Bible Info Class

BIBLE INFORMATION CLASS: Resources & Links

Pastor Johnold J. Strey
St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church

This page is provided as a place where participants in Pastor Strey’s Bible Information Class (BIC) at St. Mark’s can find links to videos, books, and other resources that supplement each lesson in the Bible Information Class.  Bible Information Class is typically offered three times each year.  The material on this page represents the curriculum used by Pastor Strey; the other pastors at St. Mark’s use different materials (with similar teaching content).

Who is Bible Information Class intended for?

Our Bible Information Class serves three main audiences:

  • Interested individuals can learn, without further obligation, what we believe at teach at St. Mark’s.  This course is the basic requirement for church membership and participation in Holy Communion, but becoming a member is not required if someone takes the course.
  • Parents of school children at St. Mark’s Lutheran School can learn what their children are taught in our school’s religious curriculum.  Parents who are not members of St. Mark’s church are required to attend the first two BIC lessons, along with an informational presentation about St. Mark’s Church and School (normally held the week before Bible Informaiton Class begins).  These three sessions combined form St. Mark’s “Partners in Christian Education” class.
  • Church members can review the basic teachings of the Lutheran Church, the same teachings that many church members first learned in youth Catechism class, but presented at an adult level.

What is taught in Bible Information Class?

The curriculum that Pastor Strey uses for 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.

Grace upon Grace is being revised for the winter-spring 2012 session of the class.  For that reason, there will be some “construction” on this page during the first half of 2012.  If you would like an electronic copy of the revised curriculum once it is completed, please contact Pastor Strey directly.

What resources for Bible Information Class are found here?

Videos from the WELS Streams media website that correspond 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 please note that the video links below do not reflect the actual 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 some of the Communicating Christ Today videos can be a bit tacky 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 published by Northwestern Publishing House (NPH), the official publisher for the WELS; books marked with a double asterisk (**) are from the “People’s Bible Teachings” series by NPH and will be especially helpful as further reading material.

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.  The links and resources below do not necessarily represent a complete endorsement of their contents, especially for sources outside of the WELS and NPH; they are provided simply because they contain helpful information and education on the subjects studied during that lesson.

RESOURCES & LINKS FOR EACH LESSON

LESSON 1: God’s Gracious Word

Subjects Studied: Bible, Natural and Revealed Knowledge of God

Note: The last link above 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 the Bible that all of Scripture’s teachings are equally important because they are all inspired by God.  No teaching in the Bible is negotiable or less significant even if it does not appear to be directly connected to Christ and salvation.  Please keep this in mind while watching or listening to the last link above.  However, the vast majority of the presentation, which focuses on the defense of the New Testament, is excellent and extremely helpful.

LESSON 2: God’s Grace-Plan

Subjects Studied: Law and Gospel

LESSON 3: Our God of Grace

Subjects Studied: Triune God, God’s Characteristics

LESSON 4: God’s Creating Power

Subjects Studied: Creation

LESSON 5: Our Need for Grace

Subjects Studied: Sin and Its Effects

LESSON 6: The Man of Grace

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

LESSON 7: God’s Grace in Jesus’ Humiliation

Subjects Studied: The Life of Jesus from Birth to Crucifixion

LESSON 8: God’s Grace in Jesus’ Exaltation

Subjects Studied: The Life of Jesus from Resurrection Forward

LESSON 9: The Holy Spirit Administers Grace

Subjects Studied: Holy Spirit, Pentecost, Faith

LESSON 10: Eternal Grace

Subjects Studied: End of the World, Heaven & Hell

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 Administering Grace

Subjects Studied: Absolution, Ministry

LESSON 14: Gatherings of Grace

Subjects Studied: Church, Fellowship

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: Responding to God’s Grace

Subjects Studied: Stewardship

LESSON 19: Receiving God’s Grace

Subjects Studied: Worship

LESSON 20: Freedom through God’s Grace

Subjects Studied: Christian Freedom

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