Summer Adult Bible School 2024

The Adult Education Committee at Midvale invites you to attend the fifth summer of Adult Bible School! Sessions will be held on Wednesdays at 10am in the Fellowship Hall at Midvale.

There are four sessions planned for the summer, beginning on June 12. Three sessions will be workshops led by Pastor Ken to help us reflect on how we live together in faith (be and do church) in our current culture by reviewing what we know about early Christianity. The workshops work together, but do not build one upon the other so that a person can come to one, two, or three of the workshops. Each workshop begins with table discussions of a theme common to our current situation and life in the early Christian church, followed by a short presentation on early Christianity, and more discussion of a question of the day, posed by the witness of early Christians.

Sessions:

June 12, Wednesday, 10am
Workshop One: Diversity of Models and Approaches to Being Church with Pastor Ken

Tablework on the diversity we encounter within the Christian family, focusing on traditional church, alternative church, non-church church, thematic church and denominational heritage.
Presentation on perhaps seven different approaches to being church in early Christianity: hospice, orphanage, women’s funerary society, village center, family chapel, synagogue church, school, monastery, and commune.  Again reflecting on the strengths and issues facing each approach.
A return to the tables to reflect on what the ancient models say to us about the models we use to be church today. 

Please register here by Sunday, June 9.

June 19, Wednesday, 10am
Non-Violent Approaches to Atonement with Denny Weaver

Denny Weaver, a retired professor of theology at Bluffton University, in the Mennonite tradition, a current resident of Oakwood University Ridge, will help us reflect on diverse descriptions of our relationship with God in his reflections on early Christian non-violent theories of atonement. 

Please register here by Sunday, June 16.

July 3, Wednesday, 10am
Workshop Two: Mergers with Outcomes with Pastor Ken

Table work on the possibilities for working together even in the face of cultural conflict, especially in the area of social services based on a fresh understanding of Jesus.
Presentation on perhaps three ancient mergers of different groups with common interest within the early Christian movement: male and female led congregations, the reform movements of John and Jesus, and Jew and Gentile approaches to Christianity. Again reflecting on the strengths and issues surrounding each merger and the legacies left to us by these early communities coming together.
A return to the tables to reflect on what these mergers say to us about coming together in our own time as Christians and with other faith traditions  and what that might involve. 

Please register here by Sunday, June 30.

July 31, Wednesday, 10am
Workshop Three: The Challenges of Relating to Our Culture with Pastor Ken

Table work on the challenges of working with our culture, the possibilities and challenges of social media, isolation, politics, war and conflict. 
Presentation on the variety of approaches of early Christianity to the culture of late Antiquity in the Roman Empire including rejection, resistance, apocalyptic disregard, accommodation, cooperation, assimilation, and establishment.
A return to the tables to reflect on what the ancient approaches to empire say to us about how we relate to the culture around us. 

Please register here by Sunday, July 28.

Please join us for the sessions. You can attend some or all of the sessions. Pre-registration is very helpful. join us once again for thoughtful and inspiring mornings this summer.