I was part of an ecumenical team that used the LTQ resource over the winter season with a group of around 25 people from a variety of backgrounds and agencies.  The group was a piece of collaborative work between Strathclyde University Chaplaincy, the Iona Community and the Church of Scotland's Mission and Discipleship Council.

Our reasons for choosing LTQ were varied but mainly focussed on the fact that we wanted to try something that was marketed as being 'unashamedly liberal'.  In an age where Alpha seems to dominate the adult discipleship agenda, it was good to find something else on the market and to have a wee go at using it.

The process is similar to Alpha in that it recommends you gather folks together for a meal before watching the dvd and then having some discussion.  There are 12 sessions in the programme and each session focusses on a particular question about living the life of faith in the world today.

One of the key strengths of the material is that there is a variety of speakers on it.  It's good to hear lots of different perspectives and to get a sense of the range of ideas that are around to consider in trying to live an authentic life of faith today.

A key weakness is that in trying to be 'unashamedly liberal' the programme goes too far at times and there's a danger that participants who come from a more conservative perspective might feel got at, at best or alienated at worst.  That happened in our group after the first session.  Two folks just felt that they were being bashed over the head for being evangelical.  That was unfortunate.  If I was running the programme again I'd miss out the first session.

There's also an odd episode that tries to 'redeem' the reputation of Paul, the Apostle.  Mmmmm.  Not so sure about that one either.

The material is packaged well and looks glossy.  At times the soundtrack music that accompanies the dvd is insanely irritating and, to be honest, there's a few times where I had a sense that the programme was full of clever people trying to show off.  Having said that, the folks who took part in the programme with us seem to have enjoyed having a place to go where they could be honest about how they think and feel about their journey of faith and their relationships with God.  As always, the resource is less important than the encounter, but the resource is worth a look and if you're looking for something that is different from Alpha then check it out.

For more information: www.livingthequestions.com

Submitted by: Steve Mallon - This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it