Rev. Andrew Thompson
Pastor of Adult Discipleship
281-488-5111, x133
Cari Robinette
Administrative Assistant
Christian Formation
281-488-5111, x135
Purpose:
One of the best Bible Studies in town is about to get going the first week of September and you are invited to join it. Disciple Bible Study is an excellent and deeply spiritual experience that any beginner or seasoned student of the Bible can benefit from taking.
Description:
Disciple 1, 2, 3 and 4, Christian Believer and Jesus in the Gospels
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Disciple Study Schedule (Fall 2010)...
September 2010 through end of May 2011 * Disciple 1 - Mondays 7pm Led by Kevin Franciotti Flanders 422 (starts 9/13); $35 * Disciple 1 - Thursdays 10am Led by Rev. Tony Vinson Flanders 423 - (starts 9/9); $35 * Disciple 2 - Thursdays 7pm Led by Dorsey Kastetter & Bob Merriam Flanders 423 (starts 9/9); $35 * Disciple 3 - Mondays 10am Led by Rev. Harold Travis Flanders 423 (starts 9/13); $35 (no childcare available) * Disciple 4 - Wednesdays 9am Led by Gloria Gibson & Rev. John Stephenson Flanders 422 (starts 9/1); $35 * Invitation to the Psalms (short-term) Wednesdays 10am Led by Linda Brackeen Elrod 311 (starts 9/8); $10 * Invitation to the Old Testament (short-term) Wednesdays 6:30pm Led by Rev. Lillie Ferrell Flanders 423 (starts 9/29); $10 * Invitation to Genesis /Psalms/Romans (short-term) Tuesdays 7pm Led by Kathleen Thorney & Dianne Gordon Elrod 311 (starts 9/7); $10 Childcare is available upon request except for Monday AM. |
Disciple 1 – Becoming Disciples Through Bible Study - uses biblical language and images and draws upon the work of scholars to aid understanding of the Bible. This study requires reading portions of Scripture each week. During the course of 34 weeks, groups will move through the biblical stories of Creation to the New Jerusalem. The titles of the sessions along with theme words; theme verses; and major persons, events, and topics will set the sequence of the biblical story in the minds of the participants.
Disciple 2 – 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 32-week study selects portions of Scripture and delves deeper into them. It concentrates four books of the bible: Genesis, Exodus, Luke, and Acts. Appropriate connections are made to other parts of Scripture both through reading and study assignments and through commentary in the manual.
Disciple 3 – Remember Who You Are - 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. This 32-week study 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. 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.
Disciple 4 – Under the Tree of Life - 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. This 32-week study 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.
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. The 30-week study is different from DISCIPLE Bible study in its approach to Scripture; it looks more closely at the Gospel texts, in the kind of daily preparation and study required of the participants, in lesson layout and design, and in the nature of the study and discussion that takes place weekly.
Christian Believer - assumes that participants are already followers of Jesus and that they come to study to understand the faith they already have, emphasizing the head as well as the heart. This 30-week 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.
Invitation to Romans (new short-term study) - It is difficult to overstate the importance of Romans in Christian tradition. Paul’s teachings in Romans come to us mediated through the history of the church’s interpretations of his letter. One of the aims of this 8-week study is to invite us into conversation around several key themes: (1) Paul’s emphasis on communal salvation; (2) the centrality of God’s righteousness; and (3) the relationship between Jews and Gentiles and the relationship of both to God. One workbook required – cost $10.
Invitation to the Old Testament (short-term study) - This study approaches the study of Hebrew Scriptures by inviting participants to hear the story of God and God's calling of the people of Israel through the many "voices" of the biblical text. Narrative, poem, history, and prophetic utterance all have their own distinctive characteristics and purpose, arising out of a particular historical, social, and cultural setting. To understand fully the story of God's covenantal relationship with Israel calls for listening to these various ways the story is told throughout the Old Testament.
Invitation to Geneis (short-term study) - “In the beginning . . .” These first words in Genesis may be among the most familiar words in all the Bible. Many readers of the Bible recognize Genesis as a book that describes the beginning of all things: the Creation. This is certainly true but is only part of the story—the creation of the world only takes up the first two chapters of a fifty-chapter book. What are the other chapters about?
This study approaches the Book of Genesis not simply as a story of the beginning but as a story of beginnings from start to finish. Through the study, participants will be invited to listen afresh to the witness of this opening book of the Hebrew Bible and to understand more clearly God’s purpose in beginning to form a people with the likes of Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, and Jacob and Esau.
Invitation to Romans (short-term study) - It is difficult to overstate the importance of Romans in Christian tradition. Some of the great formers and re-formers of church teaching were themselves formed by their reading of Romans. As a result, Paul’s teachings in Romans come to us mediated through the history of the church’s interpretations of his letter.
The challenge of reading Romans, then, is to learn to have our own interpretive conversation with the text itself, in spite of centuries of commentary on the text. One of the aims of this study is to invite us into conversation around several key themes: (1) Paul’s emphasis on communal salvation; (2) the centrality of God’s righteousness; and (3) the relationship between Jews and Gentiles and the relationship of both to God.
Invitation to Psalms (short-term study) - The human emotions expressed in the Book of Psalms rise to peaks of joy and descend into valleys of despair. In the Psalms, the promise of the reign of God meets the historical experience of God's people. Faith in God's faithfulness collides with human experiences of pain and suffering, enslavement, oppression, and exile. God's people--given voice in the Pslams--struggle to make sense of who God is and who they are, and in so doing they have composed a collection of moving testimonies of grace, glory, sorrow, and beauty unmatched in sacred literature. For students of the Psalms today, this study offers greater understanding of how these ancient texts of praise, lament, worship, and prayer can still speak to us and for us.
Contact:
Cari Robinette, 281-488-5111, x135
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