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Making a
Difference Through ADULT CHRISTIAN EDUCATION
An exciting opportunity for every person interested in
studying the Bible! Are you enrolled in the DISCIPLE Bible Study program
yet? The DISCIPLE Bible Study is designed to develop strong Christian
leaders in local churches through the in-depth study of Scripture. Through
DISCIPLE, persons will be strengthened in their faith and guided into service
and ministry. Strong, biblically nourished leadership will help you grow in
vitality and Christian discipleship.
The DISCIPLE Bible Study program can...
| ...Deepen Faith... |
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...Vitalize Worship... |
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...Activate Leadership... |
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...Encourage Stewardship... |
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...Create Fellowship... |
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...Increase Membership... |
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| ...Transform Lives... |
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The DISCIPLE Bible Study program offers four levels of
study:
Contact the church office for
more information on any of the DISCIPLE Bible Study sessions being offered
at Central Christian Church!
DISCIPLE I - BECOMING DISCIPLES
THROUGH BIBLE STUDY:
 BECOMING
DISCIPLES THROUGH BIBLE STUDY is the foundation of the DISCIPLE Bible Study
program.
DISCIPLE assumes that the bible is the key to renewal in the church. It
recognizes the human-divine nature of the Bible: The actual texts of
Scripture were written by human beings like ourselves in their cultural
settings, under the divine inspiration of God.
DISCIPLE affirms that the canon was formed as it is in order for God to
speak to us. BECOMING DISCIPLES THROUGH BIBLE STUDY gives equal time to both
the Old and New Testament, emphasizing the wholeness of the Bible as the
revelation of God. DISCIPLE aims at transformation, not just information,
and calls on persons to submit themselves to examination by Scripture, to
put themselves under the power of God’s Word, and to be changed by God’s
Word. DISCIPLE invites persons to bring their experiences and struggles to
the Scripture. All persons know something is amiss with their existence and
yearn for the Word from God.
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 large portions of Scripture each week and is based on
careful study and preparation. During the course of thirty-four 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. The principal Scripture for each
session follows the chronological movement of the biblical story.
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DISCIPLE II - INTO THE WORD INTO
THE WORLD
 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 both the Old and New Testament with concentration on four books:
Genesis, Exodus, Luke, and Acts (eight 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.
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DISCIPLE III - REMEMBER WHO YOU
ARE:
 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 in 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.
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DISCIPLE IV - UNDER THE TREE OF
LIFE:
 UNDER THE TREE
OF LIFE is a thirty-two-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.
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