Adult Faith Formation

Adult Faith Formation at Grace UMC is firing on all cylinders! Almost all of our faith formation groups are meeting digitally each week (or even twice a week!) for fellowship and conversation during this pandemic time. Platforms such as Zoom and Google Meet allow us to see each other face-to-face while content sites like Amplify Media provide wonderful videos that we can watch together. Both “Hearts on Fire” and the “Portico Collective” recently read and watched The Passion Play by Pastor Rob Fuquay. The series takes us behind-the-scenes of the famous Passion Play that the townspeople of Oberammergau, Germany, have performed every 10 years for almost 400 years!

In addition to our weekly small-group meetings, there are several exciting faith formation opportunities ahead. Pastor Daniel will be leading a new 7-week Zoom study beginning on Thursday, July 2, and ending on August 13. This study will use a new book and video series by famed professor Walter Brueggemann (Materiality as Resistance) that asks us to consider how we can change our personal habits and church practices to be better neighbors to one another. Looking closely at the importance of materiality in Christian belief and practice, Brueggemann will challenge us to think about how we use our resources to realize the Body of Christ in our homes and in our communities. Please email Pastor Daniel for more information or to sign up (daniel.cochran@peopleofgrace.org). 

Adult Faith Formation in September!

Then, beginning in September, Doug Bowden and Larry Hartman will guide us through a close reading of Cost of Discipleship, a very important and ever-timely book by the Lutheran theologian and martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Just as Brueggemann challenges us to follow Jesus, Bonhoeffer encourages us to ask: what does it mean to be a disciple today? Drawing upon the Sermon on the Mount, this book study aims to differentiate between the “cheap grace” that we bestow upon ourselves and the “costly grace” that demands sacrifice but bestows eternal life. Please email Pastor Doug for more information or to sign up (dbowden6@aol.com).

Also in September, Sandy Bray and Doug Bowden are offering two opportunities for you to embark on a Discipleship class exploring Jesus in the Gospels by Leander Keck and Nellie Moser. This in-depth, 30-week study is a commitment, but the reward is immense. What a wonderful way to grow in faith and build our “life together” at Grace UMC, diving deep into the sacred Gospels with the guidance of these two wonderful teachers and in the company of our Grace UMC family!