Invite your friends!

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Invite friends to take Cover-to-Cover!

Why take the Cover-to-Cover Bible Survey class? Our students say it best. Click here to see examples of their feedback.

As people internalize God’s Word they grow deep in their relationship with God, become passionate and excited about their faith and witness, and come to be a more effective spiritual influence in church, at home, at work, and in their communities.

If you want to go beyond the ordinary, this course is for you!

What makes this course unique?

1. Firstly, this Cover-to-Cover Bible Survey course helps people see Jesus Christ as the central, unifying theme of the entire Bible. We call it the Scarlet Thread of Redemption. When people discover for themselves the thematic unity between the various books of the Bible, they see — sometimes for the first time — how extraordinarily miraculous the Bible is!
2. Secondly, this is active — not passive — study. As founder Monty Sholund would say, what you dig out for yourself, you keep forever! Those taking the course are encouraged to write each week what they are learning from God as they read the Bible. Journaling – writing and reflecting — is an important aid to learning, internalizing God’s Word, and thinking through life application.
3. Thirdly, carefully selected teachers or mentors accompany students on this journey through the Bible, providing guidance, encouragement and feedback. It’s no wonder that so many say they’re never studied the Bible like this before — and that Cover-to-Cover is life changing!

Who typically takes Cover-to-Cover?

Young adults. Students as young as 14 have taken the course — some alongside their parents. Home schoolers can take Cover-to-Cover to fulfil a High School Bible course. And, because of our cooperative relationships with Crown College, University of Northwestern St-Paul, and Association Free Lutheran Bible School, students headed for tertiary education can earn up to six credits!

Parents and Grandparents. Parents and grandparents take it for their own spiritual formation so they can disciple and mentor their children or grandchildren.

Leaders, teachers and disciple-makers. Small groups, ministry leaders, teachers and mentors take the course to be better equipped to invest the light of God’s truth in others’ lives.

God’s Word is for everyone! The Great Commission (Mt 28:16-20) calls everyone to be a disciple maker – and not just within the confines of the church building. There’s a world to reach – starting right here on our doorstep! This dynamic, whole life discipleship course for every vocation, for every age and stage of life.

Where is the course offered?

Local churches. The Cover-to-Cover course is offered at a number of churches across the Twin Cities, and in Des Moines, IA.

Online. Our online platform enables taking the Cover-to-Cover course anywhere in the world.

Check out our Fall Calendar for an option that’s best for you.

What about the cost?

$149 per semester. We pay an honorarium to our teachers who are all experienced Bible teachers. We desire to keep the study of God’s Word affordable. We don’t turn away anyone who cannot afford the registration fee, so we offer scholarships. The ministry is heavily subsidized by our generous donors, for whom we are very grateful.

Questions? Need more information?

See the Village Schools of the Bible web site. Alternatively, email Trish@VillageSchoolsoftheBible.org, or call 952.540.9460.

(The post was written by Warwick Alcock, Director of Strategic Operations, Village Schools of the Bible.)

 

Christianity and Politics

In Christ, all things hold together (Col 1:17).

 An Urgent Need

We’re in the midst of a grave cultural crisis. Our post-modern culture is deteriorating. Our political discourse has become increasingly polarized and uncivil.  We see chaos in personal ethics, in marriage, and in the family. We reap the bitter fruit of bad public policy. The unfolding cultural crisis we see before us is germane not only to the USA but across the world.

In our drifting, relativistic, post-modern culture, Christians are dismissed as morally inferior, evil, lost, confused and irrelevant to the issues of the modern world. To some extent this critique is justified because many Christians have, unfortunately, strayed far from Biblical faith in both belief and practice. This kind of functional apostasy leads only to confusion, demoralization and apathy.  Additionally, when it comes to politics, even many evangelical Christians hide their heads in the sand, as if the gospel has no power to speak into the weighty human issues that political leaders try to resolve.

Today more than ever, we need wise men of Issachar (1 Chron. 12:32) who understand the times and can help us apply God’s Word with godly wisdom to the issues of the day. We need Nehemiahs who will rehabilitate the burned out ruins of our culture and restore faith.  We must build confidence in a Biblical worldview that is ultimately more fruitful than worldviews informed by all other forms of unbelief, including secularism and other belief systems.

Three principles for a Christian approach to politics.

In this article, we offer the following three principles for a gospel centered approach to the muddied field of politics.

1. God has said that His Word does not return to Him empty, but will accomplish its purpose (Isaiah 55:11). We have confidence therefore that the Word of God gives Christians a clear, redemptive vision for political engagement that can be applied with truth and courage, precisely because it is from the Living God Himself. So politics is not an evil area to be feared or avoided. We do not abandon politics to the devil. For in Christ, all things hold together (Col 1:17). He reconciles to Himself all things (Col 1:20).
2. The gospel-centered, four-point plotline of Scripture — creation, fall, redemption and consummation — frames up our Biblical worldview for political engagement. According to the Bible, we live in a perfectly created yet corrupted world that God seeks to redeem and restore. He calls us to join Him in His redemptive mission for the world, drawing all men and women to follow Him in every sphere of life – including the political sphere. William Wilberforce is a great example of a follower of Jesus used by God in the sphere of politics to eradicate slavery in the British Empire in 1833.
3. Christians, whose core task is the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20), have a unique and vitally important role: to exercise Christian witness, proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ with Christian character and discernment, and demonstrate to the world a Christian hope. More than ever before, in a disorientated culture that has lost its moorings, we have a perfect opportunity to demonstrate the relevance and veracity of Biblical Christianity rooted in the absolute truth of Scripture.

If we’re serious about the Great Commandments (Matthew 22: 36-40) and the Great Commission (Matthew 28: 18-20), we apply and live out the restorative truth of God’s Word where people are hurting and need hope. We are called to take the teachings of Christ and apply them to the most important defining issues facing our communities and society. In Christ, who reconciles all things, we mediate the polarizing discussions of our day with well-framed and well reasoned Biblical answers to the problems we face. As we do so, we give people compelling and coherent reasons to follow Christ. Otherwise the void is filled by self-serving false shepherds and cynical propagandists who are hostile to Christ.

Christianity is the only hope for the spiritual and moral renewal of our culture. When embodied in its fullness, the gospel transforms every sector of our society – including politics — for the good of the world and the glory of God. Ultimately, only the gospel can provide viable and meaningful answers to the problems of human existence.

The next article in this series moves from principle to practice: we will seek to apply these Biblical principles to the practical issues that face our country today.

Acknowledgements

1. Ashford, B. and Pappalardo, C. One Nation Under God: A Christian Hope for American Politics. B&H, 2015.
2. Brooks, C.W. Urban Apologetics: Why the Gospel is Good News for the City. Kregel, 2014.

About the author

This article is written by Warwick Alcock, Director of Operations at Village Schools of the Bible.