The course

The Cornhill Australia courses train people to preach and teach the Bible in a way that is faithful, relevant and engaging.

The courses are very practical:

  • Each student usually does two practice Bible-talks each term (once you get going).
  • Visiting well-known preachers share their ‘text-to-sermon’ experiences  and assist in providing structured feedback on your practice talks.
  • Students also learn to evaluate their own talks, and the talks of others.

It is a two-year part-time course.  There are normally four eight-week terms each year.  We run the course in two cohorts:

  • Tuesday, located close to the Sydney CBD;
  • Thursdays, located in Western Sydney.

The Distance Course is based on the Thursday program.

The Tuesday, Thursday and Distance courses essentially cover the same material, but there are some timetabling variations.

Cornhill Extra involves targeted workshops and preaching groups, participation in selected Tuesday subjects.

Tuesdays

For our Tuesday cohort we use rooms at Moore Theological College, Newtown.

Thursdays

In 2021 we began a  new Western Sydney cohort, meeting at MBM, Rooty Hill on Thursdays.

Subjects

This is an indicative list of the subjects you will study each year at Cornhill Australia.

First year students study:

  • Introduction to preaching (16 hours)
  • Teaching Bible genres (OT narrative, gospels, epistles) (54 hours)
  • Bible overview (28 hours)

Second year students study:

  • Sharpening your preaching (16 hours)
  • Teaching Bible genres (wisdom literature, law, OT poetry, teaching topically) (56 hours)
  • Christian belief (22 hours)

In both first and second year students participate in:

  • Text-to-sermon seminars (taught by visiting pastors/preachers).  A wide range of Bible genres are covered, with actual topics depending on who is teaching. (8 series, 65 hours total per year)
  • Practice talks (you usually give two per term), and evaluation of each other’s talks

Is it a public speaking course?

  • A little bit, but that is not our focus.
  • Our focus is always on helping you (a) to understand the Bible clearly and (b) to communicate that message to an audience today.

Is it just about giving sermons?

  • We focus on giving ‘Bible talks’. But this is great training for anyone teaching God’s Word in any context (youth and children’s ministry, scripture in schools, personal discipleship, small group ministry etc).
  • Students can generally ‘choose their own audience’ for their practice talks.

Assessment and qualifications

  • Cornhill Australia does not formally assess its non-MTS students . You get lots of feedback but your talks are not ‘marked’. You do not receive a formal ‘qualification’.
  • MTS-Cornhill apprentices complete a small number of assessment tasks at Cornhill Sydney. These fulfil some requirements towards their Academic Studies in Theology Certificate (ASTC).