Course Schedule

Yes, because of God’s grace that comes to us through the sacrifice of the Son and brought home to our lives by the Spirit, we are blessed. Paul describes this as being “blessed with every spiritual blessing” (Ephesians 1:3). But what is this blessed life? What is it that God has done in Christ in blessing us? For many who know Jesus, the richness of God’s grace is under-experienced, because it is not fully understood.

On Tuesday, May 14, (starting at 6:30 pm, EST), The River will host a one-evening, on-line class entitled “Understanding our Blessed Life: Reflections on Ephesians 1.” This time together will draw us into richer understanding and appreciation of the grace and kindness that has been bestowed on us in Christ, opening the door to a fuller experience of this blessed life.

Jesus explained that the Father is looking for those who will worship Him in “Spirit and truth” (John 4:23). That we learn to worship well is a key piece to our Christian journey. Beyond and beneath the song selection and the music style is a grasp of what a real heart of worship looks like.

This three-evening online class, will take us on a journey into the book of Psalms to explore some of what goes into a healthy “vocabulary of worship.” We all have certain habits and patterns that form our personal expression of worship. And the Psalms can provide wonderful insight toward enriching and development our personal worship language.

Plan on joining us as we let the Psalms help us think well about worship and then develop a richer vocabulary to express our hearts to our great God in worship.

This class will meet for three consecutive Thursday evenings, May 16, 23, and 30, at 6:30 pm (EST). We offer classes at no charge, but ask you to register for the class so that we can plan accordingly.

What does it mean to “believe”? To “have faith”? Obviously it is important. John writes that we come to have life with God through believing, through our faith in Jesus. But have you ever really thought what that means?

Over two consecutive Tuesday evenings, June 4 and 11, beginning at 6:30 pm (EST) each evening, we will be journeying through John’s Gospel to learn about the initial step into the life of faith, what it means to grow in faith, and how “believing” changes our lives. One recent attendee to this course said it helped “put so many pieces” together in coming to understand what it means to believe.

John explained that he wrote his Gospel so that his readers “may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:31). Come and explore John’s message, John’s understanding of believing, and deepen your grasp of your own faith in Jesus.

An attendee at a previous intensive in Romans 1-5 explained: “We were plunging into the deep truths of the Gospel and we were challenged to think clearly and fully about all that Jesus did for us on the cross. Words matter–words like righteousness, justification, redemption, atonement, propitiation. Upon these hang all that makes our calling and election sure in Christ.”

This class will take a deep dive into a portion of Scripture that requires something more than a Sunday morning message to unpack. This intensive, Gospel Essentials, is a three-evening exploration of Romans 1 through 5. In the first five chapters of this letter Paul explains his understanding of the foundation for our life in Christ Jesus. Our evenings will be caught up in thinking Paul’s thoughts (and the Spirit’s inspired words!) after him.

The class will be held online on three consecutive Thursday evenings, June 6, 13, 20. We’ll begin at 6:30 pm (EST) and run until . . . . the questions are answered!

If you long to deepen your understanding of the greatness of the Gospel and the kindness of God toward us in Jesus, join us for these evenings in Romans.