FUNDAMENTALS is a short term Small Group for anyone wanting to learn more about the following four major fundamentals:
- Who is God?
- What is the Bible?
- How Do I pray?
- How Do I live the Christian Life?
Each of these fundamentals will take multiple weeks to teach and will cover many sub-topics or doctrines that fall under them, such as faith, grace, the resurrection, the church, eternal security, modesty, creation, the trinity, repentance, fasting, biblical history, inspiration, and more. Much of the teaching will be planned, some will rise from the group discussion.
The resources for this group will be Scripture (primarily), the Baptist Faith and Message (2000), and other solid books or videos.
This Group will start on Sunday morning, October 1 (the Sunday after our fall Growth Track). It will be at 9am in the "Upper Room" on the 3rd floor of our church and will last for about 12 weeks. If attendance is too much for the room, we will move to the Sanctuary.
This will (Lord-willing) be the first of many offerings for this group as our church grows and reaches new people. For some people new to the Christian faith or to our church, this will be a great starting point to develop a better grasp on fundamental doctrines, build relationships, and get a taste of being in a Small Group is like. For other people already part of our church family (and even already in a Small Group), this will be a great opportunity to refine their understanding of biblical doctrine, be equipped to teach this in the future, and build relationships with people new to our church.
Dr. Lindsey Powell will be primarily facilitating this first group (although other pastors or teachers may help at times).
Let us know if you are interested in being part of this new, short-term Small Group.
COURSE OVERVIEW:
What You Will Need for This Course:
- The Holy Bible -- your choice of translation.
- A desire to know God better
- A prayerful heart
Baptists have never been known as a creedal people. We have no particular creed that all Baptists are required to adhere to. Baptists have always been known as being "people of the Book." Our faith is founded on our understanding of the Bible -- not on any particular creed.
Some of us may be familiar with the Baptist Faith and Message -- a general statement summarizing typical Baptist beliefs. That document, first published in 1925 and revised in 1963 and in 2000, is an important work. However, this course is not intended to be a review of the Baptist Faith and Message.
This course entitled Fundamentals of the Christian Faith is designed to help us better understand the biblical truths that have formed the theological foundation of all denominations of the Christian faith for two thousand years. These biblical truths encompass four major areas of human existence -- origin, meaning, morality, and destiny.
Primary focus of this course is on the Bible, which we believe is the infallible, inerrant, and holy word of God. We believe the Bible has been written by men chosen and inspired by God to record His words. Therefore, we believe that every word of the Bible has been "breathed out" by God Himself which makes God the Bible's true author.
This course will review the basic truths of God's Word from Genesis through Revelation -- all the way from eternity past to eternity future -- as we discuss the Origin of the earth and of mankind -- HOW God got us here; the Meaning of our lives -- WHY God put us here; Morality -- how God wants us to live while we are here; and Destiny -- where God will take us when we die.
This course will also introduce a number of important theological topics, such as Bibliology -- the importance of the Bible, Christology -- the centrality of Jesus Christ, Ecclesiology -- the purpose of the Church, Soteriology -- God's gracious gift of salvation, and Eschatology -- Jesus' impending return to earth and the establishment of the eternal Kingdom of God.
This course is not primarily a look backward into the history God's relationship with man and nature, nor is it an primarily an existential focus on how God is involved in the world today. This course is primarily a look into God's plan for His creation, where He is taking us, how He is moving to accomplish His mission, and where it will all end.
The reason for this approach is to remind us that the primary focus of the Christian faith is neither the past nor the present -- but the FUTURE. All of man's service to God -- our gathering, our growing, our giving, and our goingin the past and here in the present -- is done with our eyes focused on the future Kingdom of God in which every true Christian will live with Jesus one day.
Here is a (tentative) calendar outlining many of the topics that will be addressed in this course.
October 1 ........... BIBLIOLOGY -- Bible Overview (What it is, Why it's important, infallible, inerrant, true & trustworthy)
October 8 ........... ORIGIN -- Creation/Evolution (How nature and man came to be and why, Marriage, Value of Life, Family)
October 15 ......... THEOLOGY -- God (Who He is, What He is like, Trinity, Satan, Problem of Good & Evil)
October 22 ......... ANTHROPOLOGY -- Man (Image of God, Sinful, In need of salvation, Attacks by World, Flesh, Devil)
October 29 ------- CHRISTOLOGY -- Jesus (Who He is, What He is like, Primary character in Scripture, His Kingdom)
November 5 ........ SOTERIOLOGY -- Salvation (Jesus' life, death, resurrection, His defeat of Satan & death)
November 12 ...... MEANING -- Why We Are Here (God's Grace, Mission of God, Purpose of Life, Purpose of Death)
November 19 ...... ECCLESIOLOGY -- Church (What it is, Why it's important, Visible & Invisible, Baptism, Communion)
November 26 ...... MORALITY -- How to Live (Law, Grace, Sermon on the Mount, Royal Law, Stewardship, Service)
December 3 ......... PNEUMATOLOGY -- The Holy Spirit (Who He is, What He does, Etc.)
December 10 ....... DESTINY (ESCHATOLOGY) -- Life after Death (Heaven, Hell, Second Coming, Kingdom of God)
December 17 ....... MISSIOLOGY -- Evangelism and Missions (Sharing the Gospel)
December 24 ....... BIBLIOLOGY -- How to Study the Bible (Law, History, Wisdom, Prophecy, Gospels, Letters, Prophecy)
December 31 ....... RECAP