The Adult Education program is designed to provide a wide range of opportunities for Bible study, discussion, and fellowship each week. We offer at least one Sunday morning class during our Education Hour and you'll be sure to find one that piques your curiosity. We also offer several classes that meet during a designated day each week depending on your schedule and your interests. Our goal is to provide you with opportunities to reflect upon your relationship with God and your calling as a disciple of Christ. Classes promise to challenge participants with difficult questions that relate their faith to the issues they encounter in everyday life. Come join us!
This Year's Theme
Our theme for the year is "What is Discipleship?" Our class offerings will be tailored loosely around that theme, with the emphasis on answering that question in a variety of ways. What does being a Disciple mean for our lives? How do we live our faith in the secular world? What are the ways in which we should emulate Christ? How can we use our time, talent, and treasure in the service of others?
Come join our classes as we discover what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.
Weekly Programming
Tuesdays
Bible 101: Reintroducing the Book You Figure You Ought to Know (but don't)
Led by The Reverend Dr. Kent Organ
January 5 - May 11, 7:00p-8:00p
Join our own Kent Organ as he leads this extensive, year-long Bible study. A bonus in having Kent as our Interim Pastor is that he loves to teach. This course surveys the Old and New Testaments. We need 25 participants for the class to meet, so stop by the Friendly Office to pick up a schedule and sign up.
- January 5: How the Bible was put Together [Download Audio File]
- January 12: Starting with the Torah; Genesis' Pre-History (Genesis 1-11) [Download Audio File]
- January 19: God Start Over: A Particular People (Genesis 12 - Exodus 1:8) [Download Audio File]
- January 26: Moses and Exodus: the Hub of Israel's Faith (Exodus 1-19) [Download Audio File]
- February 2: The Covenant in the Wilderness: God's Steadfast Love [Download Audio File]
- February 9: The Rule of Law: Israel's Covenant Responsibilities [Download Audio File]
- March 2: The Conquest of Canaan: Struggles for Identity (Joshua) [Download Audio File]
- March 9: No King but YHWH: Tribal Confederacy (leadership in crisis) (Judges)
- March 16: To Be Like the Nations: Samuel, Saul, David, Solomon (I and II Samuel; I Kings 1-11)
- March 23 The Divided Kingdom: The "Deuteronomic" Theory of History (I Kings-II Chronicles)
Recommended: Harper Collins Study Bible (NRSV, 1003), The New Oxford Annotated Bible (NRSV, 2001) or The New Interpreter's Study Bible (NRSC, 2003).
Spiritual Cinema
Led by Mary Boote
Classes begin again on January 5 at 7:30pm (follows TNT schedule)
Emphasis will be on spiritual literacy, the ability to recognize the presence of the sacred in our everyday experiences. We will work our way through an alphabet of spiritual practices. From Attention and Beauty to Yearning and Zeal, these are steps toward wisdom and signs that Spirit is present in our activities. Each week we will watch a short film that helps us identify one of the spiritual practices and challenges us to bring that practice into our daily lives.
Thursdays
9:15-11:15am - Serious Answers to Hard Questions
12:30-2:30pm - Bible Study and Fellowship
Led by Thom Cunningham
Jerusalem Room
Ten Christian and Jewish theologians, world experts in their respective fields as well as people of faith, were each asked to address a single perplexing issue, such as the existence of evil or the relationship between religion and science. The result if the Serious Answers course, which will encourage energetic discussion and sustained reflection by both believers and seekers.
Fridays
9:30-11:00a - Book Group
Led by Leah Adams
Mary Martha Lounge
March 19 - Here If You Need Me by Kate Braestrup
Saturdays
Men's Fellowship Breakfast: 8-9am
Mary Martha Lounge
March 20
March Adult Education Opportunities
Liberating Discipleship
Jody Noble, former intern at FPCD & McCormick Theological Seminary graduate
February 21, 28 & March 7, 14, 21, 28
Class held at both 9:45am and 11:00am
Join Jody Noble as she leads an exploration into the meanings of discipleship in this six week Bible study. Jody graduated in December, 2009 from McCormick Theological Seminary with a Master of Divinity degree and has been cleared by her Committee on Preparation for Ministry to search for her first call. Since September, 2009, Jody has been serving as a chaplain intern at the University of Chicago Hospitals providing one full day of pastoral care each week in the adult emergency room and an every other week 16 hr. overnight on-call for both the adult and children's hospital. Jody has also completed her training with Open Heart Magic to serve as a bedside magician for children hospitalized in the Chicago area and loves sharing her skills to help bring smiles and laughter to the children and their families.
A Lenten Journey to Jerusalem
Thom Cunningham, Director of Christian Education
March 7, 14 & 21
Sunday evenings from 6:30-7:30pm in the Undercroft
The season of Lent invites Christians to explore the spiritual and emotional facets of their faith. Join Thom Cunningham as he leads a Bible study discussion entitled "Journey to Jerusalem." The program will begin with a simple meal of soup and bread, followed by a study and discussion on the life of Jesus and how it pertains to our lives. Each week we will look at different aspects of Jesus' life as He journeys to Jerusalem.
This multimedia presentation is designed for all ages, sixth grade and above. There is no fee for the class.
Coming in April...
Discipleship: This Treasure in Earthen Vessels, Our Bodies--Our Faith
Deborah Mullen, Associate Professor of Ministry and Historical Studies and also the Director of the Center for African American Ministries and Black Church Studies at McCormick Seminary, will be leading a class on April 11, 18, and 25 during the education hour. NB: Adult Education will be at 9AM on April 18.