New to the United Methodist Church?

Been in the UMC a long time
but not sure of our basic beliefs?

Just want to know more about the UMC?

This 4-week Sunday School Class is for you!

Led by our ministry staff, this class will cover:

• United Methodist History / Structure
• United Methodist Theology
• Programs of FUMC

This class will be held on Sunday mornings during the Sunday School hour (9:30-10:15am).  The class location will depend on how many register.

Please, register below so we’ll know how many to expect!

For more information, contact
Rev. Troy Sims (tsims@fumcwf.org or 940-766-4231, x229).

Name:

Phone:

e-Mail:

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Written in a humorous, accessible style, Being United Methodist in the Bible Belt: A Theological Survival Guide for Youth, Parents, and Other Confused United Methodists, is an easy-to-understand guide to the kinds of theological questions many United Methodists ask.  Those participating in the study will better understand our unique brand of Christianity as United Methodists in light of the understandings of those from more theologically conservative traditions. The book makes one appreciate Wesleyan theology and practice while respecting other traditions.

Join the Exodus Sunday School Class for this study in Room 301 (of the Education Wing) at 9:30am.  They have just barely gotten underway with the study, so it is NOT too late to join in on the fun!

For more information about the Exodus Class or this study, contact
Lindsay Greer (lindsay.greer@hotmail.com or 940-691-1236).

What Does a Progressive Christian Believe? A Guide for the Searching, the Open, and the Curious by Delwin Brown will be the topic of discussion in the Open Door Sunday School Class beginning September 11, 2011 at 9:15am.

Brown is dean emeritus of Pacific School of Religion and former Professor of Christian Theology at Illiff School of Theology.  In this insightful book, he makes clear what Progressive Christians do and do not believe.  He also makes it clear what Progressive Christians do in the life of faith while leaving room for the diversity that comes with the label of “Progressive Christian.” As Rev. Troy Sims has said of this book, Brown shows us how to be black and white about the fact that the world is varying shades of gray – everything is NOT black and white.

In seven points, he retrieves the value of the bible, affirms the presence of God intertwined in all of creation, and breathes life into the creeds (imagine that!) by taking them to the logical conclusion that God is not only incarnate in Jesus but humanity and all of creation! He grounds a view of humanity in the Genesis story of co-creation and the twin commandments to love God and others as ourselves.

For more information about the class or study,
contact Tammy Sparks (tammysp@sbcglobal.net or 940-781-4821).

The Living the Questions Sunday School Class, which meets in the Parlor (behind Fellowship Hall) will begin a new study on Sunday, September 11, 2011 at 9:30am.  They will be using Brian D. McLaren’s book, The Secret Message of Jesus: Uncovering the Truth that Could Change Everything.

A wide array of people from different theological backgrounds claim that through McLaren’s books they have begun to rediscover the faith they’d lost or rejected. In this book, you’ll find what’s at the center of Brian’s critique of conventional Christianity, and what’s at the heart of his expanding vision. In the process, you’ll meet a Jesus who may be altogether new to you, a Jesus who is:

• Not the crusading conqueror of religious broadcasting;
• Not the religious mascot of partisan religion;
• Not heaven’s ticket-checker, whose words have been commandeered by the church to include and exclude, judge and stigmatize, pacify and domesticate.

McLaren invites you to discover afresh the transforming message of Jesus-an open invitation to radical change, an enlightening revelation that exposes sham and ignites hope, an epic story that is good news for everyone!

For more information about this class or study,
contact Jennifer Holmes (mededit@sw.rr.com or 940-696-9991).

Join the Living the Questions Sunday School Class during the summer of 2011 (starting June 19) as they use video from the NOOMA series (featuring Rob Bell, founding pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Michigan) to guide their discussion.

NOOMA is a transliteration of the Greek word, pneuma, which is translated into English as wind, breath, or spirit.  The following quote is from the back of NOOMA videos:

We can get anything we want, from anywhere in the world, whenever we want it.  That’s how it is and that’s how we want it to be.  Still, our lives aren’t any different than other generations before us.  Our time is.  We want spiritual direction, but it has to be real for us and available when we need it.  We want a new format for getting Christian perspectives.  NOOMA is the new format.  It’s short films with communicators that really speak to us.  Compact, portable, and concise.  Each NOOMA touches on issues that we care about, that we want to talk about, and it comes in a way that fits our world.  It’s a format that’s there for us when we need it, as we need it, how we need it.

For more information about the Living the Questions Class,
contact Jeff or Lauri Cooper:
jcooper003@gmail.com or 940-781-7831.

Join the Open Door Sunday School Class for their new book review, Such Is Life: A Close Encounter with Ecclesiastes:

• Begins Sunday, June 12, 2011
• 9:15am
• Rm 2-R of Rec. Lobby (basement area of the Education wing)

Though some twenty three centuries have passed since an anonymous Jewish sage calling himself the Proclaimer (Qoheleth) set down his thoughts about life, they are strangely in tune with today’s secular age. Its surprising, therefore, that they ever found a place in Holy Scriptures. Lloyd Geering has brought Ecclesiastes to life by ingeniously composing imaginative dialogues with the sage, which show that he was a free thinker, a humanist, and an existentialist. In fact, this biblical heretic essentially undermined the rest of the Hebrew Bible by finding no discernible thread of purpose in the universe or in human existence, and by proposing that though Nature operates in ever-repeating cycles, much of human life is determined by sheer chance. The role of the sage, as Ecclesiastes saw it, was not to pass on gems of eternal wisdom, but to goad us into thinking things out for ourselves in our search for meaning in life.