Christian Beliefs: 20 Life Transforming Truths - Leader's Guide

By Wayne Grudem

This Leader's Guide, written by Clear Cut Media, accompanies the Christian Beliefs: 20 Life Transforming Truths video series by Wayne Grudem.

Understand what you believe! In this ground breaking video series, Dr. Wayne Grudem teaches the 20 main doctrines of the faith with biblical depth, spiritual passion and a freshness that makes this series unique in the Christian world.

The aim of the course is to provide a good understanding of all the main doctrines of the Bible in an accessible and enjoyable format, securing and grounding Christians in the faith.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Clear Cut Media (Int) Ltd
• Release date: Mar 17, 2018
• ISBN: 9780955704253

Book preview

Introduction

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11-12)

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ. (Ephesians 4:15)

Recently a Christian couple were visited by some Jehovah's Witnesses. After the usual pleasantries they began to discuss the Scriptures in depth. An hour later, the Jehovah Witness couple looked confused and said, When we heard you were a born again Christian we thought this would be easy because our experience is that, generally speaking, those who call themselves ‘born again’ Christians do not know their Bibles — but you do!

Scripture calls the leaders of the church to equip the church for fruitful work and to prepare it to grow up!

As time elapses we are told that, many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold (Matthew 24:11–12). But God has not left us without hope! He has left us three wonderful weapons to fight the war with so that we can stand firm in our faith (Isaiah 7:9):

His Word

His Spirit

Inspired teachers

It is the Christian leader's role to fight the spiritual cooling and half truths with solid Spirit empowered Bible teaching. Jeremiah inspires us:

Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? (Jeremiah 23:29)

Catechising the church and mobilizing faith has been a passion of Dr. Grudem throughout his ministry, and the course that you have before you is an unprecedented resource for achieving this goal. Covering all of the major doctrines of the faith, Dr. Grudem delivers thoughtful, considered teachings with a warmth and passion which brings the sessions alive.

Wayne Grudem's teaching style is a message in itself to Christian leaders. We must be personally passionate about the God of the Word before we can teach anyone the truths of Scripture with God's empowering Holy Spirit.

The course comprises twenty videos of live teaching with Q&A sessions, with a study guide and leader's guide to accompany the course, written by Clear Cut Media. More study guides can be purchased via the Clear Cut Media web site.

How Does the Leader's Guide Work?

The Leader's Guide is designed to work alongside the Christian Beliefs Study Guide that accompanies the video series.

Session Format

Each session starts with a summary of the main points covered, then moves through the core material to questions. The session finishes with a challenging ‘Going Deeper’ section for further study.

Ezra 7:10 says:

"For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statues and rules in Israel"

This helpful format appears as part of each ‘Going Deeper’ section:

Know it

Do it

Teach it

The aim here is to be sure that what has been ‘taught’ has been ‘caught’!

Personal Reflection

Be sure to take time to pray in personal preparation before you teach or lead each session. Check to see that:

your heart is right before God, and that the material has found its way into your heart personally;

you have walked in the areas of personal application covered in each session;

you have personally prepared for the session by considering additional study materials, and prayed for the Holy Spirit to undertake His vital work.

Who is this course designed for?

How is the course to be delivered?

Christian Beliefs is a flexible teaching tool which can be used in a variety of teaching formats, from large group study on plasma screen or projector in church, to smaller cell/house/life/growth groups or individual one-to-one study.

Each session is approximately 40 minutes long. Depending on your group, you may wish to:

View the session with discussion breaks. There are approximately three discussion breaks per session and three questions per discussion break.

If you chose to do all the discussion breaks and questions, each session would probably last at least two weeks in a normal house / cell group setting. However, you may wish to look at the questions in advance and pick one from each section, or choose to do only one or two of the sections. The Study Guide is not designed to be followed slavishly but to give the leader plenty of group resources.

Watch the whole session without breaking for discussion. You may wish to then pick selected questions from any or all of the discussion sections at the end of the session.

Watch the session without discussion breaks. See what questions arise from the group, and then watch the Q&A.

The question and answer sections for each session are invaluable. You may want to use them to recap at the beginning of the following session, or at some other time.

Flexibility is the key. The goal is not to follow a fixed format or even to complete every section. The goal is to present the course in the most conducive way to facilitate worship and growth.

Each session should be preceded wherever possible by prayer and worship. The leader should try to take time to complete the material themselves beforehand, working through the notes available and, if possible, bringing in personal reflections when appropriate. If you make it your aim to learn the material you will be in the best position to lead the group. People who are changing are well equipped to help people change.

The Study Guides are useful for each member of the group to revist the teaching at home, make notes in during the session, and make personal application.

Please also note that, with the DVD videos, there are chapter breaks built into the menu system to enable you to access the sessions at different points, should you decide to split the material up over a few weeks.

Individual One-to-One Discipleship

Christian Beliefs can also be used on a one to one level with a mentor and a disciple. In fact, it is very effective in this context as you can maximize the flexibility of the course, perhaps taking sessions in the order you feel would be most beneficial.

Before you start, be sure to talk through the commitment with the disciple and help them to see the value of working through all of the material. As ever with these relationships, it is advised wherever possible that you aim for male-male and female-female one-to-ones to avoid any temptation or the appearance of evil (1 Thessalonians 5:22 KJV).

This form of discipleship offers the greatest flexibility and can be run wherever you have a video player, and at whatever time is most suitable!

Alternative Ideas for Delivery

You may feel that Christian Beliefs would be best delivered in two blocks, perhaps teaching sessions 1-10, having a break for a month or so, and then returning to complete sessions 11-20.

Or you could just use a specific session from the materials as a part of a focussed study you are doing in church, on Christian camp, or other groups settings, to help teach a particular doctrine.

A further alternative could be to do one session per month in a cell/house/life/growth group, interspersing the teaching with other Bible studies and social fellowship meetings, or use the course to supplement your distance learning studies as a part of a Christian theology training course or degree.

If you have a smaller church setting, perhaps in a house church context, you could use the materials as a part of your Sunday service, or as an after service for those who want further teaching. You could use the course with prayer partners or triplets, or with your teenage children at home.

High Risk Strategy: How about running Christian Beliefs at work with posters saying Christianity — why it is politically incorrect!

One to one discipling with this course could be a key church strategy for making sure new converts are not overlooked or left out on a limb.

How about running the course at work and inviting colleagues to come along at lunch time to discuss the Christian faith! Put on some food and ask them what they make of this new course.

Take time to think outside of the box and seek the Lord, there really is no limit to the variety of contexts you could use Christian Beliefs.

Large Group Dynamics and Values

If you decide to run this course with a larger church group then set the timetable out in advance by all means, but try to instill a culture of flexibility if you can. Again it is not about finishing the course — it is about learning to know and enjoy God more deeply.

Split into smaller groups for discussion. You may find your well planned timetable goes out of the window in the first week as the sessions take time to get through, but the value to your church will be immense!

Consider building social relationships by asking each small group you set up to serve the rest with light refreshments on a rota basis — this way you are teaching about service and hospitality through practical learning as well as through the videos.

You may also ask someone to take notes about the course and write a review in your church magazine as the ‘course