Have you chosen your small-group study for the Fall? The Media Center has six new DVD studies to recommend for your consideration. They include studies by well-known United Methodist pastors, the first in a new series on contemporary issues, a brand new DVD component for the Adult Bible Studies series, and we finally have the often-requested Living the Questions 2.0. Read below for more information on these studies, additional places to get study ideas, and how to request these resources.
Scripture and the Wesleyan Way
Bishop Scott Jones and his son, Rev. Arthur Jones, once again team up to explore the Wesleyan way of Christianity. In this study, Scripture and the Wesleyan Way: A Bible Study on Real Christianity, the Jones’s turn their attention to the Bible. Each session includes a key scripture text and one of John Wesley’s sermons on that text. The study attempts to answer major questions of faith such as salvation, sin, money, and what it means to be a real Christian. If you prefer, you may want to start with this duo’s first study together, The Wesleyan Way: A Faith That Matters, but it is not a prerequisite for this new course. This new study is 8 sessions, and the videos are 10-12 minutes in length.
God’s Messy Family
This study is the third in The Connected Life series by United Methodist pastor Jacob Armstrong. God’s Messy Family: Finding Your Place When Life Isn’t Perfect looks at the messy family of Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, and Esau. Armstrong declares that a perfect family is not required to be a part of God’s plan for the world. The other studies in this series are Renovate: Building a Life with God and A New Playlist: Hearing Jesus in a Noisy World, but the series does not need to be completed in order. Each study in this series is 6 sessions, and the videos are 9-13 minutes in length.
A New Reformation
Did you wonder what all that stuff was about the 500th anniversary of the Reformation last year? In A New Reformation: From Luther’s World to Ours, United Methodist pastor Rob Fuquay will guide you through what happened during the Reformation and explain the significance of Martin Luther to the church today. What can we learn about what it takes to reform the church? This study is 6 sessions with videos of 6-9 minutes in length. The videos are filmed on location at key sites of the Reformation in Europe.
Dialogues On the Refugee Crisis
This 8-week study is the first installment in the new Dialogues On series by Sparkhouse publishers. The curriculum is designed to facilitate healthy discussion in your small group about controversial topics. The book and DVD include stories from those who are experienced with the issue. The videos are 7-8 minutes in length.
Adult Bible Studies – Now with DVD!
Does your Sunday School class use the Adult Bible Studies quarterly magazine published by Cokesbury? This treasured publication now includes a DVD component for the first time! Not sure if you want to add the DVD videos to your study? Borrow it from the Media Center and give it a try. You just might help those folks in your group that didn’t quite get the reading done. The DVD includes 13 five-minute videos by three hosts, one for each lesson.
Living the Questions 2.0
The Media Center has received several requests for this study in the past, but it has been cost-prohibitive, until now! Now you can borrow this expensive curriculum for use in your church along with all of the reproducible leader and study materials. The Living the Questions series is the creation of two United Methodist pastors, but the videos feature a ton of Christian leaders including Marcus Borg, Brian McLaren, Walter Brueggemann, Diana Butler Bass, Minerva Carcaño, Amy-Jill Levine, Tex Sample, and lots more. There are 21 video sessions of 20 minutes each. The sessions offer a progressive understanding of major topics of faith including the bible, theology, Jesus, creation, evil, prayer, compassion, and more.
Additional Resources
Need more curriculum ideas for your Fall studies? Check out our new resource page For Small Group Leaders.
Request These Resources
These resources can be borrowed by anyone associated with the North Carolina Conference of The United Methodist Church, free of charge. We can even mail them to you! All you need to do is fill out the Resource Request Form.