Theological Banquet

With Rev. Janet Gear, McGeachy Senior Scholar, United Church of Canada Foundation, and author of Undivided Love.

An inspiring, video-based Workshop Series for communities of faith and their leaders that fosters language, identity, and understanding in your church community.

Why Work with The Theological Banquet?

Watching Janet Gear's videos, engaging in discussion, and working with the accompanying booklet fosters language, identity, and understanding in our church communities.

Janet Gear provides a language and set of lenses for us to use, to talk effectively and compassionately about the various ways our faith is lived out in our churches, our lives, and the world. Her accessible workshop series helps us discover the ways we do speak the same language, and the ways we don’t.

“What is God calling us to next?”

Congregations rightly are preoccupied with this question. It is a faithful question – of discipleship, of mission and ministry, and of leadership. It is also a difficult question, in part because in asking a committee, congregation or denomination as a whole the question “where is God calling us?”, we tend to assume that we all speak the same language about God and what it means to be a church community, active in the world.

What is the Purpose of this Series?

The purposes of The Theological Banquet workshop and supporting materials are to:

• Affirm and articulate the lived faith of those in your community,

• Deepen an appreciation of theological difference within a community of faith, and

• Build capacity for theological interpretation of community life.

What’s Included in the Resource?

• High Quality Digital Videos: The Theological Banquet series is comprised of five videos, all accessible online, for you to create learning events for your congregation, church board, staff team, or community of colleagues – or just for you! 

• Print-Ready Resource Booklets: Facilitators Guide and Engaging Participants booklets help you plan and lead educational sessions based on the five videos in the Theological Banquet series. The prompts and invitations within these booklets help your group to engage with the content of the Theological Banquet offerings, and to experience learning and growing together.

• 20% off Undivided Love: Your purchase of the Video Resource package will also include a promo code for 20% off your purchase of Janet Gear’s book on the Theological Banquet, Undivided Love at the United Church Bookstore.

Are you ready to ‘set the banquet’?

Email TheologicalBanquet@united-church.ca for more information, or to order the materials!

Once you have ordered and paid through the LeaderSHIFT office, you will received by email:

• the link to ‘Vimeo’, (our video platform)

• the LeaderSHIFT Access Code

To get your videos:

1. Enable pop-up boxes for Vimeo, if you have pop-ups blocked on your computer or device.

2. Open the link (as emailed)

3. Click “Have VIP Access?”

4. Enter the LeaderSHIFT Access Code (Note: Don’t enter your credit card information, or you’ll be charged by Vimeo).

a Deeper dive

Those of you already familiar with the basic Theological Banquet offering may want to explore Section Five in the materials, ‘Read to Lead’.

‘Read to Lead’ provides the opportunity to really apply the language and lens of the Theological Banquet to your specific ministry context. 

Promotional Flyers

Celebrating best seller status

Congratulations to Janet! Her brilliant, insightful and articulate book, Undivided Love, is a bestseller on FriesenPress.

“Undivided Love is a book about faith: how it is expressed and what it communicates. Janet Gear offers readers a sympathetic way to interpret the belief-inspired actions of those around them without assuming homogenous understandings of God, the church, and our place in the world. … Ultimately, Undivided Love empowers congregations to navigate the terrain of theological diversity.. nurture various longings … receive its unique gifts, and to ultimately address the deeper question: What are we called to do?”

Friesen Press 2022

Available from LeaderSHIFT, and UCRD

To purchase Janet’s book from LeaderSHIFT, please contact our Registrar, Jes Beckerley at LeaderSHIFT@united-church.ca. Copies are also available at UCRD United Church Bookstore.