The time I spent this week for my practicum was 3 hours. For half an hour, I had worship band practice, for an hour I had Sunday school class, and for an hour and a half I went to Sunday service.
In the Sunday school class this week, we had a considerable amount of people. We usually have about 6-8 members in the class and we had 15 this week. Because of that drastic change in number, I do not know all the names of the people in our class. The names I know are Michelle, Nathan, Kara, Toni, and Steven (the pastor). I am really bad with names, so I will continue working on them.
The lesson was on the topic of persecution in the church. At the beginning of the lesson, we continued discuss the definition of persecution. We ultimately concluded the persecution was “suffering for Christ at the hand of another”. The main argument against this definition was whether or not persecution was all suffering or just physical suffering. We could not determine that answer in this particular class.
We also talked about persecution of the church throughout the world. We found out that there are nine countries in the world that are considered hostile to Christianity. We talked about Iran in particular. Iran only allows Christians to worship in groups of five or less. It is also illegal to convert to Christianity if you were not born of Christian parents. Breaking either of these two laws can result in legal murder or extreme beatings by the government. However, we found out that the church in Iran is growing about 300 members per week. This begged the question. Does the church need persecution to truly grow? For instance, having new people come to Christ seldom does church growth in America. Churches grow by taking members from other churches. What does this indicate? With this question class ended.
QUESTIONS
1.) What do you guys think persecution is? Is it merely physical suffering for Christ or does it include emotional suffering?
2.) What do you think is the best way to interject in a Sunday school discussion without sounding arrogant? Does it really matter?
First of all, I believe that persecution is any harm done, physically, mentally, emotionally, etc. for the honor of Christ. I know that some people in our group don't believe that (they think it is only physical) but I look at it as this: in America, all kinds of abuse is illegal: physical, emotional, and mental - in that sense, i believe that persecution can be of any kind. With an emphasis on the FOR THE SAKE OF CHRIST part. Sitting in class, i began to think how crazy it is that that church is growing in numbers so quickly. i seem to think that if that happened in America, people would not begin to join the church, they would begin to fade away. I may however not be giving enough credit to today's Christians. I do think that we are not being intentional enough in bringing people to the church - essentially Christ. I have been noticing more and more how we talk talk talk about how much we want things to change but never take action. i think that is one of our generation's biggest flaws. As far as the "how to break in in group" question, my thought is always to be honest. Just say that what you are about to say isn't directed towards anyone or for the purpose of (i dunno...) hurting someone's feelings? but it is for the sake of discussion and it it your true thoughts.
ReplyDelete-Kara
I think that persecution can obviously encompass all of the aspects of a human being because the enemy will use anything he can to distract and discourage us. While a lot of people may call things in life that are hard "persecution" when really it is just life being hard... sometimes we are quick to say that we are being persecuted when really we arent, so we need to be careful in saying that.
ReplyDeleteIn response to the second question, to use wisdom in what you say is always a good thing. Sometimes it doesnt really matter what you say but it all depends on the way that you say it... so say it in a way that isnt dimeaning or overbearing but be humble.
Coach D here just passing through reading reports... this is on target in both [posts and responses EXCEPT remember to respond to the questions posed with a very thoughtful answer and respond BY NUMBER... so we can track your response and know clearly how you are processing the questions.
ReplyDeleteBY THE WAY... don't forget to include all the items required for a post:
ReplyDeleteA. Time Spent This Week-- example: 4 Hours Total (AM Worship = 2; SG = 1; Blogging = 1)
B. My Class This Week (a NUMBERED list of observations)
C. My Questions This Week ( a numbered list of 2-3 querstions)
(otherwise you'll have to add them at the end of the semeter5--SEE THE SYLLABUS for format)
I think it is both physical and mentally. I mean when you are abused physically it gets you emotionally. I think persecution is more emotional. If you are beat bad by your mother you cry, because your own mother the person you thought loved you the most beat you. Emotionally that gets someone. With that i think persecution is more emotion then physical
ReplyDelete