This tiny course can help you get started if you are new to Moodle.
It’s been hidden so that only you, as the site administrator, can see it.
God’s Mission in the World is a study of God’s movement to reconcile our relationship with Him throughout history. It is a Christ centered approach of looking at the intersection of the Old Testament with the New Testament in God’s redemptive plan of salvation completed in Jesus. This narrative approach provides oral preference teachers and learners with the grand story of the Bible. Such an approach recognizes that teach-ing the Bible in oral cultures or to oral preference learners is more effective when communicated in a story. Oral learners will learn best when they first know the big picture of a story. God’s Mission in the World is focused on that big picture.
Journey to Movement explores the New Testament church as an ongoing historical event of God’s relentless pursuit of relationships with every people group. The 12-month exploration of movement will help participants discover a biblical plan of action to multiple disciples and connect God’s story to the story of their community. Focused on the church that began in Ephesus in 53 AD, participants will uncover the remarkable legacy of spreading the gospel all throughout Asia Minor as well as the rich understanding that all peoples were being built into a dwelling place for God. The journey will trace the life of the church through its launching in Acts 19 to Paul’s epistle to the church that grounded it biblically. Then, looking at instructions to the church’s leader, 1 and 2 Timothy will provide details of a leader’s responsibilities in movements God continues to orchestrate. Finally, Jesus’s powerful letter to the church in Revelation 2 will set the vision for the ongoing work of proclaiming the gospel to all ethnic groups in order that more people will worship God. By focusing on discovery learning, the journey will have a lasting impact on participants as they uncover biblical principles through the story of the church in Ephesus and apply them in their plan to mature disciples and multiple followers of Christ in their community.
The dating of Ephesians, even the audience of the letter with the name of the city, is in question. Most agree that its intention was for all the churches in Asia. Whatever the case, the letter is Paul’s expression of missiological theology written to inspire the churches to continue their responsibility in the plan of God. The fulfillment of the plan would not be easy. Brothers and sisters would not always get along. Many would fall away from the faith. The loss of mission would threaten the ongoing movement throughout the region. The churches are reminded that their adversary would take drastic measures to ensure the movement would slow to a crawl. However, the work that God had prepared for the church to walk in before the beginning of time could not be thwarted easily. This session will examine the theological underpinnings of a movement that is focused on participating in God’s will of uniting all things in Christ.
A survey of the world’s major religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, and other religions of Asia, those of Africa and the Americas, as well as the three great monotheistic religions — Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
Ephesiology[n.ih·fē·zē·äləʒē]: The Study of a Movement is the story of the church at Ephesus, the most documented of all the churches appearing in the New Testament. Beginning with Paul’s approximate three-year tenure in the city from 53 to 56 AD, we see a movement launched that reaches all of Asia Minor (Acts 19:10). Indeed, the work that started on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea spread in those years to Colossae, Smyrna, Philadelphia, Thyatira, Sardis, Laodicea, Pergamum, and no doubt beyond. These churches were catalysts for the advancement of the gospel as their hearts’ desire was to see every nation, tribe, people, and language worshipping before the throne of God (Rev 7:9).
Between Paul’s decapitation around 67AD and Timothy’s imprisonment, the church continued its ministry, albeit not without struggles. Nearly thirty years later, Jesus intervenes with the church, as much to encourage them for the work they were doing, but also to admonish them for forgetting their first love. They were doing good things, but they were no longer doing the main thing: proclamation of the good news that the nations are included in the plan of God. Throughout the rest of the book of Revelation, John communicates the vision that all people, nations, tribes, and languages will one day worship before the throne. In the meantime, John is told to continue to prophesy about the completion of God’s mission as it is the ultimate vision of God’s will.
It all begin in Acts 16. Paul and his missionary band were prohibited from entering Asia and were redirected to Macedonia only to meet a woman from the very place they could not enter. It is not for another three years or so that he finally arrives on the West coast of Asia Minor with his co-workers Prisca and Aquila. Paul takes several months leave and returns to Jerusalem until an opportune time to step back into the work of God in the great Roman city of goddess Diana (gr. Artemis). Once he returns, the gospel explodes unlike any other place in the Book of Acts. A movement is born; one that will leave a lasting impact on the early churches’ formation and eventually on the later theological developments of the first six church councils. This session will highlight the missiological principles that launched a movement characterized by the rapid multiplication of indigenous churches throughout Asia.
Next to Jesus, the Apostle Paul is the most prominent figure in the early church. For some reason, church planters seem to connect with him on a deep level. Perhaps it is because we want to be like him. Maybe we feel like our experiences are similar to his. Whatever the reason, Paul stands out among the apostles as one who took the gospel to places it had never been. For church planters, and for the rest of us, there is much to learn from the apostle.
Undoubtedly the most personal letter Paul had written, 2 Timothy prepared his faithful son for the inevitable: suffering and death. Suffering was as much from persecution as it was from the anguish of seeing people fall away from the Lord. In spite of this, Timothy was challenged to remain strong and vigilant in his calling because it was Christ himself who would sustain him through difficulty. He was to entrust what he learned to others who would pass it further along. As Tertullian later picked up, “We multiply whenever we are mown down by you; the blood of Christians is seed” (Apologeticus50.13). Paul not only taught the reality of suffering, but also struggled through it himself. So, it was not an admonishment to suffer alone, but to join with Paul in his sufferings. Ultimately, those who come out on the other side will receive a crown of righteousness that is for all who believe.
Paul’s letter to Timothy, the eventual leader of the movement, provides timely instructions on how to keep the movement growing. Timothy was reminded that Jesus came to save sinners and he was to continue his work as an evangelist in the faithful proclamation of the gospel. To ensure the ongoing movement, Paul reminds Timothy to call people to pray. Most of all, to pray for those in authority so that the gospel might continue to be proclaimed without hindrance. Timothy was to appoint leaders as well. These were leaders who aspired to the position and were to be an example of those who continued the great mystery of godliness which included the proclamation of Jesus Christ among the nations. In personal instructions for Timothy, Paul reminded him to not be surprised when people left the faith. Instead, he was to move forward in the faith for all to see his progress. The church as well was to be a model to society in how she handled the social issues of the day, including wealth and poverty.