Resources for the climb.

The ABC Articles are intended to be a 'blog-style' way of accessing the ABC material through regular releases here and on Substack. Articles that give a general flavour of the Above Base Camp topics and themes will be posted on our Discover page. However, on Substack there will also be four specific types of ABC Articles that will cover the Spiritual Practices, Spiritual Formation, Helpful Greek & Hebrew words and Christian Acrostics. The concept is that these Articles will provide 'bitesize' material for practical use in our walk with Jesus, perhaps as a framework for a sermon, or for discussion at a home group, or just for personal study.

The ABC Books are intended to offer an approachable exploration of the Christian Life of Faith using the metaphor of climbing Mount Everest. As a single metaphor, it can't do everything that this asks of it, but it can get us a long way, and any limitations will be clearly signposted. For example, it is a metaphor of Ascent, but it involves Descent too… Similarly, no metaphor or model can represent every lived reality of every Christian — but it can help as a guide for many and it can help to know you're not alone. Which is important, because, even though this is about your climb, you cannot do it alone. You need the Holy Spirit and you need climbing companions.

There are 7 ABC Books planned for the 'Climbing The Mountain Path' book series, representing the seven elements of the Climb. As they become available for sale, the ABC Books will be listed on the Costs page.

The ABC Courses aim to combine wisdom from the past with contemporary thinking to help 'Modern Pilgrims' walk the Good Way of the Ancient Paths in their life of walking with Jesus. This wisdom is drawn from Scripture and from Church Tradition and is intended to be practical in nature so that it can be applied by Modern Pilgrims to their life of faith in today's world. The course material has been produced in such a way that the courses are capable of being self-led. There are 7 ABC Courses planned for this series. As they become available for sale, the ABC Courses will be listed on the Costs page. Scheduled Courses are detailed on the Calendar.

We genuinely believe in this ABC framework and in the need for it within the church today, but, equally, we recognise that booking a 6-or 8-week course 'sight unseen' can be a difficult proposition. Therefore, we're very happy to meet you for a coffee, or join you as a guest speaker at one of your church events, like a Saturday breakfast or an evening gathering, to introduce the concept and some of its key ideas. Alternatively, please sign up for one of our FIRE-break Retreat Exploration Evenings.

A significant feature of any faith journey is typically the number of questions there are about the life of faith and how it is all meant to work, and these questions have been the motivation for a lot of what you see here. In the ABC Discovery Guides, the theme is the question 'How do I walk with Jesus on the Good Way?' and the approach taken to answer that question is to ask and answer seven different questions using the metaphor of climbing God's Mountain. There are therefore 7 Guides planned for this ABC Discovery Guides series. As they become available for sale, the ABC Discovery Guides will be listed on the Costs page.

Our heart is to see people grow to maturity in their relationship with Jesus. To be up front, I [Jonathan] do not have any formal qualifications in spiritual mentoring or spiritual direction, but I have studied it as part of my MA in Spiritual Formation and in preparing all of this ABC material. The goal of these sessions would be to help you to understand where you are in your faith journey and/or find ways to help you to move forward — it is therefore more spiritual guidance or accompaniment than it is either pastoral care, coaching or counselling.

The first session is free and we can decide after that whether you would like to continue. Face to face would be best, but if you'd feel safer, we can always meet somewhere public, or online. Spiritual Mentoring is offered on weekday mornings (except Fridays) between 9am and 1pm, subject to location and availability. Each session is for 1 hour. There may also be the opportunity for taster sessions as part of the FIRE-break Retreats. Please contact us for more details if this might be of interest.

ABC FIRE-breaks are a mix of single day, half day or evening Retreats that offer you an opportunity to take a break from the hurry, distraction and 'burning' issues of daily life in order to allow God to rekindle your spiritual FIRE through Fellowship, Insight, Renewal or Exploration, either individually or as a group. See the Calendar or please contact us for available dates.

• 1.

  Fellowship Days

  Bespoke full-day retreats for small groups · community focus

  Theme

  Companionship — Coming together to Climb together

  Aim

  Fellowship Days are intended to enable small groups to take a FIRE-break together. That could be as a church or charity leadership team, or as a church small group, or just as a group of friends. Fellowship Days can be run either as a guided retreat or self-led, and can be designed around your objectives for the day.

• 2.

  Insight Days

  Half-day guided retreats · practical focus

  Theme

  Carrying on — Seeking Guidance for the Journey

  Aim

  To seek to discern the 'good way' in order to enable us to move forward on the Journey. Insight Days are structured around the concept of the Journey as we climb the Mountain Path, seeking guidance from God and others as to why we might be stuck or how we might move forward on the journey. Insight topics will be selected from the ABC Discovery Guide series.

• 3.

  Renewal Days

  Full-day guided retreats · pastoral focus

  Theme

  Abiding with Jesus — Practising Sabbath Rest

  Aim

  To get into the reclusive habit of REST & Renewal (R&R) by making time and space to be with God. REST is about Reading Scripture, Extolling God in Worship, Silence & Solitude, and Talking with God in Prayer. Days will start and end with a devotional time and will include time spent together and time alone.

• 4.

  Exploration Evenings

  Guided evenings · teaching focus

  Theme

  Behaving like Jesus — Training in Following the Path

  Aim

  To retrieve the wisdom of the past and to learn how to put it into practice in new ways, today. The teaching element will focus on a topic selected from the ABC Discovery Guide series. Evenings will start/end with a devotional time and will allow lots of time for group discussion.

• 5.

  Clergy Treat Retreats

  Full-day 'optionally' guided retreats · blessing focus

  Theme

  Breaking for Blessing

  Aim

  Treat Retreats are for clergy, working or retired, or those in full-time Christian leadership, to come and spend time with God either on their own or as a group in pleasant surroundings and with some treats and activities on offer. Days are 'optionally' guided, which means you can choose whatever contributes best to your time of blessing and refreshing.