Spotlight on Spring 2012 classes

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New Adult Ed. classes start for the Spring on January 29!  And for those of you that’ve talked with me at any length recently, you know that I’m itchin’ to get classes started again.  What gets me so excited for classes each semester isn’t just the fact that I often get the chance to teach (and if I go long enough without teaching, my face starts to twitch and my sentences get increasingly incoherent).  What gets me so excited about classes is knowing the potential they have for igniting changed lives in all of the following ways (and more):

  • …as peoples’ eyes are opened to the beauty of God’s Word & its message
  • …as people are formed theologically and given good “lenses” through which to look at life
  • …as people are equipped with tools & practices that will help them grow personally and serve the church meaningfully

All of our classes have been on the adult ed page of our website for a couple of weeks, so you may already know what’s coming.  To get the details on any of our classes (meeting time & location, costs involved) please visit that adult ed page, as they won’t be duplicated in this post.  However, there are other “things” (since I couldn’t think of a better word) about each class that can be tough to put on our website, but that nevertheless may help you (1) know more about the individual classes and (2) discern which class might be the right fit for you.

With this in mind, here are a few of these other “things” for each class that you may be interested in:

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What “Learning Overload” has taught me: Learning to learn well

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Talk with most people who know me, and they’ll probably agree that I’m a learner.  My top two “strengthsfinder” strengths are “learner” and “input” (a third is “intellection” which kinda goes along with this as well).  I love to ask questions.  My office walls (and a few walls in my home) are lined with bookshelves.  The one piece of artwork in my office is a picture of a guy reading.  I constantly invite “referrals” to good sources of information and each week get a few emails with websites I can visit and where I can soak in learning.  My iTunes downloads a number of podcasts that “re-fill” each day or week with yet more chances to learn.

There’s just one problem:  I don’t have time to spend sitting and learning for 40-50 hours each week (or even a fraction of that).  And even if I did, that probably wouldn’t be enough time to satisfy my love of learning.  In fact, the time I have to devote to learning seems to be shrinking as my kids get older and other responsibilities (understandably) demand my attention.  What’s a philomath (“lover of learning”) to do in this situation?  Here are some of the ways I’m learning (pun intended) to answer that question:

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The Historical Adam: To be, or not to be?

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Anyone who’s been part of church culture for any length of time knows that the relationship between science and the Bible is often a delicate one. Are they competitors or complementary (or, at times, both)? What do we do when the claims of one seem to conflict with the claims of the other?

These questions have been central in the ongoing “creation versus evolution” debate, and are popping up in fresh ways as a recent burst of information is bringing the existence of a historical Adam into fresh consideration. This is likely something you’ll hear about on the History or Discovery Channels, or get into conversation about over some Thanksgiving meal with extended family or friends.

Knowing this, here are a few articles (and one book), written by evangelical Christians, that can introduce you to this topic. Keep this in mind, though: these articles present a variety of evangelical approaches to this topic and may at times even conflict with each other. As always, read with your thinking caps on and with a commitment to the authority of God’s Word.

Here are some articles that will introduce you to things:

Here’s a book that tackles this subject from a firmly evangelical viewpoint:

What We Believe About God: The EFCA Statement of Faith

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As we officially jump into our “mini series” on the Evangelical Free Church of America’s (EFCA) Statement of Faith, point #1 begins by capturing our denomination’s stance on God:

“We believe in one God, Creator of all things, holy, infinitely perfect, and eternally existing in a loving unity of three equally divine Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Having limitless knowledge and sovereign power, God has graciously purposed from eternity to redeem a people for Himself and to make all things new for His own glory.”

This paragraph on God is an important place to start the Statement of Faith.  In his Knowledge of the Holy, pastor and author A.W. Tozer suggests that “What we believe about God is the most important thing about us.”  (Stop and think about that last sentence for a minute: Why is our knowledge of God so important?  How does your view of God shape your thinking, and you?)

And one thing I appreciate about this statement about God is that it reminds us to think of God’s Person (trinitarian, holy, etc), His power (Creator, omniscient, sovereign), and His purposes (redeeming a people and making all things new for His glory).

If left to myself, too often I focus on perhaps one of those broader categories (Person, power, purpose) and neglect the others. This imbalance can be dangerous, however. Continue reading →

What We Believe: Getting familiar with the EFCA Statement of Faith

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Brookside is a member of a larger denomination, the Evangelical Free Church of America (EFCA).  As part of this denomination, we stack hands with other EFCA churches on our “Statement of Faith” – a paper which briefly summarizes our beliefs about the following biblical and theological categories:

  • God
  • The Bible
  • The Human Condition
  • Jesus Christ
  • The Work of Christ
  • The Holy Spirit
  • The Church
  • Christian Living
  • Christ’s Return
  • Response and Eternal Destiny

This summer, we’ll be doing a “mini-series” on the blog where we include what the EFCA Statement of Faith says about each of these individual categories along with a few additional thoughts: These “additional thoughts” may include reflections, questions, defining of terms, recommendations for further study, applications, ways a particular point confronts American culture, things to keep in mind as we read a particular point, and more.  (Perhaps instead of “additional thoughts” we’ll call them “random musings” related to the theological point…)

If there are further ways I can be approaching this series that you’d find particularly helpful, give me a holler and we can add your request to the “additional thoughts” pool and try to incorporate it that way.

The purpose of this mini-series will be to get you a bit more familiar with the EFCA Statement of Faith, to foster theological thought within certain categories, and to connect what we believe with everyday life.

(To see the full EFCA Statement of Faith and get a preview of what’s coming, click here.)

Keep watch for the next post coming in a day or two: Getting Familiar with the EFCA Statement of Faith – What We Believe About God.

Worth-a-Watch: John Piper interviews Rick Warren

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Earlier today I took some time to listen to/watch an interview between John Piper and Rick Warren.  I appreciated so many things about this interview: the chance to see two well-known pastors interact and seem to enjoy each other’s company, the theological clarity, and more.

These two men represent two “evangelical subcultures” that, when stereotyped, are often pitted against each other.  But this interview is conducted (by design) in a way that is respectful, seeking-to-learn-and-listen, and clarifying.  And this is what I appreciate most about this interview, and why I’d encourage you to take 90 minutes of time over this long Memorial Day weekend (or whenever you run across this) and follow the link below and give it a-listen or a-watch.  May we see more of this respectful dialogue, while at the same time pursuing and clarifying truth, in the future.

Click here to be taken to John Piper’s interview of Rick Warren.

Ask Anything: “What is the biblical doctrine of election?”

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A few weeks ago after a church service in which the sermon referenced Ephesians 1, I was asked the following question (this is a paraphrase): “How are we to understand the biblical doctrine of election?”  (Most simply stated, the New Testament doctrine of election states that God has specially chosen certain people to salvation.) This is a great question, because “the question behind the question” so often deals with other important issues, such as God’s character (“Is an electing God fair?”) and motivation for evangelism (“Why should I share the Gospel if the individual may not be one of the elect?”).

I lobbed out an answer and had some good discussion with the individual who asked the question in our church lobby, but later that week I was reading through Ephesians 1 in my own time with God and journaled some additional thoughts related to this question.  These journaled thoughts, with some additional editing, have morphed into this blog:

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