The Adult Institute at Christ Church

John Calvin opens his Institutes of the Christian Religion with the simple yet profound observation that without knowledge of the self there is no knowledge of God and without knowledge of God there is no knowledge of self. The study of theology, on whatever level, involves one immediately in the relationship between God and mankind. That is to say, it is not possible to make learning about God learning about some distant object. Rather, learning about God is being in relationship with him. This is the foundation of theological study in the Reformed tradition and the foundation of the educational programs at Christ Church.

Many passages of Scripture speak to the matter of education -- what it is to accomplish. Some passages focus on the results to be accomplished in the individual (maturity, integrity, wisdom, righteousness, etc.). Other passages focus on the ways the community is to be transformed (unity, mutual respect, service to others, sacrificial living, etc.). In Ephesians 4:11-13 the Apostle Paul summarizes the outcomes that one can expect when the gifts of the preaching, teaching, and pastoral ministries are manifest in the church -- the members attain spiritual maturity and become equipped themselves for works of ministry just as they were ministered to by others.

Christ Church attempts to carry out the mandate that Scripture puts before the whole church to be building itself up for the sake of its individual members to grow in maturity, and for the sake of the whole church, for it to be fashioned into a functioning body. This growth comes through the preaching and teaching ministries of the church and draws upon many of the members whose gifts and maturity in the faith equip them for a teaching ministry in the church.

This teaching works, in part, through a formal curriculum. It also works through the preaching and pastoral ministry and through the exercise of gifts that occur in small groups and in personal relationships. The curriculum of the Adult Institute can only help to provide a framework for spiritual growth and development, it is not the whole of the educational ministry, but only a formative part.

At the heart of any church's formal curriculum is the study of Scripture. For those who have no knowledge of it at all, it is necessary to become acquainted with a bit of its history, how it was formed, who comprises its contributors and main characters, and how it is to be interpreted and used in the life of the church and the lives of Christians today.

In an interesting and unexpected way, learning the Bible becomes learning about Jesus Christ because the purpose of the Bible is to reveal Jesus in the full context of God's creative purposes and redemptive plan. So a curriculum based upon Scripture will necessarily be a curriculum focused on discovering the meaning of Jesus Christ as the living Word of God.

While one thrust of the curriculum starts with Scripture and follows it through its own trajectories as it addresses many issues of knowledge of God and the self, another thrust of the curriculum is to start with problems, questions, or observations about God, the self, or the world and move toward Scripture to put such questions into some relationship with the Word of God. Both ways are instructive and each manages to provide something that the other cannot.

A curriculum has to serve the needs of all members and, therefore, has to address different levels of maturity. It can be seen as having two building functions: first laying a foundation, and second, building a superstructure. The foundation is more or less the same for all the members. The superstructure can vary according to many needs and factors in individual lives.

The Foundation

The foundation is laid with a knowledge of who God is and what he has done in Christ. This is much more than a simple formula for salvation, it is the beginning of a wide and deep exploration of the whole scope of God's intention in the creation and his plan to reclaim it in redemption. All of this is what the Bible is about -- so the Bible must necessarily be the focus of foundation building. To learn about the Bible in this context is to become aware of its structure and flow, its main purpose and organizing themes, its story and characters. The goal is to understand the whole message, but to also focus on the particular parts, which together constitute the whole message.

A second function of Bible learning in this context is learning how to be able to understand it for oneself. Much of the ability to read it for oneself comes from learning how it is organized and what it is intending to do. On this foundation of the knowledge of God and his Christ the remainder of the curriculum rests.

The Superstructure

The superstructure builds on Scripture's revelation of Jesus to help form individual lives and communities (churches) that live and function well in the world as we know it. It is the purpose of this segment of the curriculum to bring the experience of the world and the expression of Scripture into a conversation. The dichotomy between theoretical and practical does not apply here because building the superstructure is neither completely one or the other. It is a weaving together of knowledge received cognitively with experience received existentially. In building a superstructure theology becomes eminently practical and experience becomes the stuff of theology.

At Christ Church the Foundations course comprise one of four tracks in the adult curriculum. The other three tracks are these:

• Christian Perspectives
• Ministry
• Life Issues

In the scheme of the adult curriculum, each track focuses on an important aspect of Christian belief, understanding, action, and way of living. The Foundations track introduces one to Scripture, the church, and the way of Christian discipleship. These three foundation stones necessary support the three tracks in the superstructure. In a rough way (but not to be overemphasized), the study of Scripture in the foundations track leads one invariably to Christian perspectives on a multitude of matters concerning Christians, the study of the church leads to ministry, and the study of discipleship leads to a deeper consideration of life issues. The relationship looks something like this:

Foundation (Track 1)			Superstructure
Salvation and the Church (what the church is and is called to do)			Christian Perspectives (a range of topics treated from the Scripture) Track 2
Scripture (themes, overview, structure, the story)			Ministry (explicit teaching about ministry and equipping for specific ministries) Track 3
Discipleship (its main themes and basic character)			Life Issues (extending the biblical concerns of discipleship to many prominent life issues) Track 4

By working from this curriculum, the Adult Institute at Christ Church is able to bring every adult, young and old, new Christian and mature, into the flow of the curriculum and help each person to continue to grow in understanding and be equipped for ministry.