&     As we get into the Word…

n       We discover the truth about God, ourselves, and the Way to become new people, children of God, peacemakers (Matthew 5:9).

n       We are hearing the voice of our Heavenly Father, building up our faith and trust in His grace and truth found in Jesus Christ.

n       Life gets harder because the Holy Spirit uses problems and hardships to teach us humility to truly trust even when things are difficult.

n       Humbly listening to the Father’s words in the midst of trials, we will receive grace through believing what we read.

&             As the Word gets into us…

n       God teaches us to embrace our brokenness, the same brokenness that Jesus embraced by becoming human and dying on the cross for us. (John 6)

n       He helps us to see the goodness, faithfulness, and power of God to give us confidence and hope to cry out to Him to save us from our sin. (John 8)

n       We enter into an intimate relationship with the One who laid down His life for us. (John 10)

n       We find new life through dying to sin and our old nature. (John 11)

n       We grow in the identity of Jesus, seeing Him as He truly is, the Way, Truth, and Life of God. (John 14)

n       We will become fruitful disciples who are able to bring the life and love of Jesus to the world. (John 15)

 

Key Definitions 

Mission:

q  The Christian Education Ministry (CEM) creates and / or implements age appropriate curriculum to equip and develop disciples of Christ of all ages.

q  The CEM trains disciples of Christ to lead and teach the Word of God in various ways to reach believers of all ages.

q  The CEM reaches out to families to equip parents to be the spiritual leaders of their children.

q  The CEM is available as a resource to any ministry or individual which needs help in creating, developing, and / or implementing Biblical content for their particular ministry or growth.

Values:

q     The entire Bible is divinely inspired; thus the Old and New Testaments are seen as equally important.

q     The entire Bible centers on Jesus Christ; thus we seek to faithfully teach the typologies and prophecies of the Old Testament as referring to Jesus Christ, because they are in fact pointing to Him. Also, teaching of the New Testament must be taught with the understanding that Jesus Christ was indeed a man and yet also fully God. As God, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. It is not possible to over exalt the Lord Jesus.

q     Moreover, the Bible is rightly understood only through the Holy Spirit who lives inside every believer. Only where the Spirit of the Lord is do we find freedom to become like Jesus in our heart and mind, soul and spirit. Without the Holy Spirit, the Bible will be read only as a book and its teachings will have very limited application, not to speak of transformation.

q     Becoming like Jesus is the goal of studying the Bible. This miracle comes only by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone. There is no room for legalism or looking to Bible characters as examples. Every exemplary person, deed, or event only served to point to God’s Son who would suffer and die for our sins on a Roman cross and be raised 3 days after His death. Faith in Jesus is how we receive the Holy Spirit who frees our hearts to love God and obey His commandments. Saving faith produces good works.

q     Teachers of the Bible are key, critical elements to the effectiveness of this ministry. The CEM seeks persons who intentionally, consistently, passionately live out the Gospel both in word and deed. Central to their faith is growth and transformation in love and reconciliation. Relationships are a primary priority.

q     Parents are called to be the spiritual leaders of their children. The CEM is passionate about equipping parents to fulfill God’s call to be all that their children need them to be. Gospel centeredness begins in the home.

q     God’s relationship with His people is a marriage, a marriage made in heaven. As such, earthly marriages are God’s highest priority. His love is the key to making marriages succeed. Godly marriages are key to raising healthy children. The CEM deeply desires to equip husbands and wives to grow in the faith which expresses itself with the love of God. This love is dynamic and seeks to “abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.” Philippians 1:10-11