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What is the Deep End School? The Deep End School is a short-term ministry training program that will really throw you into the Deep End. Set in the heart of Byron Bay, the New Age Postmodern capital of Australia, you will experience a training and equipping course with plenty of hands-on experience. Not only will you learn all about Postmodern culture, you will also learn how to minister effectively into it! The Deep End is a ministry of New Earth Tribe, a missional community that ministers to sections of Western culture that are sometimes neglected by mainstream churches. Founded in 1998 by Phil and Maria Mason, New Earth Tribe endeavours to embrace the values, the vision and the lifestyle of the first century disciples who built their community on the cornerstone of the revelation of the Kingdom Ministry of Christ as outlined in Luke 4:18,19.
The students who come to Byron Bay to study in the Deep End School find themselves immersed in a worshipping, discipleship oriented community where authentic love and servanthood are core values. Together, we are on a journey where we are all learning to lay our lives down for one another in order to minister the fullness of the Kingdom Ministry of Christ to one another. The focus of the school is upon the intensive development of kingdom ministry skills and our program is specifically designed to equip you for effective ministry both within the church and into the wider community. The course is a unique blend of evangelistic training and equipping for church-based ministry. A significant part of the course is devoted to the development of a deeper understanding of contemporary culture. We explore the mindset and philosophy that constitutes New Age Postmodern culture.
We believe that merely equipping believers to communicate the gospel to Postmodernists is not enough, as essential as this ministry is.Jesus sought to perpetuate the entire ministry of the kingdom through His disciples. His ministry agenda has always been much broader than proclaiming the gospel only. He came to free the captives from the power of sin, to demolish demonic strongholds, to heal the sick, to heal the brokenhearted, to prophetically minister the heart of God and to tangibly demonstrate His love and concern for the poor. Subsequently our training focus is upon the impartation of hands-on ministry skills that are reinforced by learning to minister in the midst of a radicalised Postmodern context.
Byron Bay is perhaps one of the best places in the world to learn all about authentic grassroots Postmodernism. What we have here in a concentrated form can now be found everywhere throughout the Western world in a diluted form. Byron Bay is not the only significant New Age centre in the world. There are plenty of other New Age centres around the planet. But this is as good a place as any to establish a training centre of this kind because what you will experience here in its concentrated form will equip you to identify it anywhere around the globe in its diluted form. And if you’re coming from overseas what better way to see the awesome beauty of Australia!
The Deep End School is all about jumping into the deep end. Hence the name! We have found that as we have taken the risk and jumped into the deep end…Guess what! Jesus is already there. He’s not intimidated by New Age spirituality and radical Postmodern culture. He’s fully conversant with the culture and He wants to teach us how to connect. than that, He wants us to take the reality of the power and love of His kingdom to the culture! Do you really want to know Jesus? Then hop out of the boat and jump into the Deep End!
Weekly Lecture Schedule
All lectures in the Deep End School take place in the afternoons from Monday to Thursday. Our Monday and Wednesday schedule is different from our Tuesday and Thursday schedule. This is because each Monday we run a soup kitchen in Byron Bay from 12:30 to 2:00 PM and students will be rostered on to the soup kitchen as part of the outreach program of the school. On Wednesdays we have a time of corporate intercession in the morning followed by a ministry time for the students where each student will receive personalised prophetic ministry and healing prayer. On Tuesdays and Thursdays the students and staff come together before the lectures for combined prayer, meditation and worship.
Monday Afternoon: 2:00 to 3:15 PM First Lecture 3:15 to 3:45 PM Break 3:45 to 5:00 PM Second Lecture Tuesday Afternoon: 1:00 to 1:30 PM: Prayer and Worship 1:30 to 2:45 PM: First Lecture Wednesday Afternoon: 2:00 to 3:15 PM First Lecture 3:15 to 3:45 PM Break 3:45 to 5:00 PM Second Lecture Thursday Afternoon: 1:00 to 1:30 PM: Prayer and Worship 1:30 to 2:45 PM: First Lecture Graduation Requirements
The Deep End School is a non-accredited school. We award all students who complete the course with a ‘Graduation Certificate of Completion.’ However, this certificate is not a formal qualification. It is merely an acknowledgment of the completion of the program. It does however mean that graduating students have completed a first rate ministry training program which would be respected in many Christian circles. In order to graduate from the Deep End School students must complete the following: 1. Full attendance of all lectures. If lectures are missed students will be required to listen to those lectures on CD and to submit evidence that they have completed and absorbed the course material. 2. Full participation in the Deep End outreach program. This includes participation in all regular weekly outreach activities, healing room ministry, occasional special outreaches and the November outreach to the Mind Body Spirit Festival in Sydney. 3. Completion of all written assignments. This consists of three book reports and weekly personal reflection sheets. None of our written assignments are graded so there is no pass or fail. Students who complete all aspects of the course will be awarded their Graduation Certificate at our graduation night which is held at a local conference room/restaurant facility on the Friday evening of the last week of lectures. We encourage graduating students to consider staying around in Byron Bay over the summer to continue outreach to the local community but this is not considered part of the course.
Pastoral Care Due to the nature of certain subjects in the course material previous students have found that many personal issues may be stirred to the surface in their lives. We encourage students to pursue personal healing in their hearts whenever the Holy Spirit causes these issues to surface. The staff of the school will offer limited pastoral care to all students for the duration of the entire course as we encourage all students to receive the Kingdom ministry of Jesus as part of their own preparation for ministry. Because students will be a part of New Earth Tribe for the duration of the school there will be an expectation upon students to actively participate in these groups where they will receive additional pastoral care.
Jesus said, “Freely you have received, freely give.” We cannot give away what we haven’t received, so learning how to posture ourselves to receive the ministry of Christ into our hearts is a vital part of our own preparation for ministry. Jesus only released the disciples to minister after they had learnt how to be ministered to by the Lord. If they couldn’t receive His ministry they disqualified themselves from ministering to others in His name. We must first allow Jesus to remove the log from our own eye so that we can see clearly to help others to remove the speck from their eye. The Deep End School is not a healing centre for broken people to come and receive counselling and healing. That is the role of the local church. Our primary mandate is to train people to do the ministry of the Kingdom and in the course of that they will receive personal healing from the Lord. We discourage people from applying for the school if what they are really seeking is a place to come for personal healing. The primary requirement for entry to this program is a sense of the call of God to minister to New Age Postmodern culture rather than just seeking healing in their own lives.
Tuition The cost of tuition for the Deep End School is treated separately from the cost of food and accommodation. The entire course costs $2,200.00. (Including GST) Unfortunately we have not been able to avoid our students paying the Australian Goods and Services Tax (GST), which was introduced in Australia 5 years ago. Because the school is categorised as a service it incurs the 10% GST. This also applies even to our overseas students.
Outreach Expenses The cost of the annual outreach to Sydney in November is an additional $250.00 per student. (Including GST) This covers travel expenses, food and accommodation in Sydney for five nights. The outreach is not optional. All students are required to participate in this event in order to fulfill graduation requirements.
Food and Accommodation
There is a food and accommodation component in addition to the cost of tuition. Students will be accommodated in a rental property located as close to the lecture venue as possible. We rent and fully furnish a number of houses each year for the seventeen weeks of the school to accommodate students. The accommodation will be of an excellent quality but all students will have to share rooms with other students. We have separate housing for men and women. The food will also be of excellent quality. There will be a meal roster, a clean-up roster and weekly work duties to share the workload amongst all students. We work on a maximum cost of $90 per week for accommodation and $60 per week for food expenses per student. This is a total of $2550 per student for 17 weeks.
Students and Employment
We strongly discourage students from working during the Deep End School. Based on past experience we have found that it significantly compromises the quality of commitment to what is intended to be a dedicated season of training and equipping. The demands of the training program are such that it leaves little time to engage in other activities. Every student in the past who has had to work during the school confirmed that it seriously detracted from their dedicated season of study and preparation for ministry. In light of this we strongly advise students against attempting to fit work in with their studies, except under exceptional circumstances on Saturdays.
We have our colour brochure for the Deep End School available. To Download this 9Mb PDF File
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