Christian faith is a lifelong journey. God’s not done with you yet.
First United’s Adult Education program offers insight, growth, and fellowship with classes, workshops, intimate discussions, and presentations and lectures by leading scholars. Topics range from church history to current events to race relations to international issues, and always include a biblical perspective. Sometimes a series of classes is scheduled on specific topics that lend themselves to in-depth study. Adult ed is a ministry that drives learning, deepens faith, and wrestles with the relationship between God’s world and the human world.
Sunday Morning Speaker Series
Classes meet at 9:30 a.m. on Sundays from September through late May. Bring your whole self, including your questions, your doubts, and a sense of humor. For more information on any adult education programs, contact Lydia Mulkey, Associate Pastor of Education ([email protected]), 708-386-5215 (ext. 103). (Note: These classes will resume after the church reopens.)
Bible Study and Small Groups
Monday Night Bible Study: 6-7:30 p.m. in the Library.
Wednesday Small Group: 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Conference Room.
For information on other Bible studies and small groups, contact Lydia Mulkey. (Note: These will resume after the church reopens or are being held over Zoom.)
Advent Book Group
How we do the holidays this year is going to be different. Soon the panic will set in about what to get who, how much to spend, what to cook, where to gather and how (especially in the midst of COVID-19 pandemic), shopping, wrapping, and eating! The financial, emotional, familial, and physical stress we go through is not what the season is supposed to be about.
All I Really Want
by Quinn G. Caldwell
This book will be the focus of an Advent book discussion group that will meet from 9-9:45 a.m. Mondays from Dec. 7 through Jan. 11 to talk about the book over Zoom. The book is available through the Book Table in Oak Park. Interested readers can contact Alicia Reese to sign up ([email protected]). This book takes seriously the modern person’s hunger for meaning and import in a season that feels increasingly frivolous.
All I Really Want is a book that includes:
- Brief writings that address the challenges and realities of the season.
- A prayer for each morning and evening.
- A calendar with one easy task to do each day designed to gently steer you toward the deeper meaning that underlies the season.
- The opportunity to make room, perhaps just enough room, for God to show up.
Each Monday morning, the group will read that morning’s devotional and prayer, as well as discuss what they have read and experienced up to that point. The discussion schedule is as follows:
- Dec. 7: Pages 1-33.
- Dec. 14: Pages 33-63.
- Dec. 21: Pages 63-93.
- Jan. 4: Pages 93-159.
- Jan 11: Page 159 to the end of the book.
