Reflections On Our Summer Institute Of Disciple-Makers Classes

As a young person growing up on the Southeast shoreline of Connecticut, one of my fond memories was going to my Dad’s favorite restaurant, the Nautilus. The inside of the restaurant was designed to resemble the inside of a captain’s ship. The main attraction, however, was the endless line of seafood smorgasbord dishes. Imagine… all you can eat shrimp, crab, scallops, clams, oysters and lobster dishes cooked to seafood heaven perfection… and all for about $5 per person!

My delightful excursions to the Nautilus had some resemblance to our just completed “Summer Smorgasbord” of classes during the 9:00 teaching hour at New Covenant. For 12 weeks, we were treated to a variety of chefs… whoops… I mean teachers. Blake Glosson, Dan Huff, Joe Kulesza, Patrick Havens and I took turns serving up some of our favorite teaching lessons from past classes. It was a true joy to experience their gospel inspired passion and enthusiasm along with the totally different teaching styles that each one brought to our “Making Disciples” table.

One of the teaching themes woven into many of those classes was the neglected art of the Spiritual Disciplines. We learned that although our Lord has secured our salvation exclusively by His redemptive work as represented by His perfect life, death on the cross, and glorious resurrection from the dead; we also have a cooperative part to play in His sanctification work toward us. These Spiritual Disciplines such as daily devotions, worship, Scripture memorization, journaling, and the pursuit of personal holiness to name a few, are grace filled tools the Spirit of God uses in shaping our conformity to Jesus Christ.

Besides this main course of teaching topics, we also, in God’s kind providence, were able to enjoy a true Eastern European dessert as represented in the Ukraine Youth Trip highlights class. What a joy to partake as a church community in the numerous gospel centered testimonies provided by our young adults and leaders as well as to hear of the numerous works of the Spirit in their midst!

We hope you will join us this fall for our Institute of Disciple-Makers adult course studies to be provided during both service hours beginning September 11. More detailed information coming soon.