Rob Bell wants people to see 'the more that is going on around you all the time' in new e-course collaboration with Oprah Winfrey

Rob Bell (Photo by: David Shankbone/Wikimedia)

Rob Bell's new on-demand e-course on joy launches on the Oprah Winfrey website on November 2.

The course is intended as a practical guide to finding joy and meaning in every day life and is spread over six lessons.

The pastor and author said he was "thrilled" to be launching the e-course and working with people on some of the "big ideas" that provide the context for our lives.

He wants people to shift their perspectives and see themselves not so much as having a spiritual life, as being a spiritual life and recognise that the life they already have is miraculous.

"I want to give you a way of understanding your life, specifically your spiritual life," he said.

There will be a series of teaching videos and exercises to help people "see the more that is going on around you all the time".

"This is about what it means to be human, what it means to live in the real world and what it means to find joy and meaning in everyday life," he said.

All the materials and lessons are available on demand so that participants can take part at their own pace.

In 2011, Bell was named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people but he's as influential as he is divisive and his book Love Wins has proved too much for some Christians to stay on board with his perspective.

He told the magazine at the time: "In the book, I write about how some have believed that all will be reconciled, and while I long for that as I think everybody should long for it, I don't take a position of certainty because, of course, I don't know how it all turns out."

He may have disenfranchised many evangelicals, but his popularity in wider Christianity has not waned and he has recently become good friends with Oprah.

Last year, his book "What We Talk About When We Talk About God", featured in Oprah's "Book of the Month" club for September.

This year, Bell was one of the guest speakers on Oprah's "The Life You Want" tour.

He said of her: "Oprah, of course, is a master teacher; she is a really, really good preacher.  A lot of people don't know that. People will be blown away by what she has to say. It's interesting to watch this tour unfold and people go, 'Oh, my word, she is a master communicator.'"

Bell was the founder of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Michigan, but he left the church in 2011 to focus on sharing God's message of love with a broader audience.

The e-course fee is $39.99 and it be accessed here

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