We will be starting Biblical Training Groups this fall, 2022 as a resource for our church. These groups will begin the first week of October, and will be a new annual resource for our church to utilize throughout each year.
What are Biblical Training Groups?
Biblical Training Groups are intended to help grow our church in discipleship, relationship and biblical understanding. They are called Biblical Training Groups for two reasons.
First, it has always been of value for the church to grow in understanding the things of God and how to live in light of what we learn. There are many helpful resources available that can help accomplish that goal, BiblicalTraining.org being one of those resources. BiblicalTraining.org provides free courses taught by seminary professors and seasoned church leaders, organized into three levels of learning: Foundations, Academy and the Institute. Foundations has to do with giving a solid foundation for your faith. Academy digs in a little deeper and will be slightly more advanced. The Institute is for serious study and is more complex.
Our church formally offers the Foundations and Academy level courses, but the Institute is available for anyone who would like to go through it. These courses cover a wide range of topics and they have been organized and given without cost for the sole purpose of giving churches access to resources that can encourage spiritual growth in the local church. Our use of this site is what prompted the name “Biblical Training Groups”.
Second, we are offering these courses as small groups rather than classes. Each group will be hosted by someone in the church, typically out of their home. This gives the opportunity for hospitality. The person who is hosting doesn’t need to be an expert on the material covered in the course, but they will be responsible for introducing a few questions at the beginning of each group meeting. They will also be responsible for scheduling the meetings and any other logistical needs that arise.
What is the Format for a Biblical Training Group Meeting?
The format for these group meetings is as follows and in this order:
20-30 minute discussion based around a few questions on the topic being covered during the lecture portion of the meeting.
Watch or listen to the lecture for that session of the course. (Lecture lengths vary depending on the course and the material covered.)
10 minutes to respond to the lecture by offering up additional questions, thoughts, concerns for future study. (This time is not intended to be a discussion, but a response from each group member.)
Close the time in group prayer concerning the topic.
The format is set up this way to promote active learning (discussing the topic before in depth exposure to it), passive learning (watching or listening to a lecture on the topic), and intentional response (thinking intentionally about the topic and how it should affect day to day life), and dependence upon the Lord (offering up our need for his help in these things).
These groups will operate as temporary small groups each fall and spring. There are certain courses that groups will cover in the fall, and other courses that will be covered in the spring. These courses will repeat on an annual basis. Groups will meet once per week, and will continue for as many weeks as determined by the number of sessions per course. Some groups may meet for five to ten weeks or more over the course of the fall or spring, others may meet for thirty weeks or more, beginning in the fall and ending in the spring. The groups are meant to be temporary, but intentional.
How Do Biblical Training Groups Affect Current Ongoing Small Groups?
These groups are not a replacement for the small groups that are ongoing throughout the course of each year, but are meant to be utilized as an additional opportunity for people who would like to grow in specific areas while gaining relationships that they may not have had otherwise. If someone were to decide to be on a typical small group as well as a Biblical Training group then they are free to attend those two meetings each week, or they can decide to do one and not the other for a season.
Small group leaders are also free to host a group or to encourage their group to join them in going to a Biblical Training Group for a time. Hopefully these groups will provide many additional ways to do discipleship, gain a wider scope of relationships, increase the biblical understanding of the church, and also provide ways for out current small groups to participate in other ways if they so choose.
How Do I Host or Join a Biblical Training Group?
Each fall and spring, the courses for each group will be announced. This means that we need someone to host one of those groups in order for it to happen. If you would like to host, simply speak to one of the pastors and express that interest as well as sign up to host at the following links: Fall 2022 / Spring 2023. Hosts will then be given the opportunity to announce to the church what course they will be hosting, the duration of that group, where the group will meet and so on.
Hosts will then need to enroll in the course on BiblicalTraining.org and can either host the group within the BiblicalTraining.org website itself or the Biblical Training app, or they can choose to use a Slack channel for group communication. We encourage hosts to gain some familiarity with the course they are hosting, but hosts do not need to watch or listen to every lecture prior to hosting.
The host can determine the limits for their group with regard to how many people can attend. We would suggest that a group can meet with as little as three people including the host, or as many as ten to twelve, but the host is free to allow more than that amount if logistically possible.
If you would like to join one of these groups speak to the host of the group, enroll in that course through BiblicalTraining.org or the Biblical Training app and then either join that host’s group on BiblicalTraining.org or join the Slack channel for that group. Both hosts and group members will then communicate the plan for the duration of the group.
These groups are meant to be a short term, intentional commitment for hosts and members. Once the group is done meeting, people are free to host or join other Biblical Training groups that are offered, or they can join an ongoing small group instead.
What is the Annual Schedule for Groups Offered?
Biblical Training Groups will be offered annually in the fall and in the spring. BiblicalTraining.org offers more courses that can be covered over the summer months if anyone would like to host or attend a group, but choosing the course will be up to host. These courses would be in the Foundations, Academy and Institute under the Electives heading.
This the current plan for Biblical Training Groups for the fall and spring, including the expected amount of weeks needed to get through each course:
When we became a follower of Jesus, we started on the spiritual journey of our life. We went through the gate of conversion and started up the path of discipleship. As we travel the path, we will start to change, not because we have to but because we want to. We won’t always make the right decisions; we will stumble, but Jesus and your fellow travelers are there to help you get back on your feet. The further you travel, the more you will learn about God, how to listen to him and how to talk with him. You will learn more deeply who God is, who Jesus is and what he did, and who the Holy Spirit is and what he does for us. And you will learn about walking with other believers (the “church”) and inviting others to join you (“evangelism”). Because life is a journey, God does not expect you to get everything right the first time; we are all on a learning curve and God is patient with us. However, we were never intended to walk alone. We were saved into a new family, with new brothers and sisters, and a new Father.
If you’ve never been confused when reading the Bible, you probably haven’t read very much of it. Though the Lord has made the good news of salvation, along with his attributes of compassion, justice, holiness, and love, quite clear in the pages of Scripture, not everything is easy to understand. One thing that can be especially difficult to grasp is how the different parts of the Bible fit together. How do the prophets, for example, fit into the narrative structure of the Old Testament? What role do the Psalms play? What does one do with books like Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes? And what do any of those books have to do with Christ and his Church? This course will help you to appreciate both the diversity and the cohesiveness of the biblical texts and will provide the foundation you need to dive more confidently into the story of God and his people.
We all have a theology, a set of beliefs, but many are not able to articulate it or really understand it. This class will walk you through a basic evangelical understanding of God and his Word.
A college-level class on how to study the Bible inductively, which emphasizes the most basic tools, principles, and processes for moving from the sound reading of the Scriptures to application.
These days much of the church is embroiled in the “Worship Wars.” Hymns or choruses? Loud or soft? Dancing or sitting still? Perpetual music or periods of silence? The War will never be settled as long as it is about personal musical tastes. This course shows us that worship is the process of God’s revelation and our appropriate, faithful response. We invite you to listen to this series of lessons to learn more about what worship truly is and how we might implement his practical suggestions in our own churches.
This New Testament Survey class is a great opportunity for you to consider solid reasons for current issues like, why you can trust your Bible, that Jesus was a historical person who taught, performed miracles and came back to life again after he had died, and the importance of knowing what the Bible teaches so you can live your life differently by loving God and others. In his New Testament Survey class, you will look at the life of Jesus from the perspective of four eyewitnesses who each emphasize a different aspect of how Jesus lived his life and related to other people. When you move on to study the book of Acts, you get a window into what the early church experienced when the disciples transitioned into life without having Jesus physically present with them. Their lives changed when they received the Holy Spirit. You walk along Paul’s missionary journeys. Stop along the way and read the letters Paul wrote to instruct and encourage the new believers as he teaches them basic theology and helps them understand how they can live and serve together as the body of Christ. Learn about the other apostles and study the letters they wrote to believers in different life situations.
Understand the core topics of systematic theology, from what we know about God to the future state of humankind. Special emphasis is given to such topics as Christ, salvation, the church, and the future.
This course shows you patterns and themes that will help you understand the Old Testament and the whole Bible. It will give you an overall view of the Old Testament then discuss specifics about each of the books. The OT is a single story told three times over: once in Genesis, once in Exodus through Nehemiah, and once again in Chronicles (just like day 6 in Genesis 1–2). The OT loves to repeat itself, repeat itself, repeat itself. This is how it teaches us. The Old Testament is about 2/3 of the Bible and is the basis for everything you read in the New Testament. The better you understand the Old Testament, the clearer you will understand the message of the Bible.
As opposed to Systematic Theology, Biblical Theology asks the question of what a particular book, or group of books, teach on different topics, showing emphases of the different parts of Scripture.
You will encounter the overarching themes of the Bible and humanity in this introduction to old testament survey. The more you understand the characters, plot, structure, themes and historical settings, the more you see the unity of the old testament and the Bible as a whole.
This is a moderately detailed overview of the New Testament with ministry applications. You will begin with God’s plan for the ages, then move to a discussion of the historical context and key events in the life of Jesus. After a couple of lectures on James and the testing of our faith, the course highlights Paul’s missionary journeys, his trip to Rome and his subsequent imprisonment. The New Testament survey continues with a study through the books of I and II Timothy, Titus, Hebrews and concludes with the book of Revelation.
We can no longer assume that people trust their Bible. The popular media has launched such an attack on the believability of Scripture that our people have serious questions about the Bible. Are you ready to answer them? Did Jesus actually live? Did the biblical writers get it right, or did they slant/create the message? The gospels were written so long after Jesus lived; how can you trust them? How can you believe a Bible that is full of internal contradictions with itself and external contradictions with science? Doesn’t archaeology disprove the Bible? Why should we believe the books that are in the Bible; many good ones were left out, like the Gospel of Thomas. Why trust the Bible when there are so many and contradictory translations? These questions and more are discussed and answered in this class.
How do you begin to grow spiritually? How do you continue to become more like Jesus? What does the Lord’s Prayer teach us about how we should relate to God, how God changes us in the process and how our spiritual formation changes the way we live? How do you as a fully devoted follower of Christ live your life in an attitude of faith and expectation and avoid being crushed and devoured by the Evil One? The Lord’s Prayer gives you a model, not only for praying, but also for growing spiritually each day as a follower of Jesus.
This New Testament Survey class is a great opportunity for you to consider solid reasons for current issues like, why you can trust your Bible, that Jesus was a historical person who taught, performed miracles and came back to life again after he had died, and the importance of knowing what the Bible teaches so you can live your life differently by loving God and others. In his New Testament Survey class, you will look at the life of Jesus from the perspective of four eyewitnesses who each emphasize a different aspect of how Jesus lived his life and related to other people. When you move on to study the book of Acts, you get a window into what the early church experienced when the disciples transitioned into life without having Jesus physically present with them. Their lives changed when they received the Holy Spirit. You walk along Paul’s missionary journeys. Stop along the way and read the letters Paul wrote to instruct and encourage the new believers as he teaches them basic theology and helps them understand how they can live and serve together as the body of Christ. Learn about the other apostles and study the letters they wrote to believers in different life situations.
Understand the core topics of systematic theology, from what we know about God to the future state of humankind. Special emphasis is given to such topics as Christ, salvation, the church, and the future.
This course shows you patterns and themes that will help you understand the Old Testament and the whole Bible. It will give you an overall view of the Old Testament then discuss specifics about each of the books. The OT is a single story told three times over: once in Genesis, once in Exodus through Nehemiah, and once again in Chronicles (just like day 6 in Genesis 1–2). The OT loves to repeat itself, repeat itself, repeat itself. This is how it teaches us. The Old Testament is about 2/3 of the Bible and is the basis for everything you read in the New Testament. The better you understand the Old Testament, the clearer you will understand the message of the Bible.
The Christian life is not fundamentally about being a moral person, obeying a set of principles, or doing spiritual disciplines. The Christian life is about opening our heart to a relationship with the living God. As we depend on the indwelling Spirit and experience abiding in Christ, we will learn an obedience that comes without the burden of guilt and shame.
What is Bible study? Why do we study these specific 66 books? What type of literature are we studying? What are the practical steps we should take? How do we determine a word’s meaning? How do we apply the text to our lives? These questions and more are answered in this course.
Biblical Training Groups
Introducing: Biblical Training Groups
We will be starting Biblical Training Groups this fall, 2022 as a resource for our church. These groups will begin the first week of October, and will be a new annual resource for our church to utilize throughout each year.
What are Biblical Training Groups?
Biblical Training Groups are intended to help grow our church in discipleship, relationship and biblical understanding. They are called Biblical Training Groups for two reasons.
First, it has always been of value for the church to grow in understanding the things of God and how to live in light of what we learn. There are many helpful resources available that can help accomplish that goal, BiblicalTraining.org being one of those resources. BiblicalTraining.org provides free courses taught by seminary professors and seasoned church leaders, organized into three levels of learning: Foundations, Academy and the Institute. Foundations has to do with giving a solid foundation for your faith. Academy digs in a little deeper and will be slightly more advanced. The Institute is for serious study and is more complex.
Our church formally offers the Foundations and Academy level courses, but the Institute is available for anyone who would like to go through it. These courses cover a wide range of topics and they have been organized and given without cost for the sole purpose of giving churches access to resources that can encourage spiritual growth in the local church. Our use of this site is what prompted the name “Biblical Training Groups”.
Second, we are offering these courses as small groups rather than classes. Each group will be hosted by someone in the church, typically out of their home. This gives the opportunity for hospitality. The person who is hosting doesn’t need to be an expert on the material covered in the course, but they will be responsible for introducing a few questions at the beginning of each group meeting. They will also be responsible for scheduling the meetings and any other logistical needs that arise.
What is the Format for a Biblical Training Group Meeting?
The format for these group meetings is as follows and in this order:
The format is set up this way to promote active learning (discussing the topic before in depth exposure to it), passive learning (watching or listening to a lecture on the topic), and intentional response (thinking intentionally about the topic and how it should affect day to day life), and dependence upon the Lord (offering up our need for his help in these things).
These groups will operate as temporary small groups each fall and spring. There are certain courses that groups will cover in the fall, and other courses that will be covered in the spring. These courses will repeat on an annual basis. Groups will meet once per week, and will continue for as many weeks as determined by the number of sessions per course. Some groups may meet for five to ten weeks or more over the course of the fall or spring, others may meet for thirty weeks or more, beginning in the fall and ending in the spring. The groups are meant to be temporary, but intentional.
How Do Biblical Training Groups Affect Current Ongoing Small Groups?
These groups are not a replacement for the small groups that are ongoing throughout the course of each year, but are meant to be utilized as an additional opportunity for people who would like to grow in specific areas while gaining relationships that they may not have had otherwise. If someone were to decide to be on a typical small group as well as a Biblical Training group then they are free to attend those two meetings each week, or they can decide to do one and not the other for a season.
Small group leaders are also free to host a group or to encourage their group to join them in going to a Biblical Training Group for a time. Hopefully these groups will provide many additional ways to do discipleship, gain a wider scope of relationships, increase the biblical understanding of the church, and also provide ways for out current small groups to participate in other ways if they so choose.
How Do I Host or Join a Biblical Training Group?
Each fall and spring, the courses for each group will be announced. This means that we need someone to host one of those groups in order for it to happen. If you would like to host, simply speak to one of the pastors and express that interest as well as sign up to host at the following links: Fall 2022 / Spring 2023. Hosts will then be given the opportunity to announce to the church what course they will be hosting, the duration of that group, where the group will meet and so on.
Hosts will then need to enroll in the course on BiblicalTraining.org and can either host the group within the BiblicalTraining.org website itself or the Biblical Training app, or they can choose to use a Slack channel for group communication. We encourage hosts to gain some familiarity with the course they are hosting, but hosts do not need to watch or listen to every lecture prior to hosting.
The host can determine the limits for their group with regard to how many people can attend. We would suggest that a group can meet with as little as three people including the host, or as many as ten to twelve, but the host is free to allow more than that amount if logistically possible.
If you would like to join one of these groups speak to the host of the group, enroll in that course through BiblicalTraining.org or the Biblical Training app and then either join that host’s group on BiblicalTraining.org or join the Slack channel for that group. Both hosts and group members will then communicate the plan for the duration of the group.
These groups are meant to be a short term, intentional commitment for hosts and members. Once the group is done meeting, people are free to host or join other Biblical Training groups that are offered, or they can join an ongoing small group instead.
What is the Annual Schedule for Groups Offered?
Biblical Training Groups will be offered annually in the fall and in the spring. BiblicalTraining.org offers more courses that can be covered over the summer months if anyone would like to host or attend a group, but choosing the course will be up to host. These courses would be in the Foundations, Academy and Institute under the Electives heading.
This the current plan for Biblical Training Groups for the fall and spring, including the expected amount of weeks needed to get through each course:
Fall Groups
Foundations Level
Life is a Journey – 12 sessions
Bible Survey, A Big Screen Perspective – 10 sessions
Understanding Theology – 10 sessions
How to Read Your Bible – 9 sessions
Understanding Worship – 10 sessions
Academy Level
Survey of the New Testament – 31 sessions (Fall & Spring)
A Guide to Christian Theology – 40 sessions (Fall & Spring)
Survey of the Old Testament – 37 sessions (Fall & Spring)
A Guide to Biblical Theology – 18 sessions
Spring Groups
Foundations Level
Understanding the Old Testament – 18 sessions
New Testament Overview – 20 sessions
Why I Trust My Bible – 11 sessions
Understanding Spiritual Growth – 6 sessions
Academy Level
Survey of the New Testament (Continued) – 31 sessions (Fall & Spring)
A Guide to Christian Theology (Continued) – 40 sessions (Fall & Spring)
Survey of the Old Testament (Continued) – 37 sessions (Fall & Spring)
A Guide to Spiritual Formation – 10 sessions
A Guide to Bible Study Methods – 7 sessions