In our mid-year Members’ Meeting we mentioned a change the elders have planned for adult education during this coming year.

We have collectively decided to stop offering the single adult Sunday school class elective and replace it with weekend conferences or seminars we have titled “Body Life Conferences.” There are a few reasons for this change that I would like to explain in this brief article.

To begin with, for some time we have had the same small group (generally speaking) of faithful individuals who take all the adult classes. Secondly, as most of you are aware, we are challenged with educational space on Sunday mornings. Our emphasis has been upon the children’s education during this time together.

We simply do not have enough rooms available during both worship hours to offer more than one small adult class and that during only one of the worship hours. As it is, we are not able to offer Sunday classes for the older teens as well. Lastly, in order to keep costs down, we are very close to moving the Hispanic ministry into Fellowship Hall during

We simply do not have enough rooms available during both worship hours to offer more than one small adult class and that during only one of the worship hours. As it is, we are not able to offer Sunday classes for the older teens as well. Lastly, in order to keep costs down, we are very close to moving the Hispanic ministry into Fellowship Hall during

We simply do not have enough rooms available during both worship hours to offer more than one small adult class and that during only one of the worship hours. As it is, we are not able to offer Sunday classes for the older teens as well. Lastly, in order to keep costs down, we are very close to moving the Hispanic ministry into Fellowship Hall during second hour.

As we evaluated our situation in light of the above and explored the various options we determined that weekend conferences with child-care provided might work best for our context. This would allow families and individuals to plan ahead and attend some of these offerings during a Friday night and half-Saturday. The goal we hope to achieve is greater participation from the flock on a larger variety of topics.

Sunday school has been a fixture in American Protestant churches since the 1780’s. While not a biblical requirement, it has been a means of providing focused teaching on a given subject. It is a vehicle of discipleship.

Church culture, biblical knowledge and practice in a specific area of the Christian life are greatly helped by providing a context where a comprehensive body of material that adequately covers a focused topic can be presented and discussed.

Without contexts such as Sunday school the job of teaching and influencing thinking in the church is left to sermon application alone and that is neither comprehensive nor interactive. Classes allow for interaction on a single subject over several weeks.

In addition, most churches in our social context are increasingly transient, which means that some subjects need to be addressed regularly. It is simply impossible to place this burden upon the pulpit as well.

What about small groups? It is true that some churches rely on small groups of one kind or another to accomplish some of the same objectives. We decided not to go this route because of the many goals our Community Groups already seek to meet.

Our groups incorporate several elements such as life on life community, prayer, evangelistic outreach, as well as some kind of Bible-based discussion. All of these objectives are worthwhile and necessary, but do not allow enough time for serious focused teaching. Secondly, not all the groups have strong gifted teachers nor are they always meeting with the same regularity.

At this point, we are committed to experimenting with this format for the coming year and will evaluate as move along and consider your input as well. We are busy at work lining up the dates, topics and speakers. We are attempting to alternate between doctrinal and practical subjects.

Our first conference will be on January 13-14. Alex Strauch, author of several books and a friend of our ministry, will be speaking on the subject of the practice of genuine Christian love in the life of the congregation and our homes. Alex has written on this subject (“Love or Die”) and will bring decades of pastoral experience to the exhortation.

We ask that you consider attending several of these conferences throughout the year and spread the word. Though, at this point the purpose of this ministry is the discipleship of our own congregation. We will also need to share the burden of child-care and other practical needs as well.

Tony Sanelli is a Pastor/Teacher at Grace Bible Church