The Learning Community

In 2017, Holy Trinity Church launched a new range of learning opportunities for adults (church members and others) to help equip them for more effective Christian discipleship at work, in their personal relationships and in the community. A survey before Easter 2017 indicated the areas of interest and concern that people most wished to explore and their preferred timing and frequency of events. The Planning Group take all these factors into account, alongside continuous feedback from events, in arranging an annual programme.


Our Next Event

Where Is God When Difficult Things Happen?

Date: Monday 30th September 2024
Time: 7.30 to 9.30pm
Where: Westbury-on-Trym Methodist Church, Westbury Hill, Bristol, BS9 3AA

How to book

To book online, please fill in this form.
Alternatively, you can book by emailing office@westbury-parish-church.org.uk or by using the form in church.

What’s it about?

Our speaker will be the Revd Dr David Firth, Tutor in Old Testament Studies at Trinity College Bristol. He will be exploring this most ancient – yet also highly contemporary – question with help from Psalms, Ecclesiastes and the Book of Job.

Do come and join us for what promises to be a thought-provoking evening.

 


Previous Events

I’m Not a Robot?

With Dr Mowbray, a lecturer at the University of Bristol on the ethics of artificial intelligence
Monday 9th October 2023 at 7.30pm at Holy Trinity Church

We explore the opportunities and challenges of AI, machine learning and robots, discussing ethical issues related to AI and the questions that people of faith (and others) should be asking.

What Is Truth?

Saturday 26 November 2022 at 10.15am at Westbury-on-Trym Baptist Church

A panel of people who are in the Truth business – a scientist, a senior lawyer, a journalist, a historian and a philosopher – come together to help us understand, discuss and ask questions about the meaning of truth.

Why Church?

With The Very Revd Dr Mandy Ford, Dean of Bristol
Monday 18 July 2022 at 7.30pm in Holy Trinity

 

The Eucharist Today 

An overview of the developments in the Liturgy of the Eucharist with a particular emphasis on the last 50 years.  The first few minutes of the video show some slides for background before moving to the talk given by Canon Bruce Saunders. 

YouTube link: click here

Save Our Planet

Saturday 8 February 2020, 1pm – 4pm
Westbury-on-Trym Methodist Church, BS9 3AA

The challenge to people of faith and how we respond. With the Revd Dr Martin Gainsborough, former Diocesan Environmental Adviser, and speakers from Green Christian and Extinction Rebellion.


In Tune with Heaven

Monday 25 November 2019, 7.45pm – 9.30pm
Holy Trinity Church, Church Road, Westbury-on-Trym BS9 3EQ

David Ogden, composer and church musician, and Canon Bruce Saunders in conversation about the role of music in worship, how it has developed and how it can enrich worship today.


The Story of the Eucharist

Wednesday 6 November 2019, 7.45pm – 9.30pm
Holy Trinity Church, Church Road, Westbury-on-Trym BS9 3EQ

The Revd Dr Paul Roberts, Tutor in Worship and Church History at Trinity College Bristol, traces the development of the service of Holy Communion from its earliest Jewish roots to the present day and explains the shape of the liturgy today.


The Beauty of Holiness

Wednesday 2 October 2019, 7.45pm – 9.30pm
Holy Trinity Church, Church Road, Westbury-on-Trym BS9 3EQ

Canon Anna Macham and Canon Robert Titley from Salisbury Cathedral in conversation about what they value about Anglican worship, how it works and what makes for good worship.


How to Read the Bible Really Badly!

Tuesday 7 May 2019, 7.30pm – 9.30pm
Westbury Baptist Church, Reedley Road BS9 3TE

The Revd Dr Helen Paynter, Director of the Centre for the Study of Bible and Violence and Coordinator of Community Learning at Bristol Baptist College, shared some of the many better ways to read and understand this most ancient library of books.

Click here to see the slides of the PowerPoint presentation that accompanied this talk: How to Read the Bible Really Badly


Living Well

Saturday 2 March 2019, 10.15am – 1pm
Westbury Methodist Church, Westbury Hill

The Christian Gospel promises ‘life in all its fullness’. What are the habits, attitudes and situations that prevent us from living well and how might we manage those factors in ourselves and others around us?

The Revd Dr James Woodward, Principal of Sarum College, unpacked the Gospel promise of living and dying well.

Dr Andrew Clark, a leading Bristol psychotherapist, explored the issues that help or hinder mental, physical and spiritual wellbeing.


The Psalms: Singing a New Song

Wednesday 26 September 2018, 7.45pm – 9.30pm
Holy Trinity Church, Church Road, Westbury-on-Trym BS9 3EQ

With Dr David Firth, tutor in Old Testament Studies at Trinity College Bristol

The Psalms have played an essential part in Christian worship from the earliest times. They framed the monastic day and are a characteristic part of Anglican morning and evening worship and of the Eucharist. Some of the most popular hymns are based on Psalms. But the Psalms are and were originally part of Hebrew spirituality.

Dr David Firth, who teaches the Old Testament and has written on the Psalms, will explore their origin, their poetry and spirituality, and how the Psalms continue to be a resource for contemporary Christian discipleship.

Listen to the recording of the event here:


A Reason to Believe

Wednesday 17 October 2018, 7.45pm – 9.30pm
Holy Trinity Church, Church Road, Westbury-on-Trym BS9 3EQ

With The Very Revd Dr David Hoyle, Dean of Bristol

‘Do we need God today, and if so, what’s the story?’

When we take away the guilt and fear associated with Christian preaching in past generations, why should normal people today believe in God?

Dr David Hoyle, Dean of Bristol, will help us tell a more positive story.

Listen to the recording of the event here:


Inclusive Church?

Wednesday 28 November 2018, 7.45pm – 9.30pm
Holy Trinity Church, Church Road, Westbury-on-Trym BS9 3EQ

Gender, Sexuality and the Gospel

With The Very Revd Andrew Nunn, Dean of Southwark

Despite some recent progress, the Church is still seen by many as a bastion of prejudice and discrimination, especially on issues of gender and sexuality. How welcoming are we as a Christian community?

The Very Revd Andrew Nunn examines the Gospel challenge to today’s Church.

Listen to the recording of the event here: