What is Christian Education?
In the United Methodist Church, we believe that Christian education is essential to learning about God and developing a strong spiritual life. We believe that God is the creator of all life and that he wants to be in relationship with us. Our primary source of information on how to know God and how he wants us to live is the Holy Bible, also known as scripture.
We believe that Christian education is a lifelong process. We offer Sunday School classes for all ages. Our young children learn the stories of the Bible in ways that they can understand. They learn how God loves them through his son, Jesus Christ. Our older children and teens continue growing in their faith as they learn how to relate the teachings of scripture to their own lives. They often learn through the use of videos designed for their age level. For adults, continuing to attend Sunday School and Bible studies is so important to developing a lifelong faith. Christians find that this faith, or spiritual life, helps them meet the challenges of everyday life and allows them to see the joy life offers. We can become more aware of God’s presence in our daily lives.
As Christians, we develop and live out our faith as disciples of Jesus Christ. We are called Christians because we believe that God sent his son, Jesus, to this world to live among us. Jesus was crucified and died for our sins so that we can have eternal life if we believe in Him. To be His disciple means to put His teachings into practice in our daily lives. Everything we need to know is found in scripture. We learn to pray, read scripture, obey God’s laws, develop good character and moral values, and love God and one another. Through living out these practices, we are transformed into better people with closer relationships to God. We are then called to tell others about Jesus so that they can do the same. That is our purpose, or mission, as Christians. In the Bible Jesus tells his disciples, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.” – Matthew 28: 19.
Would you like to have a closer relationship with God? Could we transform the world into a better place? We believe it all begins with Christian education.
