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Last week marked the last class in Rock Sound for this school year. I had the joy of teaching the second half of our Doctrines course, we call it Doctrines II – but essentially it is all those debatable doctrinal subjects within systematic theology.
This course brought me a huge surprise in that the students threw me a surprise birthday party during one of our breaks. It was very special and I felt completely loved as they showered me with gifts and cards and cake – I’m truly blessed.
Seems each class I’m currently teaching is my favorite, but I must say that I probably experienced more frustration and joy in this 1 class than all the others. We covered the subjects of Angelology, Anthropology, Hamartiology, Soteriology, Ecclesiology, and Eschatology. And we chased enough “theological rabbits” to fill an entire semester of class.
This course was special because you could really see the class begin to “gel.” After our last course they were working together more on a participatory level, but during this course I observed times when students from different backgrounds offered help to one another out of a sense of unity and love.
This course was also a blessing in that we were able to address some of the deep seated errors in theological thinking, covering subjects which ranged from the role of women in the church and being created in the Image of God, to what really happens at the rapture and reality of God’s gracious election.
One of my main goals throughout the course is not to simply share my personal convictions on each of the subjects, but rather to offer the entire range of possibilities and view points, and then invite the students back to the Word to uncover which view is essentially Biblical and which ones are less so.
My favorite moment actually came after our last class as one of our ladies in the course was preaching in a local church as the main speaker in a regional “Women’s Conference.” She had an entire sanctuary full of women who are all leaders in the local churches, and she unashamedly relied on the Word of God to challenge them to embrace a Biblical model for the role of women in church leadership. It was a gutsy message in light of the listening audience, but one which any Bible teacher would be proud of.
I know it will come sooner than I think, but we will be starting back up in September ready to finish strong. It is such a joy to teach and participate in discipleship together with our students – thank you for your prayers.