Adult Christian Education

We have classes separated by age, but a general theme, so everyone is learning about the same thing on the same day, but at their age level.

 

Our church has 5 adult classes and each teacher is free to teach as they see fit. Generally speaking one is a ladies class taught by the pastor’s wife, the others are general classes taught by members of the church. My class is geared more for the educated not by design but because I teach a lot of theology and current interests. One is more of a devotional class, one is primarily an expository class that teaches through a bible book, and I am not sure of the other class as I have little contact with the teacher.

Each class runs 15-20 except my class and the pastors wife. She runs around 80 and I around 50. The pastor and I also teach our Bible Institute where most of the classes taught can be transferred to Heartland Bible College. Pastor teaches Hermeneutics and Principles of Scriptural Leadership, I teach Baptist Church History, Genesis, Principles of Virtue, Introduction to Theology, Spiritual Warfare, and Introduction to Eschatology and Evangelism. It is a 4 1/2 year program that meets 1 day per week for 1 1/2 hours, we require reading and tests. You can take the classes for personal growth which have no tests or required reading while taking the class for credit requires outside reading, tests and quizzes which are recorded for forwarding to Heartland BBC upon their enrollment and acceptance.

 

Our pastor teaches one that has quite a few couples and newcomers. The pastor's wife teaches one that ended up all ladies. There is a large class that meets in the auditorium, mostly older members and more preaching than class participation. Then there is an adult singles, mostly college age and young marrieds.

Thjplgvp - you have one of our fine 'preacher boys', with African missionary experience, with you this year. We miss him already, and he comes to you with our prayers.

 

I didn't vote because we have more then one of those. We have age classes and classes broken by sex, and we have couples classes. Most classes use the quarterly, which our class hates, our teacher writes our lessons, and he is very through, our pastor told my husband some of the stuff he teaches is way up there with a bible college or seminary. There are only 2 classes that don't use the quarterly and the other is married with children, but ours is the most advanced meaty class in our church.

 

Not_hard_to_find

America and the world is dire need of more local NT Baptist churches which equates to more world missionaries and more home missionaries. I trust your young man will find his years here blessed of God.

thjplgvp

 

I think this is becoming more and more a trend. The church I pastored had nine adult classes, including two that I taught (two different times, I don't bilocate!), and I found that I could attract and hold a lot more people with an apologetics/Biblical history approach than the quarterlies classes could. Now in retirement as a member of another church I am doing a similar class, and it is drawing people who long since quit going to traditional Sunday School.

Are others finding that the quarterlies are getting less and less useful? The last I looked the material seemed very simplistic.

 

We stick all the old folks in one room then wake them up before 11AM service... LOL

JK, one room for adults.

 

Right now we are studying appologetics, we just finshed looking at islam and will start mormons sunday, when our teacher starts on soemthing like this we can be on one topic for months, but at leaasdt we know it was fully covered.
I think only the older folks classes are still using quarterlies, our class is mixed ages, late 20's to late early 70's.
Our problem is our s.s. teacher lives 40 miles away has to travel by interstate to get to church and has 2 yr old son who he wants to be able to get him in everything for his age group as he grows, so we have until next spring with this great teacher and he will be leaving to find a church closer to home. But he's taught us for 10 years and a lot of us are ready to teach.

 

I was requested by the eldest elder to start using a quarterly because my lessons were going over everyone's head. Then, everyone requested that I go back to what I was doing because they were enjoying the meaty classes. I gave a case of quarterlies to the elder, so he can use them as he sees fit. I detest them, except for children, and that's probably because I have never learned how to teach children.

 

"Supposed" to be age-graded, but we're hard in principle, loose in enforcement. Lots of cross-generational class hopping going on every quarter.

 

You don't have all of the above.

 

That's what's missing Saggy!

All of the above get's my vote too.