EQUIPping One Another
Yanadi, who has been overseeing the EQUIP classes, shares with us the plans for 2024 and how the classes have been designed to build up the church and equip us for ministry to one another.
A means that God used to convert me was systematic doctrinal studies of Christian faith and regular Bible studies by faithful Christian friends that God providentially placed around me when I was still studying in the Polytechnic. Those Christian friends who discipled me came from churches that intentionally equipped their members through platforms like catechism classes, and God used these friends to help me in my walk. Though I grew up in a church, I did not have the privilege of such classes.
My experience has shaped some of the way we think about equipping each other in the church through the EQUIP classes. But as a church, we are also blessed to be part of a church that are intentional about equipping and discipling members for ministry.
EQUIP IN 2024
At the point of writing, the first two EQUIP classes on How People Change ("Walking with One Another") and Stewardship of Time ("Time & Money") are taking place. The recordings are available on our EQUIP page if you missed them. You may be surprised that there were two concurrent EQUIP classes on a Sunday morning. This is something new in 2024, where we hope to hold more classes every Sunday.
Last year, EQUIP was categorised into two tracks: Foundations and Life. In 2024, we intentionally aligned EQUIP with our aspirations as a local church. Therefore, EQUIP is now categorised into four tracks: Gospel, Gather, Grow, and Go.
Gospel covers classes that equip Christians with the basics of Christian faith such as the Bible, theology and what is a healthy church.
Gather equips us to help one another in practical ways with the gospel He entrusts to us. We will focus on how we can walk with one another, especially through conflicts, trials, mental health and for guidance.
Grow helps us to apply and steward the gospel in our roles and seasons of life, particularly in relation to our church community. The classes will cover how we grow, how we think and use our time and money etc. We will also think about various topics and life stages such as gender, singleness, dating and engagement, marriage, parenting and aging.
Go equips us to be faithful with the gospel entrusted to us as people who are in the world but not of the world. We will think about evangelism, missions and work.
EQUIP'S ROLE IN DISCIPLESHIP
The EQUIP classes serve to give the biblical principles behind each topic that will be helpful for applying them in our lives. Due to time constraints, we may not be able to go into great detail or unpack every possible circumstance. Hence, we also need each other to work through what we have learnt from the classes in our conversations with one another. Conversations beyond EQUIP should be the normal extension of EQUIP for EQUIP to be useful for us. EQUIP exists for discipleship. Our goal is not information transfer but that our lives will be transformed and we will also help one another grow.
THE NUTS AND BOLTS OF EQUIP
EQUIP has been designed to run on a two-year cycle. We are also running two concurrent EQUIP classes on most Sundays to cover more materials. The series will also be repeated. This means that if you miss a class, you may be able to catch it the following year, or at the very least, the year after next.
However, there are some classes that we will run yearly, as these focus more on foundational topics. They are:
Walking with One Another (Jan)
Theology (Feb–Mar)
What is a Healthy Church (Feb–Apr)
How We Grow (Apr–May)
Bible (Jul–Aug)
Evangelism (Oct–Nov)
One series in particular is usually in great demand that we run it twice every year—"Dating and Engagement" (May and Sep).
This year, we'll utilise rooms 301, 302 or 310 for these classes. We encourage all to pay attention to the announcement in the weekly ministry guide or at the start of service, or check the signs outside these rooms to find the right class!
Here is the 2-year cycle schedule for 2024–2025
A CLOSING WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT
You will be mistaken if your takeaway from my opening anecdote is just that we should have strong EQUIP classes. That's certainly a blessing we have. Those good studies I received came to me via faithful Christian friends, who have benefited from the classes in their respective churches and steward them faithfully by discipling me. So, certainly I encourage all of us, GBC members, to attend EQUIP classes.
It is my prayer that these classes will serve to help members grow and apply the gospel. I have been encouraged by how classes that deal with seasons of life (like "Parenting" and "Marriage") and those that deal with current hot topics (like "Gender") are popular among us. So keep coming to those classes!
But we also hope that EQUIP can be a platform to train our members to reach out to others. This could mean attending with the goal of equipping ourselves to better teach at our care groups or Sunday School, or even to disciple our children. For example, it could mean attending one of the foundational classes as a refresher so that you can help someone else, or even to attend with the person you are reading with.
If you are new to Christian faith or are walking with someone who is, there are a few classes that we think will be especially relevant and helpful for you. You may find the follow classes helpful
Walking with One Another (every Jan)
Theology (every Feb–Mar)
What is a Healthy Church (every Feb–Apr)
How We Grow (every Apr–May)
Bible (every Jul–Aug)
If you are new to GBC, you may find the above five classes useful, and also consider attending our Church Matters class. These will help you to understand what we believe.
My prayer, and you can join with me, is that EQUIP will be a tool for your discipleship and help you to steward and apply the gospel in all of life. As Pastor Eugene shared the prayer priorities for 2024 last week, let us pray that this expansion will bear good fruit, as EQUIP partners with every one of you to disciple one another in GBC.
