CDM Archive

Discipleship Ministries of the PCA

Church Leadership

A Suggested Three Year Curriculum for Adult Sunday School

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A Suggested Three Year Curriculum
for Adult Sunday School

CEP has developed a suggested three year curriculum for your adult Sunday school or other discipleship group instruction setting. The curriculum recommends book studies which cover Bible, Doctrine and Christian Living. The curriculum chart further breaks down the recommendations based on the level of spiritual maturity of the participants as indicated below.

Level of Spiritual Maturity
A – Evangelistic Outreach
Target Non-believers who are intrigued by and initially responsive to the claims of Christ.
Content Basics of the gospel via Bible study.
Objective To lead people to a personal relationship with Jesus.
B & C – Nurturing Young Believers
Target New and maturing Christians who are in the beginning stages of growth in Christ.
Content Foundational study of the Bible, doctrine, and how to live the Christian life.
Objective Elementary knowledge of the Bible, doctrine, Christian disciplines, Presbyterian/Reformed, and commitment to the church.
D & E – Mature Believers Learning to Minister
Target Spiritually maturing and desiring deeper study.
Content Deeper exposure to the Bible, tenets of Reformed doctrine, worldview development, instruction in discipling/ evangelism/training.
Objective Advanced study of the Bible, Reformed theology, and the church. Also active training on how to be involved in the church’s work of discipleship.
F – Training New and Existing Leaders
Target Mature believers showing gifts and readiness for leadership in the church.
Content Advanced courses in theology, ministry planning and organization, skill development.
Objective

Equipping for leadership, church office, and other ministry leadership needs.

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All included resources can be provided for you and your congregation by the CEP Bookstore. For further assistance in choosing a particular book-study or to place an order, contact the CEP Bookstore at 800.283.1357 or visit our website, www.cepbookstore.comHint: Use the “Search” box and type all or a portion of the book title

The Church and Cultural Diversity

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Editor’s Note: By Dwight Linton. Dr. Dwight Linton was a missionary to Korea and an 11 year staff member with CEP. Dwight assisted primarily in multicultural ministry and training. Dwight died recently in a car accident after attending another pastor’s funeral. Click here to find out more…

Unity – based on sinful human beings’ desire to control their own destiny – was the goal of the builders of the tower of Babel in Genesis. Yet God saw that it would only result in manipulative uniformity, so He brought about the breakdown of communication by frustrating the project and causing the monolithic cultural group to split up and go their separate ways. This resulted in the development of the different cultural groups. Today there are about 6,000 distinguishable cul

Kingdom Discipleship Conference to be held in Northeast

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Christian Education and Publications will co-sponsor a conference on discipleship along with the Presbyterian Church of Coventry May 15, 2010 in Coventry, CT.

The theme for the Saturday conference is Making Kingdom Disciples. Its aim will be focused intentionally on the church’s role and assignment to make kingdom disciples and will feature a number of seminars incorporating the ministry of discipleship for children, youth, and adults. Specific details relating to registration, faculty, and time will soon follow. The target audience for the conference will be the churches in the Northeast area.

Understanding The Church’s Role in Kingdom Education

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Understanding the Kingdom of God and its relationship to the church are vitally and strategically important, especially at this time. Many problems, struggles, and divisions have stemmed from either an incorrect view or a misunderstanding or misapplication of the topic. Not only are mainline Protestant churches losing ground, so are the more evangelical churches. This is at a time when a religion like Islam is growing, not only globally but in North America as well.

Click here to read entire publication in PDF (Acrobat Reader required)

According to George Barna, George Gallup Jr., and Michael Lindsay, there are more than 200 religions and denominations in America at the present time, definitely a religiously pluralistic context. This pluralism has added to a lack of knowledge and understanding of the church and kingdom of God. As a result, Christianity’s influence is being marginalized and neutralized. In our pluralistic culture Christianity is fast becoming simply one religion among many. While chartered (religious) pluralism was built into the founding principles of the United States, Christianity was the predominate influence in those early days. However, in the past 150 years we have seen steady decline in Christianity’s influence. Today, there are those groups and individuals who challenge using the name of God in the public square and insist that religion is a private matter. A most recent case has arisen against a group of adults for giving thanks at a school dinner.

The entire church and state separation issue is premised on the basis that we must embrace a secular view of politics that leaves God out of the picture, otherwise, there is division rather than unity. We have seen those attempting to rewrite American history in an attempt to challenge the role of God, the Bible, and Christianity, claiming that America did not begin with a distinctively Christian influence, but if, so what? Several years ago the late Arthur Schlesinger of Yale University, a philosophically liberal historian, wrote The Disuniting of America. I was appreciative for his honesty regarding those attempting to deconstruct and re-write history, ntentionally, leaving out some of the basic foundational ideologies. Some of this has happened because of a dualistic misunderstanding or equating what we called church and state separation with religion and state separation. Much of this has grown from a failure to understand the kingdom of God and the church, their unity and diversity.

Consider a different paradigm relating to Christian education. As you do, I would encourage you to evaluate its merit from a philosophical/theological perspective and not simply a school model at all different levels of the learning process.

While some of us have concluded that a failure to understand the Kingdom of God world and life view perspective has short-changed Christianity by focusing on pieces or parts rather than the whole, many have also failed to see the connection of education with the Kingdom of God. In a similar fashion, as liberal secularism has done with religion and politics, i.e. separating the two and ultimately keeping the religious aspect quiet or merely assigning it to one’s private life which only trivializes religion, so have we done the same with education and the kingdom. This tends to leave God out of the education paradigm or at least place him on the periphery of the process.

We have to realize that education in general has a broad definition which would include the entire learning process: content and context. It also has a specialized definition which deals with the many different subjects, as well as teaching and learning techniques involved. Also, in the somewhat limited scope from a Christian perspective, it refers to the process of learning, teaching, and understanding biblical data, which of course is a legitimately necessary part of the process. However, in the broader or more general sense Christian education also has to incorporate the whole of God’s truth, including that which is not specifically revealed in the Bible. It also has reference to the more formal teaching and learning process while incorporating the less formal or less structured that comes from day-to-day life and relationships in general. Education in its content and implementation includes both aspects.

They Will Still Bear Fruit in Old Age

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Thirty-eight million seniors (65+) live in the United States, making up thirteen percent of the total population. What percentage of this senior population resides in “group quarters,” including nursing homes? Answer: about five percent. The huge majority of the senior population is capable of useful service.

The present PCA membership, including children, is 342,041 (plus an unknown number in churches that do not report their data). If the total membership of our churches is like that of the nation as a whole, the PCA has among its members 45,000 seniors. This number will most likely more than double in the next forty years, as the total senior population is projected to do in our country. Currently, relatively few in our denomination are in nursing homes, only five percent or 2,250. Some PCA churches, like Crossroads Presbyterian Church in Woodbridge, Virginia, near Quantico Marine Base, have few seniors; and some, like Covenant Presbyterian Church in Sun City West, Arizona, have only seniors. However, we seniors do indeed tend to be everywhere. What a resource for serving Jesus!

Most books and articles about senior ministry focus on serving seniors and call us to help in meeting their needs. While this call is important and clear biblical imperatives call us to that ministry, most seniors do not have the pressing issues and disabilities that require mercy ministry. Few of our seniors are in nursing homes or severely disabled; and all of them, except perhaps those with advanced dementia, are capable of serving Jesus. What a great challenge and opportunity! All seniors must be challenged to honor the Lord in their lives and by their ministry. Some, perhaps many, indeed do so.

Meet Chuck Backlin. A graduate of West Point, he served as an officer in Vietnam. Now retired, Chuck turned sixty-nine this spring. On Tuesday mornings, he volunteers at the national headquarters of the Multiple Sclerosis Association doing data entry for the clients to whom he ships helpful devices for their everyday needs. On Wednesday mornings, he paints the interior of his church, Covenant PCA in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, working his way around the fellowship hall, down the hallways, and through the classrooms. On Thursday mornings, he volunteers at the American Cancer Society, developing corporate and organizational support. Chuck’s an usher, a “money counter,” and works at VBS. As a deacon, he serves on the equipment committee and is involved in the ministry of mercy. Chuck summarized, “I’ve never been bored; there’s plenty to do, to know about.”

Click here to read the full publication in PDF (Acrobat Reader required)

You’ve probably already met Caleb. When he was forty years old, he was sent by Moses as a spy into the Promised Land. When his advice was rejected, the door was closed for forty years. At eighty-five years of age, now serving under Joshua, he asked for permission to drive the Anakites from the “hill country.” He had another mountain to conquer.

Consider other biblical servants, who honored their Lord even into old age: Abram (75), Moses (80), Aaron (83), Joshua (“very old”), Ahijah (“old”), Eli (“old”), Simeon, Anna (84), Lois, Paul, and John. Barzillai (80) served the Lord by not being an unnecessary burden to others. Mary was faithful in later years by letting someone else (John) take care of her.

The biblical challenge to seniors to serve is clear. “Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come” (Psalm 71:18 NIV). “They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green” (Psalm 92:14 NIV). “…Who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s” (Psalm 103:1-5). “I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being” (Psalm 104:33). “One generation shall commend your works to another…” (Psalm 145:4-7). “I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live” (Psalm 146:2 NIV).

To neglect challenging seniors to serve the Lord is clearly unbiblical. It is also active ageism, prejudice against anyone based on their age alone. Ageism against seniors is everywhere, in movies, on TV, and even among the boomers who are rapidly becoming seniors. People of advancing years may indeed come to see themselves as “disposable, unimportant,” not unlike disposable diapers or material thrown into a garbage disposal. Ageism is most painful when the seniors themselves share in it. “I am useless. I have nothing to do. Nobody needs me.” These are not Christian statements, perhaps especially not for seniors. Challenge seniors to serve the Lord so that neither you nor they are guilty of ageism.

Motivation is the key to your commitment to challenging seniors and to their accepting any challenge. In Christian calling and service, the heart is the issue. Jesus gives us life, and we live for others. The fixed point at which those things happen is the cross. The basic motivation is not found in the needs of others, however serious or gut-wrenching they may be. The motivation is in the Christian, senior or younger. John wrote, “We love because he first loved us… For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen… Whoever loves God must also love his brother” (I John 4:19-21).

Initiative may have to overcome inertia. If a senior’s history shows no record of serving others, becoming a senior will not change his heart. The Lord needs to do that. Other seniors must understand they do not retire from Christian service. Moving from “serving” through “retirement” to “being served” is along a road on no map in the Bible. A car is easier to steer when it is moving, especially if the motor (heart) is running properly. Starting friction is indeed greater than sliding friction.

Mobilization flows out of motivation, and creativity and dreaming are important. “What could happen, if everything worked out well?”

All dreams do not come to fulfillment. A .300 batting average is very good; but if you never come to bat, 0 for 0, your average is .000. To make a dream become reality you need to gather facts and information, which feed creativity. Explore needs. Discover what younger generations and seniors need and want, survey the total Christian Education program, look for gaps, and consider community opportunities. Now ask, “What do seniors have to offer?” Do a survey not with a form but through visits, writing down reflections after each visit.

Once you have information, use a simple formula: needs + resources = opportunity. Match needs with resources and where they meet is opportunity. You may find that seniors in your church are indeed serving in many quiet ministries among themselves and with others, but creativity may produce multiplied benefits by initiating and enriching their ministry.

Ministry grows out of motivation and mobilization. The goal is to have seniors serving through word and deed, being who they are, representing Jesus, being an example. The possibilities are many, and a few examples accompany this article.

Recognize that you work with volunteers. Karen Morton in CEP’s Serving and Challenging Seniors suggests several steps in cultivating volunteers. First invite volunteers (personal invitations are best), and then interview them and ask about their experience and interests. Inform them by telling them what is expected and what help they will have. Interact with volunteers by seeking feedback and offering reassurance. Invest in them; continuing support is important. Finally, interpret them by seeking information about their experience. Morton concludes, “Ministry by seniors to seniors or to others in the local congregation or community is a win-win. Needs are met and seniors are given opportunities to contribute and to feel useful.”

When seniors accept your challenge to serve the Lord, benefits multiply. Consider the results:

  • You “honor” seniors by using them. You meet seniors’ need to feel useful, to be wanted, to be creative.
  • You dispel the myth that says, “Old people are nonproductive.” They are in fact often energetic, wise, and reliable.
  • You help them to be answers to their own prayers. Every Christian should by nature want to express the love of Jesus.
  • You avoid the unbiblical isolation and compartmentalization of generations. Seniors are given opportunity to interact with other generations in service and ministry.
  • Tangible evidence of faith experienced and shared will be seen. The invisible rule of Jesus in hearts will be manifest in deeds of service.
  • Ministry will happen, in the world and in the church, specifically among seniors but also among all generations. People will be served in Jesus’ name.

Older Adult Ministry: A Guide for the Presbytery Committee is a manual produced by the PCUSA that challenges seniors with the following. “Older persons who withdraw from life before life withdraws from them are depriving themselves and, through them, others as well.” Pray and work so that this statement will not describe seniors in your church. Hear the plea of senior servants. “Give me something to do!”