Learning Community Archive – New Song Community Church

To browse previous Learning Community sessions and view notes from previous sessions, click the links to jump to the archive.

Pentecosted
Walk as Jesus Walked: Being a Disciple in a Broken World (By Ray Vander Laan)
The Apostles’ Creed
The Treasure Principle: Unlocking the Secret of Joyful Giving (Randy Alcorn)
Learning to Love Like Jesus (Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand)
How to Study the Bible (Dr. Cliff Sanders)
S.H.A.P.E. Training
Our Utmost for His Highest (By Oswald Chambers)
Experiencing God (By Henry, Richard, and Mike Blackaby and Claude V. King)
Cultures in Conflict (By Ray Vander Laan)
Supernatural (By Michael Heiser)
The True Christmas Story (By Ray Vander Laan)
A Clash of Kingdoms (By Ray Vander Laan)
American Gospel (Various contributors)

Pentecosted

PENTECOSTED is being filled with the Spirit – exchanges authority, ownership, power, purpose and more. Transformation shifts our souls from a sinful bent to a Spirit bent; from desire to please self to desire to please God. It does not remove temptations or the ability to disobey but it gives us the spiritual sight to see God’s direction and the resources to obey. Spirit filling has a start and then repeated refillings.

Walk As Jesus Walked: Being a Disciple in a Broken World (By Ray Vander Laan)

Becoming a disciple of Jesus demands more than merely a deep commitment to the text and complete devotion to Christian community. The Messiah is King, and believers are called to pick up their crosses in daily pursuit after becoming like Him. Come rediscover the fierce passion of the apostle Paul and our early Christian brothers and sisters as the rabbi leads you through cities such as Aphrodisias, Antioch Pisidia, Lystra, and Cappadocia in ancient Asia Minor.

In the seventh volume of the series That The World May Know, take a tour through the land of the Bible—visiting places such as Aphrodisias, Antioch Pisidia, Lystra, and Cappadocia—and understand the Bible’s fascinating historical, cultural, religious, and geographical contexts in whole new way.

Study Materials:

Session 1 (PDF)
Session 2 (PDF)
Session 3 (PDF)
Session 4 (PDF)
Session 5 (PDF)

The Apostles’ Creed

“I believe in God, the Father Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord; Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the spirits in hell. The third day he arose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, whence he shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy universal Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.”

The Treasure Principle: Unlocking the Secret of Joyful Giving (Randy Alcorn)

Author and pastor Randy Alcorn writes about putting our wealth and resources (which are really God’s) to good use on earth in ways to make an eternal impact in Heaven. The book includes a six-step plan to giving more generously and includes passages from scripture.

Writes Alcorn: “God owns everything. I’m His money manager. What I call my money is really His. The question is, what does He want me to do with His money?”

Alcorn believes that there is a higher motivation for giving generously than guilt and that it will infuse people’s lives with joy.

Study Materials

Week 1 (PDF)
Week 2 (PDF)
Week 3 (PDF)

Learning to Love Like Jesus

This study is about learning to more fully follow Christ in our circumstances, imitating the
Wurmbrands as they imitated Christ. During World War II, Richard and Sabina evangelized the occupying German forces, preached in bomb shelters, caves and to congregations hidden deep within Romanian forests. They rescued scores of Jewish children from ghettos in which the Nazi’s forced Jews to live. For these activities they were arrested repeatedly. Many trials and tribulations ensured. The experience only matter he and his wife’s faith stronger

Learning Community Materials

How to Study the Bible

In this Learning Community series, we take a deep dive into how to read and understand the Bible in order to strengthen Bible study in our lives. Topics will include the Bible’s structure, nature, and historical contexts; reading strategies to apply toward the Bible; and critical questions for application in our lives.

Lessons will draw from the teachings of Dr. Cliff Sanders from the School of Wesleyan Studies.

Learning Community Materials:

Background Materials: Here is a link to weekly study videos and more

“How to Study the Bible” – Dr. Cliff Sanders, The School of Wesleyan Studies

S.H.A.P.E. Training

S.H.A.P.E. (Spiritual Gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality, Experiences) Training is to lead us to discover how God has created and prepared each of us to function as the Body of Christ together so that we can “be the church on mission,” accomplishing God’s assignments.

Join the Learning Community sessions to learn about your S.H.A.P.E. profile and the role you can play moving forward.

Study Group Notes

Intro to S.H.A.P.E Training handout (PDF)
S.H.A.P.E. Booklet (PDF)
S.H.A.P.E. Assessment Tools (PDF)
Week 4 Teaching on Conflict (PDF)

Our Utmost for His Highest

Our Utmost for His Highest (By Oswald Chambers)

Designed to move you to think more deeply about your relationship with God, this book is a daily devotional that has inspired readers for more than 80 years. Oswald Chambers was a teacher and preacher whose messages cut to the heart of the gospel.

This daily devotional has inspired countless people to drink deeply from the biblical truths that Chambers so passionately championed.

Study Group Notes

Kick-off Meeting (PDF)

Experiencing God

Experiencing God (By Henry, Richard, and Mike Blackaby and Claude V. King)

Over the years, God has used the truths of Experiencing God to awaken believers to a radically God-centered way of life. As a result, millions have come to know God intimately, to recognize His voice, and to understand His will for their lives.

God is inviting you into an intimate love relationship through which He reveals to you His will, His ways, and His work. When you recognize where God is working, you can join Him in what He is doing. Carefully listening to His voice will anchor you in His plan and set you free to live it with boldness and freedom. Then you will experience God doing through you what only He can do.

Cultures in Conflict

Cultures in Conflict (By Ray Vander Laan)

How do you live in a culture where the worldview conflicts with Christianity? Learn from Paul as he presents his beliefs to the most powerful court in Athens and settles among the Greco-Romans of Corinth, who valued wealth and class, worship of multiple gods, and decadent pleasure seeking above all else.

In this sixteenth volume of That The World May Know^®, discover how to live in your own Athens or Corinth—an increasingly secular Western world—in a way that glorifies God. Experience the Bible in historical context as you walk in the footsteps of the second missionary tour of the Apostle Paul in Greece.

Study Group Notes

Cultures in Conflict – Week 1 (PDF)
Cultures in Conflict – Week 2 (PDF)
Cultures in Conflict – Week 3 (PDF)
Cultures in Conflict – Week 4 Part One (PDF)
Cultures in Conflict – Week 4 Part Two (PDF)
Cultures in Conflict – Week 5 (PDF)
Cultures in Conflict – Week 6 Wrap-Up (PDF)

Supernatural

Supernatural: What the Bible Teaches About the Unseen World – and Why It Matters (Michael Heiser)

Who were the “sons of God”? Who were the Nephilim? Where do angels fit into the supernatural hierarchy? Why did God find it necessary to have the Israelites destroy the populations of entire cities-man, woman, and child? What relation does Jesus bear to the rest of the supernatural world? Dr. Michael S. Heiser tackles these questions and many more in this book.

The True Christmas Story

The True Christmas Story (By Ray Vander Laan)

The True Christmas Story – Part 1
The True Christmas Story – Part 2

A Clash of Kingdoms

A Clash of Kingdoms (By Ray Vander Laan)

A Clash of Kingdoms – Session 1
A Clash of Kingdoms – Session 2
A Clash of Kingdoms – Session 3
A Clash of Kingdoms – Session 4
A Clash of Kingdoms – Session 5

American Gospel

American Gospel (By Various Contributors)

American Gospel Chapter 1
American Gospel Chapter 2
American Gospel Chapter 3
American Gospel Chapter 4
American Gospel Chapter 5
American Gospel Chapter 6 and 7
American Gospel Chapter 8
American Gospel Review Chapters 1-7
American Gospel Chapter 9
American Gospel Chapter 10