Study Guides

Work through our written materials and/or videos at your own pace. Some, though not all, of these materials have been turned into Courses on Zoom. If you’d like coaching on how to lead these materials in your own context, we’d be happy to do so. Connect with us using the form at the bottom of this page.

One of our Foundations. God has a vision for relationship involving all things. God calls for human partnership to restore that vision. God’s justice is restorative and centered in Jesus. Our Christian Restorative Justice Study Guide has 101, 201, and 301 level materials. It will help you understand and participate in God’s restorative justice. The 101 level introduces you to four principles of justice (meritocratic-retributive; distributive; libertarian; restorative) and the secular inability to organize them while Christian faith does. The 201 level examines retributive vs. restorative justice as relates to the criminal justice system. The 301 level examines restorative justice more broadly to wealth and power.

One of our Foundations. The definition of the word “atonement” can be conveniently explained by sounding out its syllables. It means to make two parties “at one” with one another. In biblical language, “atonement” means that there is a problem in the relationship between human beings and God, which is resolved somehow. God takes the initiative to make “atonement.” There were preliminary forms of “atonement” in the Old Testament, but the supreme act of “atonement” was made by Jesus of Nazareth. Our Healing Atonement Study Guide has 101, 201, and 301 level materials. It will help you understand Jesus’ work to heal human nature from practical ministry angles (101), biblical interpretation (201), and early Christian history (301).

One of our Foundations. If you’re getting to know Jesus, exploring why he is real, important, and personally knowable, our Why Jesus? Study Guide can help. The 101 level introduces the basics about Jesus and his invitation to you. The 201 level helps you explore Jesus’ relevance and calling. The 301 level helps you place Jesus in the context of larger stories, both the biblical story and others. The 401 level helps you examine tough questions. Please don’t hesitate to contact us with questions.

Not sure about the “pro-life” vs. “pro-choice” binary? See the Study and Action Guide for Abortion Policy. The material is drawn from Mako Nagasawa’s 2021 book, Abortion Policy and Christian Social Ethics in the United States. Session 1 examines Scripture, the early Christian approaches to this issue, what the science of embryology tells us about fetal development, and how Christians can and should support contraceptive care. Session 2 examines the relationship between poverty and the abortion rate, comparing the Roman Catholic wholistic approach following the Great Depression to the white evangelical retributive approach from the Reagan years. Session 3 examines the issue in restorative vs. retributive justice frameworks.

Searching for faithful ways of understanding and engaging our political and racial climate? Read and discuss A Long Repentance series of blog posts where we explore how Christian (mostly Protestant) heresies started and continue to influence our modern political and racial challenges. This includes the very notion of race itself, and how our modern economics, housing, schooling, and policing systems have been shaped. Christians must take responsibility for these heresies in the framework of repentance.  We lead the material in online discussion groups, but you can use the study guide with the blog posts for personal reflection or discussion in your family, church, organization, etc.

Examine three major biblical themes — land, enemies, and temple — and the role of Calvinist theology in the formation of Protestant Christian Zionism. Shared prosperity is possible. But it takes a consistent approach to the Bible — reading the full story. See more here.

Big Questions About God does a head-to-head comparison of quotes on the following topics: Who caused this mess? From what does Jesus save us? Can a loving God have a hell? What about the people who died before Jesus? Does God predestine people to hell? Why does God want our worship? What’s my motivation to obey Jesus? Is God’s justice restorative or retributive? And more.

In 2023, we led a class especially for professionals in the anti-trafficking effort. This is a series of four video recordings with pre-readings. We covered biblical foundations for why God’s justice is restorative and not retributive. We also covered how the early Christians treated prostitution and poverty with love, sensitivity, and courage. See more.

Explore why hell is an acquired condition of eternal conscious resentment. See the course. Or see a bit more on the book and its background.

Why does the Bible begin with monogamy as an ideal, when other traditions begin with polygamy? Why does Genesis 2 indicate that marriage must take priority over family of origin in terms of relational priorities, contrary to every other ancient culture? The relational vision expressed by the Bible is unexplainable on naturalistic grounds, and is an argument that a good divine Mind was involved in its composition. This series of case studies compares the biblical material and the prevailing cultures around them, or similar cultural situations from other time periods, to show the human authors of Scripture were not easily bullied by their cultural context.

Jesus demonstrated very human emotions and called forth our participation in God’s joy, sorrow, etc. In fact, Jesus’ emotions seem to heal and shape our emotions. The passages in this series of Bible studies and reflections give us valuable insights into God’s character and love for us. See more here.

The Enneagram is a tool for self-reflection and spiritual growth. We think the Enneagram can be used with discernment, and that it has a historic Christian source. Find out more here.

Explore the causes, effects and cure for gender hierarchy in eight video episodes covering areas including: moral responsibility; work and compensation; reproduction and parenthood; civic life; education; marriage; sexual agency. Learn the surprising truth about why patriarchy happens, how it’s developed and mutated throughout history, and how Christians can honor God’s original plan for gender equality and co-rule while living in “a man’s world.” For more information, read more here.

This is our Evangelism 101 training. Wondering how to share about Jesus and your experience of him? Wondering how to share about Jesus and your experience of him? This is a workshop in four sessions with take-home assignments. Read more here.

Economic discipleship curriculum focusing on sharing our budgets, saving, and giving, in community. The giving is focused on organizations working to combat global poverty. See also Lazarus at the Gate testimony, a short video from a small group of young adults who gave $55,000 towards global poverty. See more.

Explore this public good approach to Christian ethics in the public square, especially in the United States. This series will highlight twelve key relationships distorted by Plantation Capitalism, a system of production where elites exploit people and the planet, and corrected by Jesus in his Jubilee Economy. This series is constantly being developed.

Have you been deconstructing Christian faith and practice but wondering what we can know and invite others into? Wondering what early Christian thought and practice can teach us? You will be inspired by the early Christian record of abolition of slavery and women in leadership. You’ll learn how to share Jesus, proclaim the gospel, and understand hell as the love of God. And more. Click here.

Why is it so easy for people — including Christians, especially Christians — to scapegoat people who are considered other for their own feelings of anxiety, anger, and disgust? See more about the course. See more about the overall topic.

This is a curriculum for small group discussion or personal reflection. While healthy shame means regret, toxic shame is the desire to hide the self. Either way, glory is the response of God to invest Himself in us and renew His image in us. This material explores humanity as fundamentally good, but corrupted by sin, and not entirely in control of our own desires and emotions. Part of the spiritual and emotional struggle, then, is to know ourselves, know how God sees and loves us, and to receive into ourselves the Spirit of Christ. Peppered with insights from the early Christians, including some “desert fathers and mothers” who were the earliest “spiritual directors.” See more here.

Towards a Jubilee Economy is a financial and economic literacy course. It is designed for use by church small groups because it asks people to discuss the emotions of money as they become more financially transparent to each other.

Public education is an investment in all our children. Christians have a rich history of supporting educational efforts for all, starting in the 3rd-4th century AD in Alexandria, Egypt when they developed an early form of braille. See more.

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We periodically lead online classes using these materials. We can also coach you to do so. Please let us know if you would be interested in either. Or, just let us know your questions and comments.