Class Descriptions:

Why Four Gospels?

In this seminar, we will look at why our scriptures have four different tellings of essentially the same story, how that story differs from telling to telling, and explore reasons why those differences likely exist. This presentation will not be a study of scripture so much as it will be an exploration of how one of the most common aspects of the Bible—4 gospel narratives of Jesus’s life, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension—came to be an overlooked aspect of our faith and practice.

Love Through Service

First Street Mission Experience

Poverty Simulation: Help participants experience the trade-offs, stress, and decision-making

involved in living with limited resources, not to “play poverty,” but to build empathy and

understanding. The simulation will show how quickly difficult choices arise.

From Crown to Conferencing: Methodism in the New Republic

Join us as we view and discuss this video series created by the General Commission on Archives and History of the UMC. We’ll explore the challenges and successes of the early Methodist movement in the wake of the American Revolution and what this legacy means for us today.

When Women Were Priests: Women’s Roles in the Early Church

Phoebe was a deacon. Junia was an apostle. Paul’s letters are full of women who led, taught, and presided in the earliest churches, and then there’s that one verse in 1 Timothy that’s been quoted at women ever since. We’ll start on familiar ground, sitting with both the permission and the prohibition in the texts we think we know. Then we’ll step past the canon entirely—to a Roman governor who tortured two women he called ministers, and a runaway named Thecla so beloved the early church couldn’t stop telling her story. Two weeks. Come for the history you probably weren’t taught. Stay for the questions it raises about who we are now.

It’s All Greek to Me: Genesis 1 and Revelation 21 in their original languages

Every English Bible you’ve ever read is already an interpretation. Translators made choices about which word, which tense, which shade of meaning, and those choices shape what we hear. Over two weeks, Dr. Jenn and Pastor Kagan will sit with two short passages in their original languages and show what opens up when we slow down. Week one: the first five verses of Genesis in Hebrew, where “in the beginning” might not mean what you think. Week two: Revelation 21 in Greek, where a new heaven and a new earth turn out to be stranger, and more hopeful, than the English lets on. No Hebrew or Greek required.

Stories from the Methodist Justice Ministries

Survival Guides with Youth

Our first seminar on July 29^th will be a Survival Guide to Social Media w/ Youth Intern Macie Grosskurth. Trying to responsibly navigate the worlds that social media creates is difficult for anyone who is close to youth. Come and learn the ins and outs with our youth intern Macie Grosskurth. The second seminar on August 5^th is on understanding the tweens and teens in your life. What are they actually saying with all the slang? What’s going on developmentally in their brains? Plus all sorts of other helpful information. Come join Kylie and Claire and learn from their experience.

Singing the Faith: A Brief History of Church Music

Have you ever wondered why Christians have always sung in worship? From the Psalms of ancient Israel to Gregorian chant, from Martin Luther and the Reformation to the hymns of Charles Wesley and today’s worship songs, music has shaped the faith, theology, and spiritual life of the Church for centuries.

Join us for a two-week journey through the history of church music as we explore how worship developed, why congregational singing matters, and what the Church’s musical heritage can teach us about worship today. Whether you love hymns, choir music, contemporary worship, or simply want to understand why the Church sings, this class will offer insight, discussion, and inspiration.