Disciple I | Disciple II | Disciple III | Disciple IV | Christian Believer

Disciple Classes: It’s time to start thinking about Disciple! Disciple is an intensive Bible study designed to help participants become better disciples of Christ. It is Bible study aimed at transformation, not just information. Our classes will begin the week of August 22. We hope to have classes on Monday and Wednesday nights. Please sign up early so we can get the classes assigned properly. Sign Up!

Disciple I - Becoming Disciples Through Bible Study
An overview of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. One sees the “Big Picture” of how the Bible fits together and reads over 70% of the Bible during this time. This study is a prerequisite for all other Disciple courses.

Disciple II - Into the Word, Into the World
A concentrated study of Genesis, Exodus, Luke and Acts. This class gives a clear sense of the beginnings of God's relationship to His people and the beginnings of the Christian church which was formed from the new covenant established by Jesus.

Disciple III - Remember Who You Are
A study of the Old Testament prophets and the writings of the Apostle Paul. This class explores the words of God to His people as they prepared for the coming Messiah and Paul's words to the new churches that link the Old Testament teachings with the teachings of Jesus for the church today.

Disciple IV - Under the Tree of Life
The writings of the Old Testament are studied, along with the writings of John, James, and Jude in the New Testament. The study of Revelation shows the long-suffering love of God and the extravagant climax of the message and the promise.

Christian Believer - Knowing GOD with Heart and Mind
A study presenting, explaining and interpreting church doctrine. Looks at appropriate scriptures in both the Old and New Testaments.

Jesus in the Gospels
Invites believers to look at Jesus in each of the four Gospels and ask the question, "Who is the Jesus that you see?" This study will deepen discipleship through better understanding of the biblical texts and their message.

Disciple I | Disciple II | Disciple III | Disciple IV | Christian Believer

Disciple II

INTO THE WORD INTO THE WORLD encourages persons to open themselves to hearing what God has to say to them through the Bible and to be guided into service in the world by Scripture and their study of it.

This thirty-two week study selects specific portions of Scripture and delves deeper into them. Depth study of Scripture will be the work both of individual members and of the group in its weekly meeting. Equal attention is given to Old and New Testaments with concentration on four books: Genesis, Exodus, Luke, and Acts (8 lessons on each book). Appropriate connections are made to other parts of Scripture both through reading and study assignments and through commentary in the study manual. Participants will read familiar passages, see them in fresh ways, and anticipate that God will speak through them. 

INTO THE WORD INTO THE WORLD is prepared for those who have completed DISCIPLE: BECOMING DISCIPLES THROUGH BIBLE STUDY. This study proclaims the transforming power of Scripture while teaching Bible study skills that take participants deeper into the Scripture. The importance of keeping Bible study related to witness is reinforced while participants are encouraged to practice spiritual disciplines arising out of Scripture. The purpose is to change habits and transform lives. The study also emphasizes the rhythm of coming to God and going for God, of being in the Word and in the world individually and corporately. This study understands the growing Christian as under discipline in community and in ministry to the world. INTO THE WORD INTO THE WORLD approaches all experiences of life as opportunities for faithful witness and service. 

The Basic Resource Library
DISCIPLE: INTO THE WORD INTO THE WORLD has a component unique to the study – the Basic Resource Library. This library consists of a set of books that will be used weekly by group members for reading, study, and research. Some of the books will provide historical, cultural, and geographical information; some will enhance Bible study skills; some will explore topics related to the Scripture being studied; and some will aid personal spiritual growth. Each week the books in the library will be circulated among group members, and specific assignments will be made. Not every person in the group will have a special assignment every week, but those who do will report on the assignment in the next weekly group meeting. Instructions and assignments related to the Basic Resource Library will appear in the teacher helps and the study manual.

The Basic Resource Library is a basic component for INTO THE WORD INTO THE WORLD; it is not optional. Each group will need its own Basic Resource Library for use throughout the thirty-two weeks. | top |

Disciple III

REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE is prepared for those who have completed BECOMING DISCIPLES THROUGH BIBLE STUDY. Resident in the title is the driving idea in this study – the connection between memory and identity as the people of God. The word You in the title is meant to be heard both in its singular form (the individual) and its plural form (the community). We are a community of memory. Participants in this thirty-two week study will read the major and minor Old Testament prophets, with the exception of Daniel, and will read the thirteen letters traditionally attributed to Paul. To establish the historical context in which the prophets spoke for God, daily reading assignments also draw on the books of Deuteronomy through Chronicles. Study of the prophets will follow their historical sequence rather than their biblical sequence. The dating of Paul’s letters influences the sequence of their study.

Several themes weave their way through the study – the call to remember; the call to repentance; the need for renewed vision (eyes to see, ears to hear); and the place of community. REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE concentrates on the Old Testament prophets and the letters of Paul. The prophets and Paul are continually calling hearers and readers back to their God and to a sense of who they are as a people “set apart”. The prophets and the community cannot be separated. The prophets spoke for God, out of the community, and to the community. Paul’s experience of the risen Lord, his relationship to the community he addressed, his Jewish traditions, and the Greco-Roman culture of his day merged in his writing of the letters. Paul used the language of his culture to carry the message that arose out of his roots in the Hebrew Scriptures and Judaism.

The Context Portfolio
DISCIPLE: REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE has a component unique to this study – The Context Portfolio. The Context Portfolio is a set of maps and charts prepared especially for this study of the prophets and Paul’s letters. It provides the setting or surrounding circumstances in which an event occurs. Items in the portfolio situate the prophets and Paul’s writings historically and geographically. Suggestions in the Teacher Helps and study manual will guide its use and stimulate individual interest. Items in the portfolio are designed for easy display and handling in and by the group.

The Context Portfolio is not an optional component and is intended for use in the group meetings.  Each study group needs weekly access to The Context Portfolio. | top |

Disciple IV

UNDER THE TREE OF LIFE is a 32-week study prepared for graduates of BECOMING DISCIPLES THROUGH BIBLE STUDY. The word under in the title is meant to convey invitation, welcome, sheltering, security, and rest – home at last.

The Hebrew version of what Christians call the Old Testament has three divisions: Torah (the first five books of the Bible), the Prophets, and the Writings. The Writings include all the books that are not part of the Torah or the Prophets.

UNDER THE TREE OF LIFE concentrates on the Writings in the Old Testament – Ruth, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Lamentations, and Daniel. New Testament Scriptures include the Gospel of John; 1, 2, and 3 John; James; Jude; and Revelation.

Emphasis on the Psalms as Israel’s hymnbook and prayer book leads naturally to an emphasis on worship in the study. Present though the entire study is the sense of living toward completion – toward the climax of the message and the promise, extravagantly pictured in the Revelation.

The Revelation Worship Video
The Revelation Worship Video is a component unique to DISCIPLE: UNDER THE TREE OF LIFE. Worship plays a central role in the book of Revelation. Through video, UNDER THE TREE OF LIFE participants will experience the book of Revelation as worship. The video provides an interactive, sensory experience. Viewers will participate by reading, singing, listening, praying, lamenting – and will be immersed in the words, images, colors, and music that declare triumphantly that the God who is at the beginning is the God who is at the end.

This video worship experience proclaims that the book of Revelation is a message to embrace and a hope to anticipate. It climaxes the journey DISCIPLE participants made from Creation to the New Jerusalem. The Revelation Worship Video, more than an hour in length, will be used in Session 31. The video is not optional. It is intended for the group meeting, and each study group needs access to it. | top |

CHRISTIAN BELIEVER assumes that most people – though faithful followers of Jesus they intend to be – know little of the content of the central teachings of the Christian faith and its ties to Scripture. But they want to know. They want to know what is at stake in what the church teaches and how it makes a difference in their own lives, what it means to be Christian, and where we as Christians stand. CHRISTIAN BELIEVER aims at addressing the uncertainty about the substance of the Christian faith and the connection between believing and living.

CHRISTIAN BELIEVER assumes that participants are already followers of Jesus and that they come to study to understand the faith they already have. CHRISTIAN BELIEVER emphasizes the head as well as the heart. This study recognizes that Christians say the creeds without understanding everything, or even assenting to everything in them, because in saying them they identify with the people and the tradition shaped by the confessions. They recognize that “faith seeking understanding” is a part of Christian experience. CHRISTIAN BELIEVER allows space for questions, doubts, and dissent.

The goal of CHRISTIAN BELIEVER is to make available to people the substance of the Christian faith that the church has confessed as a way of connecting to God and living faithfully. This thirty-week study of the classical doctrines of the Christian faith aims at presenting, explaining, and interpreting Christian doctrine as the basic teaching of the church - to the end that informed believing leads to committed discipleship.

Coming to faithful understanding of the teaching of Christianity through CHRISTIAN BELIEVER begins with disciplined daily reading of Scripture and of the writings of early and modern church leaders.  The process of understanding continues in weekly group discussion about the relation of Scripture, beliefs, and daily living.

CHRISTIAN BELIEVER brings in history as it illumines themes and topics, but it is not a course in church history. Historical voices are heard in selections from the writings of early and later church leaders and in documents arising out of church councils that dealt with questions, conflicts, and controversies about what constituted Christian teaching. Participants in Christian Believer will gain a sense that Christians before us have wrestled with some of the same issues of belief that Christians wrestle with today.

CHRISTIAN BELIEVER emphasizes the relationship of worship, belief, and daily life. The beliefs of the Christian community, taught within the Christian community, equip the Christian community for living faithfully and for passing on the faith entrusted to it. | top |