Intentional Faith Development

"They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers." (Act 2:42)

"Vibrant, fruitful, growing congregations practice Intentional Faith Development. From the first generations of Christians to the earliest Methodists to the youngest generations of faithful members today, the followers of Jesus mature in faith by learning together in community. Churches that practice Intentional Faith Development offer high quality learning experiences that help people understand Scripture, faith, and life in the supportive nurture of caring relationships. ... Christian desciples strive to develop faith and grow in Christ-likeness through study and learning, and God is best able to form disciples when people do this together and not by themselves."
- Robert Schnase, Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations

Adult Education

Adult Sunday School

The Pearl Seekers Sunday School Class

has recently finished an eight month study of the Book of Revelation. It was very interesting and all of the members of the class gained some incite. Understandably the book itself is very difficult but when it is taken a little bit at a time, the last book of the Bible maybe a little less daunting.
The class has no age restrictions and on Sunday morning at about 9:20 AM you will probably see teenagers, singles, young adults, parents of young people and even AARP members.
By the way, there are empty chairs in the class room every week and you would enjoy the fellowship as we are now studying a Max Lucado book. Sometime in the fall we will dive into "JOB". Class starts with prayer concerns and occasionally we gorge ourselves with food. The class would look forward to seeing you.

Christian Explorers

The Christian Explorer's Sunday School doing a study of "Living God's Politics". Please contact Kirk Metzger if you need a book. The class will meet in room 119 at 10:30AM on Sundays. Also, since this book refers to it's predecessor "God's Politics" a copy of this book will be available for reference. Each chapter in "Living God's Politics", however, does start with a summary of relevant chapters in "God's Politics".

Men of Faith

This Bible study group for men meets Saturdays from 8:00 AM to 9:00 AM providing fellowship and personal growth. On the first Saturday of the month, they meet at the Bainbridge Bob Evans Restaurant in Aurora. The remaining Saturdays they meet in the music/meeting room at the church.

Monday Night Women's Group

This Bible study group is a fellowship and intentional spiritual development group meeting Monday evenings at 7:00PM.

Children's & Youth Education

Sunday School

We offer classes at the following grade levels during the 9:00 AM worship service:

- Pre-School & Kindergarten
- First & Second Grade
- Third & Fourth Grade
- Fifth & Sixth Grade
- Seventh & Eighth Grade
- High School

Children's Church

For pre-school through second grade, offered during the Summit worship service at 10:45AM.

Nursery

Our nursery provides a welcoming loving environment for the youngest ones. (Birth-three years) Parents receive a pager so they can be reached if needed. Each week during the 9:00AM service, a brief age-appropriate Bible lesson is shared with the children through circle time and hands on activities.

Faith Night

We had such a great response to our Faith Nights this past year, that we plan to continue with three 10 week terms of Faith Night this year. Faith Night begins with a meal together at 6:30 PM on Tuesday nights. Then we break out into groups to do Alpha (a course on basic questions of the Christian faith), or Grow Your Faith and Give It Away (a faith sharing training course), A Life Worth Living (a study of the Christian walk) and this fall a Disciple Bible Study curriculum. done in 10 week segments.

All are welcome to join in this practice of intentional faith development while also having the opportunity to invite friends the Alpha course. All are encouraged to take Alpha so that you can experience the power of this course for yourself and for those who are unchurched and have questions about faith.