Course evaluation results

Thanks to everyone who completed a course evaluation. The results of the 26 surveys returned were:


1. Depth of content covered:
not deep enough <> too deep
1:
2: **
3: ************
4: ********
5: *

2. Breadth of material covered for the course subject matter:
too broad <> too shallow
1:
2: *
3: ******************
4: ***
5:

3. Biblical references:
not enough <> too many
1:
2: **
3: ******************
4: **
5:

4. More guest speakers? Y=6 / N=5
Suggested speakers: Peter Chu, Nolan

5. More time for small group discussions? Y=11 / N=6

6. Will you be in town for the summer? Y=11 / N=2

7. Suggestions for other courses. Check all that apply:
8__ Church history
8__ Baptist distinctives
12_ Different denominations
12_ Theology of worship
17_ Knowing God’s will and our calling
15_ Evangelism and apologetics
11_ Christians in the workplace
4_ Book of the Bible studies. Which one(s)? _Revelations______
7_ Bible character studies. Who? John the Baptist, Hosea, Job
3_ Bible Experience (audio listening to the Bible)
9_ Dating and marriage
3_ Group discussion of a Christian book.
Which one? Mere Christianity
10_ Small group leaders training & community building

8. Suggestions for any other Sunday School topics: Leadership (2), discipleship, how to read the Bible

9. Suggested start time: _2_ 11:00 am; _9_ 11:15 am; _12_ 11:30 am

Christian Beliefs "quiz" answers

In today's class, we took up the quiz distributed at the beginning of the course last fall. I would assert each statement is true, some for "tricky" reasons, other for deep theological reasons. Thanks to those who returned their quiz at the beginning of the course. Attached is a tabulation of those who turned in their quiz.

	T	F
1. Christians believe in creeds.	10	5
2. Theology is the "Queen of Sciences".	6	12
3. Theology is faith seeking understanding.	15	2
4. Faith is a rational act.	8	10
5. “Trinity” is not a biblical term; it is not found in the Bible.	13	6
6. Omnipresence is a subordinate property of God.	11	8
7. We didn't always understand God to be omnipresent.	8	10
8. God is not omnipresent; he is not in hell.	8	10
9. There exists a logically correct proof for the existence of God.	8	10
10. While illogical, the Christological argument for the existence of God wins the most converts.	5	11
11. Creation & reason contribute to our understanding of theology & God and not just scripture.	16	1
12. Sin is not evil.	2	15
13. Jesus went to hell.	11	7
14. Total depravity simply means we can't approach God ourselves.	12	4
15. People are not inherently evil.	8	11
16. The fall is a happy event because it ultimately shows God's grace.	11	4
17. Being moral and living a good life is not enough for God.	14	4
18. Faith alone is insufficient for salvation; God's grace is needed.	14	2
19. Not everyone will go to heaven.	19	0
20. Most Christians were baptized as infants.	4	14
21. There is an unpardonable sin that God will not forgive.	8	10
22. Pascal's Wager correctly applies modern game theory on why someone should accept Christ.	2	12
23. People have gone to heaven without knowing Christ.	12	6
24. Baptist beliefs differ from church to church, even within the BCOQ.	13	3
25. Christians cannot study the Bible alone; they must be in a church.	9	9
26. There are cults that believe in biblical inerrancy.	15	2
27. Biblical inerrancy does not mean that there are no metaphors and hyperbole in the Bible.	10	5
28. The Gospel of Judas is a historical document.	8	8
29. God is the father; church is the mother.	4	14
30. Closed communion means no-one outside the church can participate in communion.	14	5
31. We will see the Pope in heaven.	12	1
32. There is little theological basis for Christmas celebrations.	13	5

Fellowship

We broke into 3 groups for discussions on "fellowship": 1) a theology group; 2) a group that pretended to be a fellowship committee or a small group leader; 3) a group that pretended to be a church board member that was responsible for fellowship in a church.

The theology group was given the following questions to answer: Why fellowship? What is fellowship? Define “Agape”. Define “Koinonia”. What is the relationship between worship & fellowship? What is the relationship between fellowship & evangelism? The group unfortunately didn't get beyond the first two questions. As a large group we discussed agape as a Greek word meaning sacrificial love. It is possibly a Christian invention; rarely and disputably used outside of Christian writings. It is illustrated by 1 John 4:10 and Rom 5:5. Koinonia means community, communion or "joint participation". Jude 3 illustrates this with the Greek word "koine" for "we share" as in "the salvation we share". Rom 15:7 tells us that through the act of fellowship, it can also be an act of worship. 1 John 3:17 helps illustrate social concern which should be part of evangelism.

The second group had many good ideas on what a fellowship or small group does. Common things include bearing each other's burdens (Gal 6:2), encouragement (Heb 10:25a) and hospitality (Heb 13:2, 1 Pet 4:9). Acts 2:42 in NIV is entitled “The Fellowship of the Believers” and adds learning, fellowship, communion and prayer.

The administration of fellowship at the church level includes supporting the various groups in the church through leadership training and other means, identifying needs not being met by existing groups and potentially starting new groups or identifying fellowship opportunities outside of the local church.