Bible Info Class

BIBLE INFORMATION CLASS: Resources & Links

Pastor Johnold J. Strey
Gloria Dei Evangelical Lutheran Church

This page is provided as a place where participants in Pastor Strey’s Bible Information Class (BIC) at Gloria Dei can find links to videos, books, and other resources that supplement each lesson in the Bible Information Class.  Bible Information Class is offered one or two times each year, as interest warrants.  BIC is typically held one evening a week for ten weeks; we meet for 2 to 2 1/2 hours each night so that we can cover two lessons each night and complete the course in ten weeks (rather than meeting one hour an evening for twenty weeks).

Our Bible Information Class serves three main audiences:

  • Parents of school children in Gloria Dei Lutheran School can learn what their children are taught in our school’s religious curriculum.  We ask that school parents attend at least the first week of the class at some point during their child(ren)’s enrollment.
  • Church members can review the basic teachings of the Lutheran Church, the same teachings many Lutheran church members were first taught in youth Catechism class, but presented at an adult level.
  • Interested individuals can learn, without further obligation, what we believe at teach at Gloria Dei.  This course is the basic requirement for membership at Gloria Dei, but becoming a member is not required if someone takes the course.

The curriculum used for our BIC is called Grace upon Grace.  This course covers the basic teachings of Scripture as confessed in the Lutheran Church, and its contents are comparable to any of the adult doctrine classes used in Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) churches.  Even though other curricula are available, Pastor Strey developed this course for these primary reasons:

  1. to teach Christian doctrine by aquainting people with larger sections of Scripture (rather than using only an assortment of “proof passages”),
  2. to incorporate educational methods geared more toward the way that adults learn, and
  3. to connect the teachings of the Bible with the church’s worship life so that people understand why we do what we do in worship.

The entire Grace upon Grace curriculum has not been placed here, but four of the lessons (1, 2, 10, 20) are available among the links below as samples of what the curriculum is like.  Please contact Pastor Strey directly if you would like an electronic file of the entire curriculum.

Videos from the WELS Streams media website that connect to each lesson are listed first in each group of links.  These videos are from a WELS-produced, video-based Bible Information Class called Communicating Christ Today.  The order of the lessons in Communicating Christ Today is not the same as the order in Grace upon Grace, so be aware that the video links below do not reflect the sequence in the Communicating Christ Today curriculum.  There are videos that correspond with lessons 1-16; no corresponding videos are available for lessons 17-20.  (Be forewarned that the Communicating Christ Today videos are pretty “cheesy” at times!)

Books, essays, audio files, and other video files are listed after the Communicating Christ Today videos for each lesson.  These resources provide additional information that augments each lesson.  Books marked with an asterisk (*) are a part of the “People’s Bible Teachings” series from Northwestern Publishing House (NPH), the official publisher for the WELS.  Many of the other listed books are also published by NPH.  Watching the videos or reading the additional material are not requirements of the class, but participants who would like to explore a particular subject further will find useful resources here.

Note: The WELS website was recently updated.  As a result, most links to the WELS website on this blog may not be operational.  Links on this site will eventually be updated.

LESSON 1: God’s Grace-Plan  (Study Guide)

Subjects Studied: Law and Gospel

LESSON 2: Our God of Grace  (Study Guide)

Subjects Studied: Triune God, God’s Characteristics

LESSON 3: God’s Creating Power

Subjects Studied: Creation

LESSON 4: Our Need for Grace

Subjects Studied: Sin and Its Effects

LESSON 5: The Man of Grace

Subjects Studied: Old Testament Historical Overview, The Person of Jesus Christ

LESSON 6: God’s Grace in Jesus’ Humiliation

Subjects Studied: The Life of Jesus from Birth to Crucifixion

LESSON 7: God’s Grace in Jesus’ Exaltation

Subjects Studied: The Life of Jesus from Resurrection Forward

LESSON 8: The Holy Spirit Administers Grace

Subjects Studied: Holy Spirit, Pentecost, Faith

LESSON 9: God’s Gracious Word

Subjects Studied: Bible, Biblical Interpretation

Note: The last link under lesson nine is a presentation with Gary Habermas, who gives an excellent defense of the New Testament’s transmission and accuracy.  Near the end of the presentation (about 51:15), Habermas seems to imply that some teachings in the Bible (especially those not related to Christ and salvation) may be less significant or important.  This view runs counter to the view promoted in Scripture, this course, and in the Confessional Lutheran Church that all of Scripture’s teachings are equally important because they are all inspired by God.  No teaching(s) should be viewed as negotiable or less significant simply because they are not connected directly to Christ and salvation.  Please keep this caveat in mind while watching or listening to the last link above.  But the vast majority of the presentation, which focuses on the defense of the New Testament, is excellent and extremely helpful.

LESSON 10: Eternal Grace  (Study Guide)

Subjects Studied: End of the World, Heaven & Hell

Note: The last two links under lesson ten, which are two different but very similar presentations by Gary Habermas, are not directly connected to this lesson.  Participants in past Bible Information Classes have asked about and discussed the matter of the soul’s existence apart from the body during lesson ten.  The last two links above are provided to offer information related to that particular discussion.

LESSON 11: God’s Grace in Holy Baptism

Subjects Studied: Baptism

LESSON 12: God’s Grace in Holy Communion

Subjects Studied: The Lord’s Supper

LESSON 13: Announcing and Applying Grace

Subjects Studied: Absolution

LESSON 14: Administering Grace

Subjects Studied: Church, Fellowship, Ministry

LESSON 15: Living in Grace

Subjects Studied: Commandments, Sanctification, Prayer

LESSON 16: The Christian in the Home

Subjects Studied: Marriage and Family

LESSON 17: The Christian in the World

Subjects Studied: Government

LESSON 18: Receiving God’s Grace

Subjects Studied: Worship

LESSON 19: Responding to God’s Grace

Subjects Studied: Stewardship

LESSON 20: God’s Grace Gives Freedom  (Study Guide)

Subjects Studied: Christian Freedom

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