Connect, Explore, Engage: Sunday Morning Adult Faith Formation
Beginning Sept. 7, our adult learning opportunities will resume on Sunday mornings—and one is even available online! We will study a variety of relevant sources, enjoy meaningful discussion, and gain a fresh perspective of our faith. We invite you to experience these warm, engaging communities as we connect with one another and journey toward a richer understanding of God’s word. All adults are welcome!
Village Forum
9:30-10:30 a.m. Sundays, Sept. 7-Dec. 21, Rooms 126/127, Mission Campus
Contact: Jim Gibson
Village Forum kicks off the year with a four-week series by our favorite outside presenter, Dr. Leslie Dorrough Smith, Dean of Arts and Sciences at Avila University. Drawing from her current project and the book “Dignity” by Donna Hicks, Leslie will lead us in a discussion on conflict resolution from an ethics perspective. If you haven’t taken a class with Leslie, you are in for a treat! Registration for this four-week session opens Sunday, Aug. 24. Register HERE.
This is an ongoing adult faith formation and scripture study class that will continue after the conclusion of this four-week special series. No registration is required for other class sessions after this four-week series.
Faith Journeys
10 a.m.-11 a.m. Sundays, Sept. 7-Dec. 21, Room 124, Mission Campus
Contact: Kathy Ray
This fall, we will study “Holy Envy,” by Barbara Brown Taylor and “I Asked for Wonder” by Abraham Joshua Heschel. In “Holy Envy,” Taylor recounts her discoveries of finding the sacred in unexpected places while teaching the world’s religions to undergraduates in rural Georgia. She contemplates the myriad ways other people and traditions encounter the Transcendent, both by digging deeper into those traditions herself and by seeing them through her students’ eyes. The one constant in her odyssey is the sense that God is the one calling her to disown her version of God—a change that ultimately enriches her faith.
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel is considered by many to be one of the most significant Jewish theologians of the 20th Century. In “I Asked for Wonder,” he finds just the right words to startle the mind and delight the heart. He addresses and challenges the whole person, portraying that rarest of human phenomena—the holy man. His prophetic spirituality is just as strongly needed today, as we face so many forms of darkness, including the racism and violence that energized Heschel’s prophetic voice in the 1960s.
No registration is required for this class.
Foundations of Faith
11 a.m.-noon Sundays Sept. 14-Nov. 23, online only — Join the class on Zoom
Contact: Diann Markley
Foundations of Faith, taught by Rev. Dwight Tawney, focuses on the cultural and spiritual foundations of the Bible as viewed from archaeology, theology, and science. Join our online Zoom conversations as we study the tumultuous history of Jerusalem. No registration is required for this class.
Sunday School at Antioch
Sundays, Sept. 7-Oct. 5
Fellowship Hall, Antioch Campus
Contact: Rev. Anna Owens
Sept. 7 -Oct. 5: God’s Love Transcends Borders. Join members of our Immigration Support Initiative task group of Village Church’s Social Justice Ministry and the larger Kansas City community as we discuss theological perspectives and faithful responses to a pressing issue for the least of these in our midst.
Oct. 12-Nov. 16: Ministry and Mission Partners Open House. For this class we’ll host our community and ministry partners to tell us more about what it is they do and how we can make an impact. We’ll hear from organizations like the Good Faith Network, the Mainstream Coalition, Habitat for Humanity, and the Village Church Food Pantry.
Nov. 30-Dec. 21: Holy Disruption Advent Study. Join Rev. Anna Owens in a discussion of Tracy S. Daub’s book “Holy Disruption: Discovering Advent in the Gospel of Mark.” From the publisher: “Where’s the baby? The Gospel of Mark doesn’t have a nativity story—so where’s the Advent message? It’s in every aspect of Jesus’ life, to his death and beyond. ‘Holy Disruption’ presents a fresh understanding of the holiness of Christmas grounded, not in a conventional cozy Christmas message, but through Mark’s disquieting gospel which invites its readers to experience God’s disruptive but transformative love for us and our world.” Books will be available for purchase in November.