This week we learn the story of God’s good work in the world: the gospel. Christianity isn’t just a belief system, a moral code, or a set of cultural traditions; it’s a story about God’s love for us with Jesus as the center.

Jesus’ story can be our story too. In this session, we consider how we’re responding to the gospel with our lives. Each of the following weeks address ways we become participants in God’s story.

This week we discover the basic practices of followers of Jesus—baptism and communion—and learn about what Christians call “spiritual formation” or “discipleship.”

Followers of Jesus spend time cultivating a biblical mind, so we can begin to see everything the way God does. This session aims to give us a basic overview of what the bible is and how we can spend 10 minutes a day engaging the bible profitably.

During this session, we consider the invitation to a life of attention, of presence to God. We explore how to pray simply and build a habit of being with God.

Everything is spiritual. This session looks at the ways we begin to shift our affection and attention from “me” to “God,” particularly with our time and resources, so that the whole of our lives, not just compartments, are yielded to His story for the good of others.

“Life together” isn’t just some church-y motto. It’s the design-plan for the whole Christian movement. Our time this week helps us see that belonging to Jesus means belonging to His church. Not just theologically or spiritually– real people, real messiness, real life.

Each of us has one precious life to live, one story God is writing to tell the world of His love. He’s sent us into our homes, workplaces, schools, neighborhoods, and the world as His representatives to live and tell that story. This session is all about moving the church toward the city, moving our lives toward others, and moving heaven toward earth.

We’d love to see everyone in our church go through Essentials! It’s a great way to get us all on the same page about our life together. That said, this is an onramp, a gateway into everything else we do as a church as part of our discipleship pathway. Thus, this class would be especially beneficial to people considering Christianity, looking to formally join the church or just make some friends here, get started on a more intentional and guided spiritual formation journey, and have a basic grounding in the Christian life before moving on to serve teams, groups, classes, and other things. Everyone is welcome, come as you are, no prerequisites necessary. Anyone 14 and over may register.

This class is recommended as a first step in the discipleship pathway. You do not have to take Essentials in order to be baptized or become a member, but if you’re considering those steps, this would be a great place to discern! If you’ve recently been baptized or become a member, we’d also highly recommend you take Essentials before moving into other environments like Institute.

Nope! This class is absolutely free. Since this is a first step, we don’t want anything to prohibit someone from being part of Essentials.

You can peruse the sessions above for a look at what this class covers. This class isn’t heavy on essential doctrine (though doctrine matters!). For most of us learning how to be a Christian is primary, and learning how to articulate Christianity comes later. This certainly seems to be the case for Jesus’ first 12 disciples! Practicing precedes theology. Christianity involves a way of being in the world, and we will always profess and practice more than we can explain. So don’t worry if you don’t know much, this is the perfect place to begin.

Yes! Our amazing team of early childhood and kids ministry volunteers are happy to provide your child a safe and engaging experience of their own to worship and learn.

early childhood

elementary

Unlike Institute, Essentials has no mandatory readings or other out-of-class assignments. You will be encouraged to participate in some minimal out-of-class experiences, like praying, reading the bible, and writing out your own spiritual journey story.

Essentials is offered every fall and spring, and in the summer if there’s enough interest.