Class Meeting Intro Teaching

Intro/ Scripture

1 Peter 1:13–2:5 NIV

Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God. Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For, “All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.” And this is the word that was preached to you. Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Let me ask you a question to begin, do we have the mechanisms of community that is training the holy priesthood? That is helping others grow in holiness as a primary focus?

A few months ago I was in Ohio for a week long intensive for my Doctoral program. We spend time with our focus group and talk about our projects and get help from our colleagues and mentors. But the whole group of doctoral students also receive some plenary teaching that is all focused.

This week was focused on racial reconciliation.

By the way folks, we still have a long ways to go. We have work to do along those lines. If you would like to talk more about that with me then please do.

But one of the speakers gave a powerful witness/talk to the possibility of racial reconciliation by pointing to the church. He talked about the church becoming the embodiment of Christ for the world. He implored the church to be about the work of making saints again. Helping people to come alive by Christ and to have their lives transformed by his grace. In the grace of Jesus racism SHOULD fall apart.

(I promise this has connection here)

After the talk, people that have been affected by racism directly or have worked for change, lined up at the microphones during Q&A.

There was some tense moments as the speaker received attack after attack because his vision was too passive, too weak, too slow.

Afterwards our focus group debriefed what was going on and at first it was disorienting to hear such a kingdom minded talk, face such opposition from Christian leaders.

Then it occurred to us, that most do not believe in divine action. For the speaker to call us to holiness and spiritual practices like what we are talking about in this series, was not attractive because to that means you are expecting to find a God that actually interacts with us and our world.

What if all of the chaos in our world, is flooding our church because we actually have missed the discipleship piece?

Rowan Williams: (Anglican Bishop and theologian)

“Discipleship, is a state of being. Discipleship is about how we live; not just the decisions we make, not just the things we believe, but a state of being.”

Building the Spiritual House:

1. Set your hope on Jesus

2. Be Holy

3. Live as foreigners

4. Love deeply

5. Crave growth

The Class meeting is the Methodist’s Spiritual House

Yall are going to get a little history this morning. Before you yawn too big, church history, particularly our history, reveals God’s story in a unique way and how we fit in it. It reminds us of who we are. And perhaps invites us to dream again about who we might become. The early methodist movement, knew the importance of these campfire relationships.

The beginning:

Early Wesleyan/Methodist societies were formed as a gathering of corporate worship and preaching, but this was not the core of the rapidly growing movement of the 17-1800s.

From the beginning Wesley would know that discipline was important. Not what you think about, like a parent disciplining their children. This is not just a behavior, pious pursuit. But discipline is referring to organization. They way they structured community was vital.

Early methodism had a passionate belief in the evangelical doctrine of conversionism and new life. They believed that in an instant or in time, God can make a radical shift in the life of the person as they come to believe in Him. Sanctification: But they also believed that this becomes a launching point to walk in this grace, to apply this truth, and to experience a deeper transformation. All towards holiness. Or becoming like Jesus.

So their organization or discipline, put them in relationships that focused on this deeper work of taking hold of what is true in Jesus.

This led to the creation of class meetings and bands. (explain)

At one point....In order to be a Methodist, membership within the Class Meeting was required in the revival movement. According to Wesley, the meeting involved 12 people, men and women, equipped to encourage and “more easily discern whether they are indeed working out their own salvation” (John Wesley, General Rules, 9:69-70). The class meeting became an access point for evangelism and hospitality, reaching the unchurched in masses.

These groups existed to encourage one another in love, to provide accountability, and to not just talk about the Christian life but to actually live it as well.

One scholar puts it this way:

“The class meeting was not just a means for facilitating mutual accountability; it was also a communal means of grace whereby men and women came to experience the reality of sanctification and the myriad levels of transformation that it entailed.” - Andrew Thompson

Means of grace. Something happens when we gather and testify to what Jesus is doing.

nineteenth-century American Methodist preacher:

“In these class-meetings many seekers of religion have found them the spiritual birth-place of their souls into the heavenly family, and their dead souls made alive to God.” - Peter Cartwright

And From Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke (leaders of American Methodism)

“We have no doubt, but meeting of christian brethren for the exposition of scripture-texts, may be attended with their advantages. But the most profitable exercise of any is a free inquiry into the state of the heart.” - Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke

The class meeting was the heart of the Methodist revival. In 1776, Methodists accounted for 2.5 percent of religious adherents in the colonies, the second smallest of the major denominations of that time. By 1850, Methodist comprised 34.2 percent of religious adherents in the U.S, which was 14 percent more than the next largest group. And it is not hard to say that the most important growth factor was the class meeting....

A Different Kind of Meeting

• Not your momma’s sunday school class.Listen, we have a strong sunday school program here. I am not telling you that our sunday school classes are not important. We should continue to support and resource these classes. What I am saying is let’s be clear that, in general, there is something very different about these groups. Mostly, Sunday school classes are centered around a teacher/lecturer/curriculum. It is information download where we go from one curriculum to another.

• Formational: Consistently meeting together and accountability is formative. We are now considering our walk in Christ all throughout the week. We are learning to pray for our group. We are learning to have spiritual conversation that is honest. We are learning to listen!

• Transformational: Son and daughter of God....how are you living this way?

• Evangelistic: home groups, invitational to other people

So what are we doing?

Starting last fall I began training class leaders here at Marvin. Those leaders are beginning 4 new groups that will be launching on different days in the coming weeks. We are repeating the process of that training currently. Looking for potential leaders, OR those interested in a group, joining this fall. This process will be repeated over and over. This is not a program, so we are going slow and being intentional.

Friends, lives are being changed already in just a few months on this journey. Testimony of new strength in marriage, people learning to pray, others challenged to share their faith for the first time.

Question and Answer