Do the Right Thing – Why Christian Ethics Matter

Offered on Tuesdays at Cooper Road Campus: This course will teach you what the whole Bible teaches about which acts, attitudes, and personal character traits will receive God’s approval and which ones do not. Christian ethics teaches us how to live. It is important to study Christian ethics so that we can know God’s will better, and so that each day we can “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him” (Colossians 1:10). 

God delights in His own moral character, which is supremely good, unchanging, and eternal. His moral standards for human beings flow from his moral character, and therefore they apply to all people in all cultures for all of history. 

One of the purposes of the Bible is to teach us how to live a life that is pleasing to God. Because it is the Word of God, the Bible is a higher authority in ethics than tradition, reason, experience, expected results, or subjective perceptions of guidance. While these other factors can never override the teaching of Scripture, they can still be helpful for us in making a wise decision.  

“… God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.”  

Acts 10:38 (NKJV) 

The Disciplines of Discipleship

Offered on Tuesdays at Main Campus: Whether young or old, most people do not like the idea of “discipline”. People have reached an age where everyone wants to do what they want to do, with little or no accountability. But developing spiritual disciplines requires, well, discipline. This course is designed to help believers know and apply the essential habits of living Christ-like daily.  

The course will divide the disciplines into three movements of the Spirit, and students will learn how each of these areas contribute to a balanced spiritual life. The inward disciplines of meditation, prayer, fasting, and study offer avenues of personal examination and change. The outward disciplines of simplicity, solitude, submission, and service will help prepare them to make the world a better place. The corporate disciplines of confession, worship, guidance, and celebration will bring them nearer to one another and to God. 

“Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.  

For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”  

1 Timothy 4:7 – 9 (NIV) 

inductive bible study

Offered on Thursdays at Fishers: This course will teach you a practical, relevant, and time-tested approach to interpreting Scripture. It incorporates insights from contemporary evangelical hermeneutics into an approachable, step-by-step process moving from observation through interpretation and on to the application of God’s Word. Each step is viewed through the lenses of the hermeneutical triad, exploring the historical, literary, and theological elements that impact how one observes, interprets, and applies the Bible. The course will guide you as you explore a broad representation of biblical texts as it illustrates the steps of inductive methodology across the literary landscape of Scripture. You will be encouraged to compare translations, ask the right questions of the text, basic discourse analysis, consider various facets of context, the study of words and phrases, interpretive and thematic correlation, evaluate relevance and determine legitimacy in application, the role of the Holy Spirit in appropriating Scripture, and doing theology as the outflow of inductive Bible study.  

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”  

2 Timothy 2:15 (KJV)