Gospel-centered Bible Training at your own time and pace

September will be here shortly and so I thought I would make sure everyone is aware of our Gospel-centered Bible training courses – through the Porterbrook Network.

There are only 2 classes that you attend, as the course is done online (or you can print off the material) and includes video. Thus, you can work through the material at your convenience. We also group you in “cohorts” (small groups of students) for accountability and to share and learn together in community. You can join as a cohort – or you can sign up as an individual and we will put you in a group.

This training is for any Christian that desires to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. You may take one of the courses or take them all. The goal of this training is not simply head knowledge but a transformed life. Please speak to those who have participated in some of the previous Porterbrook training classes to hear about their experience and check out the website here: gracesask.com/porterbrook for more info.

Tentative upcoming schedule of courses: (the dates show the opening and closing classes which take place on Saturday mornings)

Gospel Living – Sept 19 – Oct 17, 2015

Understanding God’s Story – Nov 7 – Dec 5, 2015

Keeping it Missional _ Jan 16 – Feb 13, 2016

Apologetics – March 5 – April 2, 2016

Description of courses:

Gospel Living

This course is all about the very heart of the Christian life. Living a gospel centred life rooted and built up in Christ crucified, raised and ascended for us, is the goal and power of the Christian life. Learn to walk in the gospel. The gospel is not just the message we proclaim, it is also the message that shapes our identity, relationships, the nature of the church, mission and everyday life. This is the central course for the whole Porterbrook curriculum. It is all about living a gospel centred life.

Understanding God’s Story

Learn how to understand passages of scripture in the light of the whole Bible story. This course teaches Christians how to get to the meaning of the text for its first readers and for us today. God has spoken to his people through the story of his Son, Jesus. As Christians, we find our identity and purpose as we engage with the stories, letters, poems, prophecies, histories etc., contained within the Bible’s bigger story. This course is deeply practical. You will need your Bible with you to work through multiple exercises on Bible texts. You will learn to understand texts in the context of the bigger story and the immediate context of the book of the Bible they appear in. Then you will learn how to apply the words of the Bible today.

Keeping It Missional

How do you stop the day-to-day running of church life becoming a distraction from mission? This course answers by helping us see how everything from business meetings to marriage preparation can and should help us on the task of saving the lost. Everything in church life can and ought to be geared to the mission of saving the lost. However, so much of church life can seem like a distraction from the task. This course helps us to recalibrate all the necessary tasks of church life around mission. It is for all church members not just leaders. It will help all Christians understand and play their part.

Apologetics

Learn how to understand objections to the Christian faith and how to answer with the gospel in the context of relationships and everyday life.The Bible calls us to give a defence for the hope we have in Jesus. It’s the Christian life that prompts the question, and relationship is the best context to display and explain the hope we have. This course helps us to understand where objections to the Christian faith come from and how to answer them with a relational approach to apologetics.