Grace 201 Class
Our Grace 201 class is designed to build upon the Gospel foundation laid in our Grace 101 class. This course is designed to equip men and women in our church to live out their identity as disciples of Jesus who make disciples. It is aimed at men and women who are either considering, preparing for, or already helping to co-lead in one of our Gospel Communities. Ideally this material will be practiced and lived out in that context.
We want men and women to be grounded in the biblical teaching on who God is, what the gospel is, what it means to be a man or woman who follows Jesus, and what it looks like to live a holy and gospel-centered life, as well as to teach and model the glory of these good things to others. We want our men and women to be trained and equipped to be all that God has called them to be and do, so that they may lead others to follow Jesus as well.
This training is also open to others from other local churches who have a desire for this gospel-centered training. God does amazing things when people gather together to pursue Him in the context of community.
This Grace 201 – 10 month development track will:
- Train disciples theologically and practically to disciple others in one-on-one relationships, and to disciple others in gospel communities, and in other relevant settings.
- Serve as a means for assessing and calling men and women to further leadership training and service in their local Grace Fellowship congregation.
Requirements for Participants
- A faithful and active partner connected in a Gospel Community
- Strong desire to disciple others long-term in Grace Fellowship
- Demonstrated track record of service, reliability, and love for the people of our church
Commitments
- Attendance/Preparedness at all sessions
- Commitment to participating and learning in community.
- Transparency/Confidentiality in all conversations
- Commitment to complete the entire year training and then to live out this training by intentionally making disciples and loving others as a part of Grace Fellowship.
- Share what you are learning in each session with others.
- Time commitment of 10 monthly sessions (One Tuesday evening a month)
The Sessions:
1. Our Doctrinal Emphasis – Part 1
We want to anchor everything on the glory of the gospel of the grace of God in Jesus. The gospel is the air we breathe and the fountain from which all discipleship flows. In this session we will begin to work through our doctrinal emphasis as embraced by all our leaders in Grace Fellowship. These are key truths that drive us! These truths are defining, shaping, and precious.
You will find our complete doctrinal statement in our constitution. We have designed the constitution with footnotes taking you to specific passages that can become a Bible study aid for those wanting to pour through it.
2. Our Doctrinal Emphasis – Part 2
In this session, we will continue to examine our doctrinal emphasis. These are the core foundational convictions that frame who we are and drive all that we do.
3. Preaching to the Heart
In this session, we will focus on the heart-changing glory of the gospel of the grace of God in Christ. God is after our hearts. The Gospel is the means to heart transformation which changes our loves, our motivations, our desires. In our discipling, teaching, preaching, exhortation, and counselling of others we want to reach their heart – leading to repentance and faith. This is where real transformation takes place.
4. Word and Spirit
In this session, we will talk about employing the words of Scripture in the making of disciples in one-on-one and gospel community settings. We want to grow deeper in our conviction that the Spirit works through the words of Scripture as we hear, study, love, believe, mediate on, submit to, and apply them in our lives and the lives of those we are discipling. We want to intentionally embed the Word in all our discipleship conversations and settings; and grow more confident in our ability to approach, understand, teach, and apply a text of Scripture. We will consider the two main ways to read and interpret the Bible – (i) as if it is mainly about you and what you must do or (ii) as if it is mainly about Jesus and what he has done.
5. God-designed masculinity and femininity
In this session, we will look at some of the foundational truths that Scripture teaches us about “masculinity,” and “femininity,” or what our Triune God’s wise and good design and intentions were in creating men and women as he did. We will also consider God’s design and intentions in creating men and women as he did. Throughout the New Testament, we see that believing the gospel and embracing our masculine or feminine callings (as God allows and enables) go together. We are created and redeemed as men or women for the glory of God.
We’ll also consider the effects of sin on these good intentions.
6. The Church
In this session, we will consider the creation and design and purpose of the church in God’s plan. In seeing that the church is designed by and for the Gospel, we will look at roles, opportunities, and calling as gifted members of the Body of Christ.
7. Gospel Fluency
In this session, we will talk about the skill of applying the gospel in the making of disciples. We’ll do this on two fronts. One is how to call people away not only from outright sin but also from moralism/self-righteousness and toward gospel belief, repentance, and obedience. Two is how to freely and directly address sin in a way that is redemptive.
8. Handling Conflict
In this session, we will talk about resolving conflict as it arises in your making of disciples and your leading of gospel communities and within the church. We understand that conflict is normative, and that to be Christians living in community is not to never experience conflict but to energetically work by faith to resolve conflict in a holy, loving, gospel-centered way. Often the root of conflict is our sinful wiring, or as James puts it, “the desires/passions at war within us.” Our desire is to grow familiar with some of the basic heart postures and tools required for resolving conflict as we lead and make disciples.
9. Missional Living
Jesus was known as a friend of sinners. The fact that he came to seek and save grimy, unlovable, lost sinners, and not moral, likable, highly-functional people is central to the good news of the gospel, and so it should be central to our identity and practice. Yet strangely, as John Stott put it, “there has always been a strong tendency for Christians to withdraw into a kind of closed, evangelical, monastic community.” In this session, we’ll talk about what it looks like to give ourselves to missional living in a sinful, secular, Canadian context where the people we are sent to generally respond to the gospel with either disinterest or disdain.
10. Questioning Christianity
In this session, we want to address some of the big questions that people in our culture struggle with – both within and outside the church. We will consider issues such as:
- Why trust the Bible?
- Suffering and evil
- Only one way
- Sexuality