Sometime in spring 2009, one of my pastors and I were discussing adult education within the church. We initially came to this church because of our previous congregation did not meet our growing desire for adult education.
Within a few years after our arrival, the adult education hour took a hit as the church added an additional service to accommodate overcrowding – thus we lost the reason why we came. Adult education efforts have since renewed and seemingly growing. Because of that spring conversation, I have leaped into leading the adult education committee – well, I gave committed for one year.
Since seeing the big picture and making connections is one of my strengths, I developed a course-planning model for our committee. Although I recognize that Bible study is an important educational component, it is far from the only.
The planning model consists of four sectors: Biblical Studies, Theological Teaching, Life Applications, and Issues. These areas guide the committee to offer courses across the Christian education spectrum.
Realistically, each sector overlaps with one, two, or three other sectors as illustrated by the Venn diagram. Nonetheless, focusing on these broad sectors allows us to offer a variety of courses to meet the needs of more people, thus something for decision makers at any church to consider in the future.
A Frank Angle 