We've talked a little bit about events coming up in the next month or so. I want to remind you of one, the last and final Evangelism Workshop for the year. We'll hold it on September 30th and October 14th following worship. If you haven't been to one yet, you're going to be light years ahead in understanding our church and its mission when you come. Evangelism isn't what we think it is. In fact most of what people have been told about evangelism is backwards. This is a huge part of the reason we don't do it well. That's a serious flaw in our lives of faith. This workshop alone won't correct that but it will provide a start in a new direction. That's going to become important to us as we move forward through the next year. So please make your plans to participate.
After the rush of the early fall schedule clears we're going to hold two other slightly more voluntary but just as important courses:
Basics of the Bible
We talk about the Bible plenty and most folks are aware of the major story and themes but many don't know how the Bible fits together, where it came from, why it's central to our life of faith. This course will look at the various parts of the Bible, their origins, how they fit together into the whole, and how they inform us today. We're not going to study individual books as much as the flow of the story and its history.
Basics of Lutheranism
This will do the same thing for our denominational history. We'll talk about Martin Luther, see how the Reformation came about, talk about the radical changes it gave birth to, and look at how its tenets continue today through our church (or sometimes not). This won't just be a dry history but a look at the origins of many of the things we believe, discussion about the ways our belief has evolved, and a look at the church today and how it's similar or different.
Having been through multiple Bible Studies and a bunch of Theology on Tap meetings, I perceive people crying out for some of these things. Or if they aren't crying out for them, maybe they should be. These won't be the typical "here's what you have to believe, now hush up and toe the line" attempts at teaching theology. Rather they'll be a chance to find common ground and identify which things in our faith life are central and which are more peripheral and malleable.
The phrases that get tossed around over and over again are:
"This is what the Bible says..." And...
"Lutherans think this! (Or at least that's what somebody said to me 20 years ago, I think.)"
As it turns out, at least half of the phrases that follow those assertions are, if not strictly untrue, at least pretty far out there. Coming back to center and orienting ourselves will at least give us a chance to chart our journey instead of walking willy-nilly based on rumor and guesses. These courses will be a chance to understand ourselves, our church, and our faith life better.
We will probably offer these in multiple years so everybody eventually has a chance to participate in one or both, but I'd love to see a strong showing early to indicate there's interest. We'll try to schedule them conveniently. Take advantage of them when they come around!
--Pastor Dave (pastordave@geneseelutheranparish.org)
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