Adult Fellowship and Learning
The life of faith is both satisfying and challenging – best supported by friends in faith. Our fellowship and educational opportunities are designed to help members and visitors know one another and grow in faith together – engaging head, heart, and hands in the exploration of God’s Word and will.
Sunday School
GPPC is blessed with remarkable resources for education, and we seek to draw on those resources (such wise and talented people!) and to provide a variety of classes to challenge, guide, and support our members as they grow in the Christian life and faith.
Our Sunday School calendar has three short terms: a September term (4 weeks), a January term (4 weeks) and a May term (6 weeks). During the short terms we offer brief courses on a variety of topics, such as the Bible, the church, spiritual life, and the way our faith impacts our lives on a daily basis.
Between the short terms are longer fall and spring terms, during which classes can delve into topics more deeply.
January 2012
COME TO THE TABLE: CONNECTING WORSHIP WITH THE WORLD
ADULT SUNDAY SCHOOL JANUARY 15, 22, AND 29, 2012:
Often worship is seen is separate from daily life, rather than something that flows outward to transform the world and the way we live our lives. How can we better connect the sacraments and liturgy with our daily lives and with the world?
Participants will be invited to consider ways to more closely connect our practices of worship to our life in creation as stewards and ones who celebrate the gift of creation. This class explores a theology of connecting the table to daily life and provides ideas for integrating appreciation for and stewardship of God creation throughout the year.
Paul Galbreath, Professor of Worship and Preaching, Union Presbyterian
Serendipity
Everyone who is interested in fellowship and Bible Study is invited to join us for this class. This fall the Serendipity Class will be studying the book of Mark. (We would be grateful for prayers for our members and our study as we faithfully pursue our understanding of the word of God.) The class meets in the Library.
The Neighborhood Class
The Neighborhood Class is a group of adults, many from adult homes nearby, who share concerns, study God's word, pray and sing together (sometimes with guitar accompaniment). They are eager for others to share this special time with them, to learn from and with them. This fall we begin study of God Calls: The One Story of the Bible.
February 5- March 25
JESUS AND THE GOSPELS
The New Testament tells the story of Jesus’ ministry not once but four times. How are these four gospels related to each other? What portrait of Jesus’ teaching and actions does each gospel paint? And how does the Jesus whom we encounter in these gospels speak to us, across cultures and centuries, in the 21st century? This eight-week class introducing Jesus and the Gospels will be led by Union Presbyterian Seminary Professor of New Testament John Carroll, assisted by Union Presbyterian Seminary student and GPPC intern Elizabeth Landes. The class will convene in the conference room at 9:30 on Sunday mornings in February and March. Come join us!
Optional resource for interested participants: Mark Allan Powell, Fortress Introduction to the Gospels (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1998). ISBN-13: 978-0800630751. List price $19.00.