Open Door Sunday School Class

Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors.

In many ways, the motto of the United Methodist Church sums up our class, because we seek to welcome all seekers and to explore both traditional and non-traditional approaches to understanding and practicing the Christian life and faith journey.

Our mission is to be open to and pursue God’s truth wherever it may be found
and wherever it may lead us and to try to apply and exhibit that truth in our daily lives.

About our class:

Our class includes men and women of all ages, married and single. Some are members of FUMC, others are not. We are an open and diverse group that is serious and committed to sharing in study and growth – yet our class is informal. We are not afraid of differences of opinion, and we care for, support, and encourage each other.

What and how do we study?

Class time is devoted chiefly to round-table discussion of the book or audio / visual media that is providing the topics for discussion. Several members of the class take turns as discussion leaders.
Resources the class has used, besides the Bible, include books by Leslie Weatherhead, Paul Tillich, John Shelby Spong, C. S. Lewis, and Elaine Pagels. Video studies we have used include various Bill Moyers videos and various studies from the Living the Questions curriculum line-up. Studies we have done include:
- John Dominic Crossan’s Video Study: Victory & Peace OR Justice & Peace;
- Marcus Borg’s Meeting Jesus Again For The First Time;
- Jim Wallis’ God’s Politics: A New Vision For Faith & Politics in America;
- Walter Wink’s The Powers That Be: Theology For A New Millennium; and
- John Cobb’sMatters of Life and Death.

Where does the Open Door Class meet?

We meet in the Rec. Lobby basement area of the Education Wing in room 2-R.

What time do we meet?

Our class meets from 9:15 to 10:15 each Sunday morning, allowing time for members to attend either the 8:30 or 10:30am Worship Services at FUMC.

Fellowship Activities:

Our one major social / fellowship activity is a Super Bowl Party in February. We share a pot luck meal, watch the game on TV, enjoy each other’s company, and elect officers for the new year.

For more information about the Open Door Class, contact Alan Ballard: 940-766-4863.

Open Door Class Feeds Less Fortunate: December 9, 2009

1209091917 Members of the Open Door Sunday School Class provided food for and / or served some of the less fortunate in our community when they did the Power Meal at Mt. Calvary UM Church on Wednesday, December 9, 2009. The menu included fried chicken, salad, corn salad, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, au grautin potatoes, bread, pecan & pumpkin pie, and cookies.

Thank you to Ann Bowling, Garland Dean, Wanda Hoffman,
Gary Sparks, Paul & Patti Stillson, Retha Stone, and Kris & Paula Tilker
for your ministry!

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Posted on December 11th, 2009 by tsims

Open Door Class Makes a Donation to Heifer International

Heifer International is an organization, which “teaches a person to fish” (so to speak). Through financial donations they give people in need throughout the world animals such as oxen (for milk and or farming), goats (for milk production), chickens (for egg production), bees (for honey production), etc. Thus, this helps provide them with food and the resources to be entrepreneurs, selling their produce.

The Open Door Sunday School recently sent a $500 donation, which buys a heifer. If you’d like more information about or would like to make a donation to this worthwhile cause, you can contact the Open Door Class or Heifer International.

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Posted on August 9th, 2009 by tsims

New Study in Open Door Sunday School – August 2

Join the Open Door Sunday School Class, beginning August 2, for a study led by Rev. Troy Sims on how to understand the Gospel of John – which is quite different than Matthew, Mark, and Luke and must be looked at in a different manner in order to properly understand it.

For more information about the Open Door Class (which meets in Rec. Lobby in Rm 2-R), contact Alan Ballard (940-766-4863).

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Posted on July 27th, 2009 by tsims

Open Door Class Begins Studying the Latest Spong Book

jesus-for-the-non-religious On Sunday, April 5, 2009, the Open Door Sunday School Class began studying the latest book by Bishop John Shelby Spong, Jesus for the Non-Religious. In this book, Spong invites his readers to look at Jesus through the lens of both the Jewish scriptures and the liturgical life of the first-century synagogue. Dismissing the dispute about Jesus’ nature that consumed the church’s leadership for the first 500 years of Christian history as irrelevant, Spong proposes a new way of understanding the divinity of Christ: as the ultimate dimension of a fulfilled humanity.