1 Timothy 1 - 4
Interesting thing about the letters to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon is that they are all letters addressed to an individual, not to a church. There seems to be a problem with some of the local leadership, so it is safer to send a letter directly to his trusted friends than to the church as a whole. Paul spends a great deal of time outlining the qualifications of leaders in the church - and it is not information found in the letters to churches.
These people were in a hostile Roman occupied situation that was nothing like our Western democracy where we have the constitutional rights of freedom of speech and "all are created equal".
As a woman in ministry who is encouraged to "take authority" over certain situations, I am saddened by the power the few words in 2:11-15 have had for women. The 4 words "she must be silent" hurt me to my core of my being. I just don't think Jesus would have given this kind of advice. Oh wait - Jesus didn't! I love Jesus.
Chapter 4:4 is a verse I particularly like..."For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving." And 4:7 -8 "Train yourself in godliness, for while physical training is of some value, godliness is valuable in every way." Many are not physically or spiritually fit. We tend to be more concerned about being about the business and pleasures of this world when it comes to how we spend the majority of our time.
If you were to design a spiritual fitness training program, what would it look like? We are trying to get people to sign up for Disciple Bible Study at our church, and I am even offering Disciple Bible Study for Busy People and cutting the class time down to one hour, but we aren't getting many to sign up to participate. Maybe people's brains are still on vacation. I get to choose not to take summer vacations. It's too hot here in this part of Texas.
Let me know if you have any ideas about how to get people interested in real spiritual fitness. I am praying for revival of the Holy Spirit.
I wish I had the time to do all of the things CUMC is offering. For me, getting to the church once a week is all I can consistantly do. I like the Sunday School class because it is right after worship and I am already at the Church. The classes offered at other times, no matter how short they are, are difficult to attend because week nights are way to busy for anyone with school kids. It is a blessing that the world still treats Sunday as a holy day and extra curricular activities are not usually scheduled on Sunday morning.
ReplyDeleteI don't think the low attendance in Sunday School and the Disciple Bible study program offered at other times, is because of the scheduling. I think people have not received much out of the times they did attend a class. Our class has very sporatic attendance, possibly because of summer, but if people start to see the potential of these small groups, the excuses will become non-existant.
Worship is not where I feel closer to God. I get the most out of my Sunday morning with God in my small group of loving people talking about life. Though worship does get me into the proper mood, I see a lot of my fellow classmates in worship, but not attending the class immediately following. I get the feeling most people think they have done their duty by attending worship and then get back to their lives.
I suggest we hold a training class for the facilitators of our Sunday School classes. Then we invite each of our members in for a one-on-one spiritual counseling session where they present their current situation, problems and needs. They will be shown how the Bible study groups can help them address these problems and fill these needs. They will be shown that you reap what you sow, meaning the more you put into the classes the more you get out of them.
Just some ideas.
Your P90X fitness program on the NT is very hard! Good thing I can jump in at any point!
That would be a LOT of counseling sessions! The Adult Council is where we try to do some training with our facilitators and address their concerns. We have a meeting coming up again in September. And - my door is open! We can get together and discuss ideas that will help you.
ReplyDeleteGlad the Challenge is challenging you!
I will be at the next meeting. I missed the e-mail announcing the last one as I think it must have been burried in another e-mail with a subject which caused me to ignore it.
ReplyDeleteOk, maybe not for everyone, but everyone who is signed up for a Sunday School class but is not attending regularly. :)
As for training, when the role of President for my class became open, the only duty was being our representative at the Adult Council meeting. If the meeting is designed for training and helping facilitators, then that message is not getting out. I am sure the quality of facilitation varies dramatically at CUMC, as the only requirement appears to be that you want to, or feel too guilty to say "no" when asked ;) .
I think if we focus on improving the quality of the current Sunday School offering, the attendance will pick up as people will start to get more out of it. The councelling sessions is more of a second phase solution after the quality of the classes has improved.
Since you sat in on our last class, I would love to hear your comments on how it went. Hopefully other classes are being monitored too, as it is an excellent start to improving the quality. I don't know if you attended as an auditor or just because you saw we needed more people, but thanks for attending.
I loved the lesson that I experienced in the session I attended. I particularly appreciated your story and how it tied into the lesson. I cared a lot about Amanda and her gifts blessed our congregation in so many ways. The most gifted are also often the most challenged with being in this world.
ReplyDeleteI attended the class because that is the way I get to know people. There are 18 adult Sunday morning classes and I try to get around to them at least once a quarter. I always learn so much just by being with people. I don't understand why more people don't attend Sunday School and Bible study.
Adult Council is more about communication than training. It seems to me that most facilitators don't think they need training as long as they follow a study guide. Thanks for your interest. Again - my door is pretty much always open. Come on by an let's work together on building a stronger program.