Bible Classes

Bible Classes were begun during the Industrial Revolution in England during the stream of history in which we find Youth Ministry being birthed. As more and more parents moved from agricultural society where sons worked with their fathers and daughters worked with their mothers to the industrial scene, things changed. The children weren't welcome or safe in the factory - thus more children had extra time on their hands. Sunday School and Youth Ministry were born and have continued in most Christian circles since.

The dividing of home and work has not just held steady, but has become more robust. For instance, I recently inquired of setting up a Job Shadow day in one of Kokomo's large corporations. The idea was for a senior in High School to explore that career path. It's not allowed, at all - due to liability issues. I'll save my comments on that for the next bailout. The Post Industrial period is upon us. How many lament the passing of industry jobs to cheaper labor overseas? We are entering the "Service" economy - much touted for years. It's interesting that at the same time some call this the "post-Christian age" for the US as well. Side affects of the Service economy are vast. It will take much longer hours, much more dedication to work at work and at home for us to maintain anything close to our standard of living. Guess who will be spending even less time together? Yep, our families. It's not like the acclaimed 65% divorce rate in our country isn't painful enough.


There's much more behind this than the intelligentsia of our country would have us believe. This is not another step in the betterment of humankind through evolution. No, something much more sinister is at play.  The Bible tells us all about it. This is one reason, Bible Classes at Center Road are so important.

Seventy percent of our church family doesn't think so.

Bible Classes have at times been a major outreach for our congregation. Other times they have been seen more as a tool to equip our congregation with knowledge of the Scriptures. The equipping describes where I think we are today. We offer classes on Sunday and Wednesday for all ages. However, they are attended by 30% of our congregation. There is much higher value placed on Worship Services.  Many parents today seem to think the Children's Worship hour offered during our Worship is sufficient to equip their children to deal with the fiery darts of temptation Satan will send their way - a very poor assumption.

Why? In Children's Worship, we do have a Bible study and we praise God together. However, the age range is wider than Bible Classes and time is short. The time is focused on praise and general Bible knowledge, but is not intended to be sufficient for equipping our children for life. It was never so intended. In much the same way, adult worship is more a gift to God than a time of robust equipping. We have deferred tough topics to our Bible classes rather than risk offending visitors - which 30% of our congregation attend. Hummm....

I spoke with one of our teachers yesterday who has taught God's word for years. This person has a wealth of information and guidance from God's word. Out of the eight students in our congregation who come at times, zero attended. Things come up to prevent us from attending, but I reviewed the attendance chart. It just isn't a priority to most of our families.

So, what are we equipping ourselves to do? Is it about our trust in God above? Or is it about our trust in our humanity?