EQUIP in 2022
Yanadi shares with us about the plans for EQUIP this year and how we can participate in the various classes to grow, and to help others do so too.
EQUIP is growing in 2022. Most of it will feel familiar to what we had in 2021. Some of it will remind us of the more theological classes we used to have before 2021, if you have been with GBC long enough. As GBC grows in number and diversity, my prayer is that EQUIP will be helpful to more and more people in church, not just in mere knowledge, but even beyond knowledge, we will grow in our discipleship and it will help us to move towards discipleship.
EQUIP will now have three tracks.
Membership track
The first track is the MEMBERSHIP track. This track is basically referring to our usual Church Matters class. In Church Matters, visitors can learn about what GBC believes in and is committed to. Church Matters is also our official membership class which visitors who are keen to become a member of GBC are required to attend, before going for an Elder's Chat. Old time members who need a refresher are welcome to attend. This class will be held in every first month of the quarter and will alternate between a longer Saturday session and three shorter Sunday sessions.
Core track
The second track is the CORE track. This track is meant to equip the new Christians whom God has entrusted to us as well as to reach out to non-Christians who would like to find out more about Jesus. As such, this track will run regularly every half a year. This means that the opportunity to learn and be refreshed on basic Christianity will always be available to us, at least twice every year. The three CORE series are:
Introducing Jesus
Some of us are familiar with Seekers' Class that used to run on Sunday after service. Due to the pandemic it has not been able to resume. As such, we have rebranded it and will use EQUIP platform to continue to reach out to seekers. This is an opportunity for us to invite our unbelieving friends to know about Christianity. For those of us who would like to learn how to present the gospel clearly, you can also come to observe and learn from our teachers as we welcome and interact with the attendees over these four sessions.Growing in Jesus
This series is aimed at new believers to help establish basic foundation in their Christian knowledge and living. There are two parts to this series. The first is on doctrines where we cover Scripture, God, salvation, church, and end times in five sessions. And the second is on Christian living, which covers spiritual discipline, making decisions, life in the church, and evangelism over four sessions.Seeing Jesus in All of Scripture
This series is again aimed at new believers to provide them with some handles to study and apply the Bible by themselves. There will be three sessions on how to read the Bible and a final session on seeing Jesus in the passages of the Bible.
Elective track
The last track is the ELECTIVE track. This track is a continuation of what we have been doing since last year. Tentatively, we have four series planned for this year. The series on The Gospel and Mental Health last year shows us that more and more of us realize our need to be more informed about the importance of mental health and to proactively do something about it. With that in mind, in the first half of the year, we plan to have Side by Side: Walking with Others in Wisdom and Love and Addressing Anger, Fear and Worry. Beyond the middle of the year, we plan to have a series on Instructing Children, which is meant not just for parents, but also the many Sunday School teachers as well as spiritual parents among us. And we hope to close the year with a series on Missions.
Training groups
Beyond the three tracks, we are going to have an extra track which we call Training Group. The first Training Group on Healthy Church, which will happen monthly from February to May, has been announced in our service as well as ministry guides. If you would like to register or find out more about it, do contact me (Yanadi) at yanadi@gracebaptistchurch.sg.
One way that we want to be intentional about making EQUIP to become a platform that equips not just the mind, but rather the whole being, is that we are going to push formation of discipleship relationships for the participants even after the series has concluded. We have come up with a form (and QR code) for participants to fill up to continue to be in discipling relationships with others who have the same desire to grow in a specific aspect: http://gracebaptistchurch.sg/letscontinue.