I found a free short course on ChristianCourses.com called “Ministering to people in pain“. Something in the course description grabbed hold of me so I am doing it.

One thing I am enjoying about the course is the level of study it is at. It is nice to listen to a lecture, answer some reflections questions on a group forum and do a short multiple choice quiz to see if you understood it all.

This is a lot different from formal Bible College with all the readings, assignments and exams, but I am still learning a lot. I have completed six of the ten lessons and it has been really good so far.

Once I have processed it all I might share some of the key things I have learned from it. If you are interested in doing it yourself you can find it here.

God Bless,

Dave

Ten Reasons to Believe in the Existence of God

Some have proposed that the belief in God was invented by people who needed a sense of protection and spiritual meaning. Yet despite these kinds of challenges, there are convincing evidences that support a belief in the God of the Bible. Students are guided into examination of the limits of science, the argument for intelligent design in nature, and the claims of Christ relative to deity.

Ten Reasons to Believe in the Bible

In a world full of religious books, all claiming authority over the lives of their followers, is there good reason to believe the Bible is any different? Any better? Any more reliable? The source of spiritual authority we choose to commit our lives to will impact how we live and who we become. Students learn why they can have confidence in the teachings and wisdom of the Bible.

Ten Reasons to Believe in a God Who Allows Suffering

Students are challenged to wrestle with difficult issues of faith. One of those is the reconciliation of the power and love of God with the suffering that occurs in our world. Students discover that difficult questions about unexplained suffering find satisfying and understandable answers in the pages of Scripture.

They are available for free or you can pay a small fee and they count towards a recognised Degree program. You can find more information here.

God Bless,

Dave

I initially started my studies back in 1992 as a fairly new Christian. I had a long break and then began again in 2005 and have studied both full time and part time since then.

As I look at the list of units I have a sense of achievement, of growth and learning and I feel a bit tired when I think about all of the assignments and deadlines!

Anyway, here’s the ever growing list. I add a new one in as it is completed…

• Creative Living (Living in the image of God)
• Understanding God and Ourselves
• Introduction to the Old Testament
• Introduction to the New Testament
• Survey of the New Testament
• Survey of the Old Testament
• Introduction to Christian Belief
• Introduction to Biblical Interpretation
• Introduction to Christian Counselling
• Understanding Human Behaviour
• Pastoral Care (Inside and outside the church)
• Ministering to People in Pain
• Leadership
• Ministry of the Spirit
• Pastoral Ethics
• Soteriology – Doctrine of Salvation
• Personal Evangelism and Sharing your faith
• Public Speaking and Preaching
• Understanding Culturally Appropriate Mission
• Facilitating Individual Learning
• Working Effectively with Young People in a Youth Work context
• Undertake research activities (researching a church culture or local area)
• Equipping with the Gospels
• Equipping in the Christian Faith
• Guide to Christian Growth
• World Religions: A comparison of the Major Religions of the World
• Introduction to Christian Apologetics (includes 5 smaller units)
  • Ten reasons to believe in the existence of God
  • Ten reasons to believe in the Bible
  • Ten reasons to believe in Christ rather than religion
  • Ten reasons to believe in a God who allows suffering
  • Ten reasons to believe real Christians can look like they are not

It has been hard work, like any studies I guess. But in a way Bible College is harder because you have all of the personal growth and attitude changes that need to take place in the midst of it too.

If you are thinking about doing some Bible studies I would encourage you to do so. The work you do lasts not just for this life…it lasts for all eternity!

God Bless,

Dave

Some of the questions we were to ask were…

• Who wrote the book?
• When was it written?
• Who was it written to?
• Who were the main characters or people group?
• Are they all the same people group?
• What was the city like that they lived in?
• What was the major reason for writing?
• Was there is issues the church faced at the time?
• Was the letter a correction, a rebuke, a teaching, an encouragement?
• Was there a follow up letter to clarify things?

As I began to do this I came to realise that often this gave me a much better understanding of the situation and why the letter was written to the people.

It also gave me a better understanding of the stories contained in the passages. In a sense brought out some of the meat of the stories that I had missed from a first reading.

If you are new to reading the Bible I would encourage you to get a good Bible commentary and a good Bible dictionary. These will help you to really understand some of the background a lot better.

Remember the meat or solid food we seek as Christians is often brought out as we understand the background context of the passages we read.

God Bless,

Dave

One of of the best definitions we learned is “Pastoral Care is the cure and care of souls”. I think it says a lot. It is about caring for people when things are going well and helping them get back to being well when they are not.

I have also been reflecting on how over time pastoral care subtly changes. History showed that it fell in to one of four main categories – sustaining, reconciling, guiding and healing.

Depending on if the nation was going through wartime, peace, a health crisis or time of heresy the focus changed.

When we look at these words and their general meanings it gives us a good place to start when looking at how we should approach pastoral care today.

1. Sustaining – support, uphold, nourish, maintain, comfort, ecourage.

2. Reconciling – restore, re-unite, patch up, make friends again, conciliate.

3. Guiding – counsel, advise, help, direct the course, point the way, inform.

4. Healing – cure, make well, make whole, sooth, restore good relationships, mend, alleviate.

Looking back the pastoral care units I did were very helpful. I am really glad I took good notes and blogged about some of the main ideas. It means I can go back and read them today!

God Bless,

Dave

I guess if I was involved with a few other families I would plant a church that focussed on a few keys things…

1. Jesus – The Bible tells us that Jesus is the Author and Finisher of our faith. That means He is the beginning and the end. For the Christian and the church our focus should be on Jesus – who He is, what He has done for us, and what He wants us to do. As Galatians says, “Jesus is our all in all”.

2. Bible teaching – I think that for us as Christians that the Bible is our road map. It is where we find out about God, life, salvation and what God requires of us in this life. For me the Bible stands above all things when talking about issues of faith and life. Teaching people how to live out the Bible’s message in vital to being a disciple of Christ.

3. Prayer – Prayer is our lifeline to God. Not only do we connect with God through prayer, but we can pray for our needs and the needs of those around us. We also find direction and purpose for ourselves personally and corporately from God as we pray.

4. Holy Spirit – I really believe that for a church to be successful that it needs to be built on the power of the Holy Spirit. Often as Christians we rely on the Bibles teachings, but neglect the fact that the Holy Spirit is God’s power in this world. He is the one who brings about the new birth, empowers us the live the Christian life and gives us gifts to serve Him.

5. Family fellowship – I just have such a heart for families and families being in fellowship. I think at times we separate off in to groups like men, women, youth too much. I feel we should be coming together as a family unit and building relationships with each other as a church. Strengthening the family unit is just so important.

6. Relational Evangelism and Discipleship – Another thing I would like to see a new church built on is relational evangelism. As we live our lives and really follow Jesus, I think we should be contagious. People that we are in relationship with should see our lifestyle and our love for Jesus. In my experience this usually draws people to Jesus and the Discipleship process can begin.

7. Serving others – When I read the Bible I can’t help but see that Jesus came to be a servant. He lived amongst us and He served us. I really believe that a new church plant should focus on people using their gifts to serve each other. Recognising and releasing people into their God given gifts should be a priority.

8. Worship – One of the few things that we can do in this life that we will do in heaven is worship God. For this reason I think worship should be a key to church life. Worshipping God with all of our hearts as individuals and as a church would be a focus. God is just so worthy of our praise and worship!

9. Fun – Lastly I think church should be fun. I believe as Christians we should be the most joyful and fun people on earth! Church life should be a reflection of the joy and happiness we have inside from knowing Jesus. And this fun and joy should be contagious!

I guess I could see a group of people meeting together in a home group type situation first and as the numbers grew we could meet in a local facility like a Recreation Centre. I think church should be in a place where people naturally go and meet.

God Bless,
Dave

The first chapter is called “Discipline – why bother”? It grabbed my attention and drew me in on the first page…

“Discipline. What to make of it? We know its value, but seldom like to submit to her rule. The cyclist who wins the multiple titles in the Tour de France knows her well. The artist who has taken years to develop his craft is a sure acquaintance. Whether Lance Armstrong or a Leonardo Da Vinci, discipline is the constant companion of human progress wherever it is found. Yet there is a mood in our generation which despises the mere mention of the word discipline. We are a “me-centered,” get it now, don’t want to wait, self-obsessed, hope it all comes real easy sort of people. This is the cultural air we breathe and the water in which we swim. Some of you reading this may even think this is too long to read; you may become lazy and quit a few paragraphs in. Don’t. For a lack of discipline creeps into our spiritual lives as followers of Jesus and the result is a dead and boring faith. Knowledge and relationship with the infinite God and just bored; well that just sort of sucks, so please keep on reading.

It may be a little obnoxious to say, but it is real easy to forget that the word discipline and disciple are very close relatives. They actually both come from the Latin word disciplina which means teaching or learning. To be disciplined means to be dedicated to learning and a disciple is a learner, a follower, one who believes…”

If you are interested in reading more, you can grab a free ebook version here.

God Bless,

Dave

For me doing Bible college as an external student has been good. I like to take my time with lectures and really reflect on the readings. I find being an external student allows me to do that. It also allows me to focus on my studies and not get distracted by some of the social side of things.

In saying that though, there are times when being an external student is really hard. Sometimes it would be good to hear your lecturer in person and be able to ask questions. It would also be good to be encouraged by other students and their stories. However in general I prefer the external experience and I think it suits me well and the way I work.

Here are some of my tips to help you if you are thinking of doing Bible college as an external student…

1. Keep up your daily devotions – it is easy to get caught up in studying the Bible and lose your close relationship with God. As I have written before, you can lose God at Bible college!

2. Do all the readings – it is easy to neglect doing all of the readings and just listen to lectures. I have done this on a few units and feel like I really missed out on the full learning. When I went back and did them I could see what I missed.

3. Talk to your lecturers – I at least try to be in email contact with each of my lecturers. That way you can ask questions, send them assignment outlines and they know who you are when they receive your work.

4. Be honest with the college – if you are going through a rough time be honest and tell the college. I had one time this year where it was hard to combine homeschooling and my studies. I let the college know and they offered extensions on all of my work. Some people don’t do this and just drop out.

5. Have someone to talk  with – I can talk to my wife and about my lectures and I can talk to my Pastor or other Christians I know. It helps to process what you are learning and formulate your thoughts.

If you are thinking about doing Bible college and you can’t be there on campus, be encouraged as it can be done externally and it can be very rewarding.  From my experience it is well worth doing.

God Bless,

Dave

Recently I have purchased a NLT Life Application Study Bible. I wanted it so I could do the same study I do with my New International Version (NIV) Thompson Chain Reference Bible.

Here are some of the features from the website…

• Thousands of Life Application notes help explain God’s Word and challenge you to apply the truth of Scripture to life
• Personality profiles highlight over 100 important Bible characters
• Book introductions provide vital statistics, overview, and timeline to help you understand the message of each book
• 200 thumbnail maps highlight important Bible places and events
• Christian Worker’s resource: a special supplement to enhance the your ministry effectiveness
• 260 charts help explain difficult concepts and relationships
• Cross-references
• Harmony of the Gospels built right into the text of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John
• Dictionary/concordance
• Daily reading plan
• Topical index to all notes, charts, maps, and profiles

So far I have found it really good and really enjoyable to use. I have especially enjoyed having a notes section at the bottom of each page that gives background and explanation to hard verses.

I would highly recommend it if you are looking to buy yourself a study Bible.

God Bless,

Dave

I have done a number of courses at ChristianCourses.com including Old Testament Introduction and New Testament Introduction, and a number of the Apologetics courses.

I have found them very helpful and practical. I especially like that you can work through them at your own pace and they are free!

God Bless,
Dave