Regular "lab reports" are due in MCS throughout the semester. Those lab reports must be based on your participation the previous week or weeks (depending on how often the reports are submitted) in the life of a local church.
Writing something about your attendance at an SNU chapel or a dorm Bible study will not fulfill the objectives of this assignment. This assignment must reflect your current attendance in an activity of a multi-generational community of faith.Starter questions
You need not answer any (and certainly not all) of these
- What triggered some ecclesiological reflections (thoughts about what the church is supposed to be and do)?
- This week, how did you sense God's purposes for His Church being fulfilled in a local congregation?
- In what ways did you feel God's presence?
- What is the "glue" that holds this church together?
- What is this church doing that proclaims it to be a community that lifts up Jesus Christ as Lord?
- What evidences are there that this is a covenant people of God made new in Christ?
- In what ways is this church building community?
- How is this church making listening to a sermon or taking an offering or singing a song into acts of worship?
- How is that congregation ministering in Jesus name?
- In what specific ways was this congregation's obedience to Christ highlighted this week?
- What are the evidences you see of mutual accountability?
- Did you see some unexpected avenues of ministry open up?
- Did you find yourself reflecting on specific things we have covered in the textbooks or in the classroom?
- What person's ministry did you most appreciate this week?
- If you had to compose a prayer of thanks to God for this church experience, what items would be on the list?
- Ask yourself: "What kind of a Christian will I be after attending this church for 10 years?"
Churches, Ed Robinson has said, are faith communities that are shaped and formed over time. They wind up with:
As you write your lab report, think about how the congregation you are reporting on reflects Ed Robinson's list of characteristics.
- A shared language
- A common history / story
- Shared experiences
- Shared values
- Common aspirations
"As a follower of Jesus, I can't be all I ought to be without the church, and the church can't be all it ought to be without me." -- Travis Collins, pastor in Richmond, Virginia
 | What position should believers take vis-a-vis the culture in which they live? [ read more ] |
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Howard Culbertson, Southern Nazarene University, 6729 NW 39th, Bethany, OK 73008 | Phone: 405-491-6693 - Fax: 491-6658
Copyright © 2000, 2001 - Last Updated: June 2, 2008 | URL: http://home.snu.edu/~hculbert/lab.htm
