Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some of the questions people have asked about Foundations21. If your question isn't answered here, please email us at enquiries@brf.org.uk.

What is the minimum period I have to subscribe?
Six months if you have a monthly subscription, and a year if you have an annual subscription, but we hope you will want to continue to subscribe and be part of Foundations21 for much longer than this!

Do I need a broadband connection?
Ideally, yes. Foundations21 will work over a dial-up connection but it will be very slow and this will probably become quite frustrating to you.

Who is behind Foundations21?
Foundations21 is produced and published by BRF, a leading Christian charity working to resource people in the areas of discipleship, prayer and spirituality, and understanding the Bible. Foundations21 was devised by Tony Bradley who approached BRF back in September 2000 with the idea of a multi-media web-based discipleship resource. Since then a team of people - in Oxford, Birmingham, and Bangalore, India - have been involved in bringing Foundations21 to life. The generosity of a number of Christian charitable trusts and private individuals has made it possible for the original vision of Foundations21 at last to become a reality.

What if I have a technical problem with the website?
Please contact us by email at help@foundations21.org.uk where Lizzy or Paul or Rod will respond as quickly as possible. We are aiming to respond within 24 hours and quicker when we can.

How long will it take to complete Foundations21?
In the light of the experience of those who have taken part in our pilots, we think each  Room will take about a month to complete, with a group meeting to draw together the outcomes of one Room and launch you into the next. Obviously, you can decide together to go quicker or slower. There is nothing to compel you to keep to any particular timetable. There are twelve Rooms - so given that some people may want a break in the Summer, the whole thing could take just over a year. We think that people may well want to stay with Foundations21 for longer - trying out other Pathways and Levels .

If people enrol for Foundations 21 are they linked up with a live mentor?
For most people some kind of support and mentoring from another Christian is key to their spiritual growth, even if this is informal and unstructured. Some churches have a formal system for people who do Emmaus or Alpha to link them with a suitable mentor. In Foundations21 people can be recommended a suggested mentor or can choose their own.

The advantage of a web based learning tools is that communication with a mentor via email is very simple. Foundations21 offers various online activities (responding to questions,ordering a list of priorities,responding to an imaginary scenario,)the outcomes of which can be sent to a mentor for them to comment on.

This is how we introduce mentors on the site:

We encourage every learner to find one or more trustworthy people they can communicate with by e-mail. We call them your MENTORS. Foundations21 will often ask you to send your thoughts and ideas to your Mentor. A Mentor is someone who you know reasonably well. If they live nearby you need to be able to see them sometimes. If they live further away you need to be able to ring them occasionally. In either case, you need to be able to talk to them via email.

And this is part of an email to potential mentors from someone doing Foundations21:

I have just started a new online course in Christian discipleship called Foundations21. The course is web-based so I will do all the activities online. About once a week I will need to send my responses to activities via email to a friend who will read them and respond with a reply that will keep me encouraged, motivated and challenged!

There are two key principles here: flexibility (so it will work with as wide a variety ofchurches as possible) and 'trust the learner' (it requires the learner to take some responsibility for their progress).

How do I find a mentor?
You need someone who is a bit ahead of you in your spiritual journey - someone who will encourage you and above all listen constructively - reading the emails you send them each week and responding appropriately.  This is something to discuss with others in your Foundations21 group - which may be at church or work or in a particular geographical area. You may also want to discuss this with a trusted friend or your church minister.

Do I have to be part of a group?
While you may find that several sessions a week chatting to people online is ample contact, there are particular advantages in joining, about once a month, with others who are on a similar spiritual journey to you. It can be really helpful to talk with others about what you have discovered and discuss areas where you would value their judgement. For many of us a group also helps us to stick to the things we promise ourselves we will do - it provides a degree of accountability that helps us to develop spiritually.  You will be able to watch the Disciple Master Programmes together, sort out any technical issues and discover all kinds of little things about the Foundations21 website that you might have missed.

If people enrol for Foundations 21, are they linked up with an actual group? Or what if several individuals in a locality enrol - can they set up a local course?
A church may decide to set up a Foundations21 group and designate someone as co-ordinator/leader. They then use the Group leaders' Help on the site to guide the meetings. There is a ten-minute video to watch during each meeting, which introduces the next topic.

The main purpose of the group is to provide accountability and a place to receive support and to air questions that arise when working through the online material.

We have tested this witha small number of pilot groups and it seems to work well - with group members developing a strong sense of ownership of both the online material and the group activities. We think that this will be the main way it works.

Those who sign on as individuals can either encourage others in their church or area to join with them - a group could be as small as three or four people - and form an ad hoc group.

People in more remote locations may decide to meet online initially but we will put them in touch with people nearby who are doing Foundations21 and encourage them to meet up.

I don't belong to a local church at the moment. Does that matter?
No! We have always hoped that people who were on the edge of the church for whatever reason would value Foundations21 and what it has to offer. You might have to be a bit more creative when it comes to choosing a mentor and finding a small group - two elements of Foundations21 that we think are particularly valuable. A group as small as three or four and just one mentor will give you a chance to test your thinking with other people.  We may be able to help. If you contact us with your postcode, we will look for the nearest church where people are doing Foundations21 and can put you in contact with them. You may be able to find like-minded people there.