More from The Christian Chronicle
May 26, 2021
“Hi, my name is Tyler, and I’m an alcoholic.”
That’s not what I expected to hear in Sunday morning Bible class.
I thought we were doing 1 Corinthians this quarter.
One of our elders, Steve Brookman, had changed the class format to a one-on-one discussion with Tyler. I was surprised to see Steve taking such a public role. His mother, a beloved member of our congregation, had passed away just two days before.
But today was important. Tyler was right on the cusp of a milestone — a solid year of sobriety. And he had agreed to share his journey with us.
May 26, 2021
As disruptive as the pandemic has been for churches, it also has served as a “reset button,” said Josh Diggs, teaching minister for the Clear Creek Church of Christ in the Chattanooga suburb of Hixon, Tenn. “It’s been an interesting laboratory to figure out what we’re doing.”
​
Reevaluation is overdue, Justin Gerhart said. He’s been in meetings with church leaders and asked what they think the purpose and goal of adult Bible classes should be, only to hear vague and conflicting answers. For too many churches, the reason Bible class is done the way it’s done — or why it’s done at all — seems to be “we did it last week.”
May 22, 2021​
Pakistan, home to 216 million souls, hadn’t at press time experienced the wave of infections and deaths besetting its eastern neighbor, India.
​
But cases of COVID-19 are on the rise in the Islamic republic, and the virus has claimed a prominent minister among Pakistan’s Churches of Christ.