reEquip // Being Human: a day on identity, embodiment and flourishing in an AI age
reEquip is a monthly opportunity for those in pastoral ministry (and ministry adjacent roles) to connect and be taught & encouraged in their ministry positions.
Join us for our November reEquip day with Jo Frost, Executive Director of OCCA and co-creator of the Being Human project.
It’s becoming harder to avoid the question. Our congregations are asking it in new ways – through anxieties about AI and what it means to be a person rather than a process, through the loneliness of lives lived increasingly online, through confusion about bodies, identity and what it means to flourish. And many of us in ministry feel the question pressing on us too, not just as something to teach on, but as something we’re still working out for ourselves.
For seven years, Jo co-led the Being Human project at the Evangelical Alliance – researching, writing and broadcasting on exactly these questions, helping thousands of Christians find a theologically grounded, compassionate way to engage some of the most contested conversations of our time. She now leads OCCA, the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics, equipping the church to speak with confidence and grace into a culture full of heartfelt questions about what it means to be human.
This reEquip day is an invitation to slow down and think carefully – together – about a doctrine that touches everything we do in ministry: who we are, who those we serve are, and what it means to flourish as embodied, finite, beloved creatures in a moment when those very categories are being questioned.
We won’t pretend the questions are simple. But we believe they’re some of the most important ones our pastors and leaders can be equipped to answer well
Rhythm of the day:
(you are most welcome to join us for community prayers beforehand at 9am)
9.30am – Meet for coffee/tea and pastries
10:00 am – brief devotion
10:15 am – Session 1: What does it mean to be human? We’ll explore the biblical vision of personhood – body and soul, image-bearing and limitation – and why getting this right (or wrong) shapes everything else in pastoral ministry.
11:15 am – Break for coffee/tea
11.45am – Session 2: Identity in a digital and algorithmic age We’ll look at how AI, social media and a culture of self-construction are reshaping how people understand identity – and what a distinctively Christian account of selfhood offers instead.
1pm – Lunch
2pm – Session 3: Shepherding flourishing What does it look like to help our people – and ourselves – flourish as humans, not just survive? We’ll think practically about pastoral application: conversations, liturgy, and discipleship in a disembodied age.
3pm – Q&A with a cuppa
3.30pm – Finish
Please do contact hello@yarntonmanor.com if you would like to come but cost is prohibitive.
Registration closes 12pm on Monday 2nd.
About Jo Frost (from OCCA profile)
Jo is the Executive Director of OCCA The Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics. She has worked with a number of Christian charities, including Share Jesus, Release International and Bible Society, focused particularly around engaging with young adults and mission.
Jo studied English and Philosophy at the University of Liverpool and completed her MA in Public Relations and Public Communications at Westminster before joining an international campaigns consultancy specialising in human rights and environmental issues. She also has a PgCert in Peace Building from Coventry University.
She then went on to set up her own business as a communications consultant and brand specialist, before joining the team at the Evangelical Alliance as director of communications and engagement.
Jo is also co-director of the Being Human project with Peter Lynas, with whom she wrote Being Human: a new lens for our cultural conversations (Hodder, 2023). Being Human helps everyday Christians live out and share the biblical vision of what it means to be human.
She has been involved in church leadership for over 20 years, serving on leadership teams as well as planting churches in London and in France. She teaches, writes and preaches regularly on communications, culture, whole-life discipleship, mission and leadership.
Jo is married to Andy Frost, and has two daughters. A lover of sunshine and good coffee, she has a reputation for hosting great parties and finds joy in gathering people together
The statistics relating to pastoral ministry burn-out is high. Too high.
For many the life of church or para-church ministry can be stressful, busy and, very often, lonely.
The to-do list can be overwhelming and unending, leaving little to no space for any kind of self-study or growth – often we feel out of our depth. Often we feel like calling it quits.
reEquip seeks to support and encourage those in pastoral ministry (and ministry adjacent roles).
Come and:
(1) receive focused teaching and training that will help us in our ministry life, whether in pastoral skills, practical ministry, bible teaching or areas of theology,
(2) enjoy the company of and learn from others in similar situations and
(3) enjoy a delicious lunch together!
Yarnton Manor, Church Lane, Yarnton, Oxfordshire, OX5 1PY.
Directions –
If you’re driving from Oxford:
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Take the A44 (Oxford → Woodstock) north-west out of Oxford.
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Look out for a roundabout by the Turnpike Pub, then turn left toward Cassington Road.
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Follow Cassington Road until you see signs for Church Lane. Turn left onto Church Lane.
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Yarnton Manor will be a few hundred yards down Church Lane on the right.
By Public Transport
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The Stagecoach S3 bus route travels between Oxford train station, city centre and Yarnton (towards Chipping Norton/Charlbury.
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Get off at the Paddocks stop in Yarnton, then you’ll need to walk south to Cassington road, turn left and then right onto Church Lane
Arriving:
- Yarnton Manor entrance gates are just to the left of St. Bartholomew’s Church.
- Press ‘Call’ on the gate intercom for security to let you in.
We have accommodation on-site. How about you combine reEquip with a short ministry retreat?
Enquire above for pricing and availability.