Doctrine: What Christians Should Believe

When Mars Hill Church first launched in the fall of 1996, I immediately began teaching a new members' class that was originally titled Foundations. The original intent of that class was to ensure that our church members were trained missionaries who believed Christian truth and were able to articulate and demonstrate it to others. The original class met on a few couches in my living room and those who took it became the first members of our church. A while later I added a bit more content, changed the title to the Gospel Class, and began teaching it along with our elders as a class in the various church buildings where our church has met over the years. Today, literally thousands and thousands of people have taken the class, as many as five hundred people at any one time. It has served our church well, providing a theological framework for what we believe and how we operate as a church. Historically, about half of the people who take the class sign a covenant and become church members, and about half leave the church over various doctrines with which they disagree. The operation of the Gospel Class has become increasingly complicated as our church has grown and spread to what is currently six campuses. So, we have decided to use the forthcoming preaching series called Doctrine: What Christians Should Believe, running from after Easter (March 30) until summer (June 29), to accomplish a number of tasks. First, in teaching the series I will be able to update and improve what has previously been our Gospel Class content. Our theological convictions have not changed since we planted the church but have matured and it is important that our essential instruction reflect that. To help me in this series I have solicited the assistance of my dear friend Dr. Gerry Breshears, who is professor of theology and chairman of the Division of Biblical and Theological Studies at Western Seminary in Portland. We have organized this series so that it follows the storyline of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, highlighting the major doctrines of the Christian faith. Second, the series will replace our Gospel Class and serve as the prerequisite for anyone who is interested in becoming a member of our church. Our hope is that this will allow us to have upwards of a few thousand new people become church members going into the summer. We can then use the summer to regroup and make a strong push as a church across our campuses in the fall. We know that many people have wanted to become members and were simply unable to take the Gospel Class for membership and so we are excited to provide this alternative. Third, once the series is completed, it will live online in audio and video form, providing new ways for people to become members. Examples would include someone watching the sermons online or people gathering in a community group to watch the sermons and discuss their content with a leader in pursuit of church membership. This kind of flexibility is increasingly important as we consider opening new campuses further and further from Seattle across the nation and the world. Simply, we want to maintain theological precision among our church members and the best way to do that as we expand is to use technology that God in His providence has provided. Fourth, by putting the Doctrine content online, it is our hope that it will be of service to Christians around the world for years to come. Sadly, our age is filled with false teaching of seemingly every sort and kind and we are honored to serve the greater Church in any way we can in the spirit of Titus 2:1, which commands Christian leaders to "teach what accords with sound doctrine." Fifth, the entire sermon series will be expanded by Dr. Breshears and myself and published by our friends at Crossway as part of the Vintage Jesus book series with Re:Lit. We also intend to include small group curriculum with that book that will be developed by Mars Hill Community Groups pastor Brad House in an effort to help Christians and Christian churches grow in sound doctrine. Preaching Schedule: (click here to view calendar) Trinity: God Is - March 30 Revelation: God Speaks - April 6 Creation: God Makes - April 13 Image: God Loves - April 20 Fall: God Judges - April 27 Covenant: God Pursues - May 4 Incarnation: God Comes - May 11 Cross: God Dies - May 18 Resurrection: God Saves - June 1 Church: God Sends - June 8 Worship: God Transforms - June 15 Stewardship: God Gives - June 22 Kingdom: God Reigns - June 29 [youtube]_1Ncu_xn8PE[/youtube]