What Are We Doing Here? (Part 5)

When we started our training with New Tribes Mission a year and a half ago, I started writing some posts about the courses we have been taking. It's been about five months since I wrote anything about our classes, so I thought it was time for me to write an update!

Here are the classes that I already wrote about in previous posts:

In my first post, I wrote about: Biblical Foundations, Evangelism, Bibliology, Pentateuch, Hermeneutics, Acts and the Roman World, and Islam.

In my second post, I wrote about: Old Testament History, Proverbs, The Love of God, Prophets, Psalms, Ezra/Nehemiah/Esther, Intro to NTM, and Theology.

In my third post, I wrote about: Life of Christ, Acts, 1 Corinthians, Partnership Development, Bible Basis of Missions, Discipleship, Spiritual Warfare, Hermeneutics II, Christology, and Anthropology/Harmartiology.

In my fourth post, I wrote about: Romans, Galatians, Missions in Church History, Angelology, Family Relationships, Roman Catholicism, and Perspectives.

Last semester, after we finished the classes that I wrote about in my fourth post, we dove into quite a few more New Testament classes and theology classes. Aaron and I both took:

• 1 & 2 Thessalonians: This class was really insightful. It is different from Paul's other epistles because it contains quite a bit of eschatological (end times) information. Paul's main agenda for writing to the Thessalonians is to urge them to continue persevering on in the faith. He uses our future hope (i.e. end times information) to show them why they should be persevering through trials now. As Christians we certainly do have so much to look forward to in the future! Having an eternal perspective that is based on Scriptural truth about our future in Heaven does make these worldly trials and sorrows more endurable.

• Ephesians: This has always been one of my favorite books of the Bible, and after taking this course, I love it even more. I could write pages just about this class...but I don't have time at the moment. :) Some of the highlights: The first chapter is packed full of amazing facts that are true of us right now as adopted sons and daughters in Jesus Christ. The second chapter explains that we who were once "far off" have been "brought near" through Christ Jesus (some really awesome analogies to adoption there). In chapter four we learned why pastors' and ministers' roles exist--to equip everyone else to be ministers (4:11-12). Wow, just looking back through the book of the Ephesians and the totally hand-written-notes-filled margins around the text made me remember what an awesome class it was. Our teacher in this class sees a high importance of applying hermeneutical principles to the text, so we literally went through every single word and phrase of this book, one at a time.

• 2 Corinthians: Our teacher in this class focused a lot on the Gospel of Grace. I learned a lot more about grace--what it is, what it looks like in my own life, and how to extend it to others--than I ever knew before.

• Hebrews: This class was absolutely awesome (I feel like I keep saying that over and over...but it's so true.) I had probably read the book of Hebrews a few times in my life, but I can safely say that I never understood it. I still can't say I totally understand it, but I am a lot closer now than I was before taking the course. We discussed quite a bit of the context of the book (like we do in all of our classes here) and the Jewish-Christian audience to whom it was written. Once it is clearly seen that the book is indeed written to Christians, the "warning passages" in the book really do make sense. It is a serious thing for a Christian to "stop persevering," and the author of Hebrews addresses this. However, the consequences are not what I would have previously thought...but they do include missing out on the "rest of God" in this life. "Rest" is a huge theme throughout the book, and it was so great learning about it.

Aaron also took a few more classes last semester that I wasn't able to take (but I did listen to them online):

• Pneumatology: This was a class about the Holy Spirit. It was so exciting and completely relevant since we do, in fact, have the Holy Spirit living within us!

• 1 & 2 Peter: Another great epistle, this one written to a Jewish-Christian audience again. Our teacher did a great job of explaining some really difficult passages in these two books.

• Soteriology: This class was the study of salvation. It was amazing. There are quite a few different views of salvation out there (Calvinism, Arminianism, and others), and we learned a lot about them in this class. We were also presented with the set of doctrines that NTM believes about salvation, and I can safely say that Aaron and I agree wholeheartedly with it. I probably won't get into all of that here, though...maybe another post later. It's such a big topic! But I can say that I am even more amazed now at the awesomeness of our salvation and my utter dependence upon the Lord--not only for my salvation, but also for my walk every single day.

After Christmas break, we returned to NTBI for one last semester. (I wish we had 20 more.) We have already taken a few classes:

• James: This was such a practical class, and a really, really convicting one. It was so good. Our teacher for this class is also the pastor of our church here in Michigan, and we have loved sitting under his teaching.

• Jude: The book of Jude is so short, but Jude seriously packed a lot into it! This was a very interesting epistle that I had never studied before.

• Philippians: I think I would sum up this class in a few words: joy, contentment, and humility. The theme of the book (according to our teacher) is "Christ our Life." Such an awesome book (and class).

• Public speaking: Aaron took this class (but I did not). It focused mostly on how to prepare messages about the Word for various audiences (church congregations, youth groups, Sunday school classes, etc.) Aaron learned quite a bit about preparation and also seeing the whole subject of "giving speeches" as actually a way to serve other people and point to Christ.

And finally...right now we are in these classes:

• Eschatology: Aaron is in this class (and I am listening to it). It is a study about the End Times. Needless to say, it is quite interesting!

• Pastoral Epistles: We have an awesome teacher for this class, and he is really bringing alive the epistles to Timothy and Titus. We are seeing the incredible need to preserve The Faith (the whole body of truth that makes up the Gospel of Grace). It is necessary to defend The Faith against heresy, and we have to know when and how to do that. We are also learning a lot about our God-given roles in the home and the church.

• Christian Life: So far, Aaron and I have probably been more excited about this class than any other we have taken so far (except maybe Romans). It is a class that basically shows us as The Church how we should be living and what kind of a process we go through as a Christian (baby Christian, maturing Christian, growth and sanctification, etc.) We see the only perfect example of the Christian Life in the four gospels (Jesus) and then we see the Christian life explained in the epistles. We learn a ton in this class every day. I can hardly keep up with our teacher with all of the notes I am taking.

• Hermeneutics Practicum: Aaron is taking this course, and it basically takes all of the principles that he learned in the class Hermeneutics (the study of how to interpret and apply the scriptures) and then allows him to practice those principles on the book of James.

I'm very impressed if you read this far. :) We cannot begin to say how grateful we are for these two years of being totally immersed in The Word. The Word is the only thing that will sustain us when we are on the mission field (and right now, too!), so to learn not only tons about each book of the Bible, but also to learn how to study and understand the Bible is truly priceless. We would totally encourage anybody--no matter how old you are, single or married, interested in missions or not--to come here. We'd love to talk to you if you would possibly be interested. 

Thanks for reading!