In this season of our church life, one big question we are asking ourselves is “How do we help one another grow as disciples of Jesus in our church?” 

We believe being a disciple of Jesus is a life long journey of responding to Jesus’ call to follow Him with our whole being—our minds, hearts, and souls.  And this generally happens in two primary ways at church currently: worshipping together on Sundays and being in community, particularly as CGs. We want to keep going with these! But we also recognize that when we strengthen our foundations of knowing Jesus and His ways,  then what we hear, learn and experience on a Sunday and in community will be all the more meaningful and rich. Without this foundation, we can be engaging with all sorts of church activities but not reaping the full fruits of our growth in Jesus.

To follow Jesus, we need to know Him. We need to understand his ways. We need to practise his ways. We then need to lead others in His way, as he commands us as his disciples to go and make disciples.

So we are developing Core Classes which will focus on the building blocks that undergird our journey of growing in the way of Jesus. These Core Classes will be a staple in the life of our church, and will be run through the year, every year.

We have designed classes for everyone, whether you are new to the faith or a mature Christian. 

For the new Christian, the classes will help you have a deep understanding of who God is, what He has done, what His ways are and what being His child means. These classes are meant to help you make sense of life, church and God. Our hope is that with these solid foundations of the faith, your relationship with Jesus is enhanced and strengthened when listening to sermons, doing your personal devotions, being in community, and living out life etc. 

For the mature Christian, the classes are meant to refresh you to God’s deep foundational truths, that we need to keep coming back to. Scripture reminds us that the gospel is a never-ending, bottomless well of treasure (1 Peter 1:12) that we will never grow tired of.  Perhaps the exchange between Lucy and Aslan in Chronicles of Narnia puts it across best: 

““Aslan" said Lucy "you're bigger".

"That is because you are older, little one" answered he.

"Not because you are?"

"I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger.””

These Core Classes are made up of 4 classes, created to fit together, each of varying number of modules. Please refer to the class descriptions as above.

No. You can start with any module, of any course. We have designed them such that they can be standalone. That said though, we strongly encourage doing UTW  Module 1 on Biblical Overview before taking the other UTW Modules. 

Given that all the courses have been designed to fit together and complement one another to ensure that we are being spiritually formed holistically, we strongly encourage you to slowly work your way through them all!

Classes vary in duration and workload. The shortest class is 3 weeks and the longest 6 weeks. Most of the classes are in-person, while some are more online-oriented.  

We believe that spiritual formation and growing in Jesus means loving Him with our minds, body and souls. As such, we have intentionally designed classes to not just focus on content and knowledge, but for them to be heavy on application, reflection/prayer and habits that engage our affections and our entire beings. We recognize also that growth and transformation best happens in co-operative learning and accountability in community. As such, there is a heavy emphasis on group discussions. 

We understand that we live in a busy world. We have deliberately tried to keep courses short, content accessible, homework (if any!) light, and meeting schedules flexible wherever possible. However, perhaps one of the things we desperately need to learn and grow in in this fast paced world, is how to slow down, trust God, sit at His feet and commune with Him! 

Core Classes are made up of what are fundamental to helping us have a strong foundation in following Jesus with our minds, bodies and souls. They cover the key aspects of the faith, and the content is meant to be very accessible. 

Christian Education (CE) classes, on the other hand, dive deep into exploring specific Christian topics, or books of the bible. E.g:  spiritual friendships, the study of the Psalms, how to steward our finances, how to understand symbolisms and patterns in the Bible, etc. Most of the CE classes assume a certain level of understanding of the foundational key aspects of the faith. Therefore, there is a significant difference in the learning experience when we first have a solid grounding in knowing God, which our Core Classes provide.

We want to pause CE Classes for a season, to ensure that as a church we are creating the time and space to help one another take a hold of the riches of the foundations of our faith. We believe this is what will ultimately help us follow Jesus better, and for Him to become more beautiful to us. 

We are all naturally inclined to veer towards topical classes that “scratch our itch” or meet our specific felt needs. As such, CE classes on certain life topics are important precisely because they show how the gospel speaks specifically and richly into these areas. However, our goal of following Jesus is not to merely meet our immediate felt needs, but to be formed holistically as a disciple who loves Him with all of our beings. The content of Core Classes may not directly troubleshoot our problems in life at first blush. However, by reframing any misconceptions of who God is, and helping us know Him more deeply, we trust that our perspective of our problems may change, and the work that’s done in our heart is a deeper, more lasting one.

We want to be a people who follow Jesus with our hearts, minds and soul. One way of knowing whether we are engaging as disciples with our entire beings, is to consider whether we are spiritually being formed in all 5 of our church values: Gospel Centredness, Theological Depth, Experiential Faith, Community on a Mission and City Renewal.

This can be one way to decide which areas we need to be growing in, and accordingly which classes might be beneficial for us. Feel free to speak to an elder or your CG Leader if you need any help choosing a class! 

Yes they are! However, if a class is over-subscribed, priority will be given to RHC members.