See also
- Life Explored
- Alpha course
- Emmaus Course
- The Good Book Company
Christianity Explored is an informal Christian evangelistic teaching course developed by Rico Tice and Barry Cooper at All Souls Church, Langham Place, a leading Anglican church, [1] and published by The Good Book Company. The course is considered to stand within the conservative evangelical tradition. Christianity Explored Ministries has also developed a second evangelistic course in 2016 Life Explored.
The third edition of the course was published on 10 May 2011. The sessions are:
There is also a day away that features three bonus sessions: The Sower, James and John and Herod. Spin-offs include a youth version, revised in 2010 for two age groups: 11 to 14 years ("CY Nano") and 15 plus ("CY"). [2] The seven session "Soul" DVD [3] is designed to work with CY, and can also be used as a stand-alone resource. There is a follow-on course entitled "Discipleship Explored", written and presented by Barry Cooper, and "English Made Easy" editions of both Christianity Explored and Discipleship Explored. [4] Christianity Explored publications are also available in Bulgarian, Dutch, German, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Luganda, Polish, Spanish, Swahili and Welsh. Translations in progress include French, Mandarin, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian and Swedish. [5] In 2011 the course, already being used in over 50 countries, was rolled out in the United States: it was endorsed by John Piper and Tim Keller. [6]
The Church of England generally (e.g. in the 2003 publication "Evangelism - Which Way Now?") considers it, along with Alpha and the Emmaus Discipleship Course, as one of a "trinity" of courses covering all wings of the church. Other churches have also used the course: in 2006-7 the Presbyterian Church in Ireland’s board of youth and children's ministry used the youth version CY extensively with the Boys Brigades. [7] It has also been used in Asia, with leader training run by the Methodist Church in Singapore. [8]
The course is popular with conservative evangelical churches. [9]
Christianity Explored is distinguished from the Alpha Course by shorter videos in less formal settings, less charismatic emphasis on the Holy Spirit and by an expositional study of scripture – in this case Mark’s Gospel. [10] 9 Marks comments that Christianity Explored is "plainly an answer to the Alpha course". It says that the course does a "fairly good job of explaining the gospel clearly" but finds it over-full of material, and holds the view that "the use of the sinners' prayer and immediate assurance is ... troubling." [11] It credits Christianity Explored with "the best treatment of sin, giving it a whole session", along with a good treatment of grace and the atonement. [12] This is in agreement with (or perhaps derivative from) a 2001 article in the British Evangelical Council magazine which commended Christianity Explored, in direct contrast to Alpha, for its teaching on grace, penal substitution and the Holy Spirit. [13] [14] The course has been described as a conservative evangelical alternative to the charismatic leanings of the Alpha Course. [15]
The 2003 book 'Evangelism: Which Way Now?' offers a detailed examination of the benefits and drawbacks of Christianity Explored amongst other evangelistic courses and approaches to evangelism. [16]
In Christianity, evangelism is the act of preaching the gospel with the intention of sharing the message and teachings of Jesus Christ.
The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), also referred to simply as the Wisconsin Synod, is an American Confessional Lutheran denomination of Christianity. Characterized as theologically conservative, it was founded in 1850 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Cru is an interdenominational Christian parachurch organization. It was founded in 1951 at the University of California, Los Angeles by Bill Bright and Vonette Zachary Bright. Since then, Cru has expanded its focus to include adult professionals, athletes, and high school students. In 2020, Cru had 19,000 staff members in 190 countries.
The Alpha course is an evangelistic course which seeks to introduce the basics of the Christian faith through a series of talks and discussions. It is described by its organisers as "an opportunity to explore the meaning of life". Alpha courses are run in churches, homes, workplaces, prisons, universities and a wide variety of other locations. The course began in Britain and is run around the world by various Christian denominations.
Transformational Christianity, or Transformationalism, represents a fusion of evangelicalism, Pentecostalism, and ecumenism that started becoming prominent in the early 21st century. Unlike previous movements, it is typically embodied in regional meta-church organizations—alliances of churches from different denominational backgrounds—rather than particular churches, denominations, or parachurch organizations. Critics of Transformationalism accuse it of overemphasizing eschatology, false dichotomies, unnecessary idealism and a tendency to be corrosive of individual church identities.
Parachurch organizations are Christian faith-based organizations that work outside and across denominations to engage in social welfare and evangelism. Parachurch organizations seek to come alongside the church and specialize in things that individual churches may not be able to specialize in by themselves. They often cross denominational and national boundaries providing specialized services and training.
All Souls Church is a conservative evangelical Anglican church in central London, situated in Langham Place in Marylebone, at the north end of Regent Street. It was designed in Regency style by John Nash and consecrated in 1824.
Nicholas Glyn Paul Gumbel, known as Nicky Gumbel, is an English Anglican priest and author in the evangelical and charismatic traditions. He is known as the developer of the Alpha Course, a basic introduction to Christianity supported by churches of many Christian traditions. Since 2005, he has been Vicar of Holy Trinity Brompton in the Diocese of London, Church of England.
Ronald James Sider was a Canadian-born American theologian and social activist. He was the founder of Evangelicals for Social Action, a think-tank which seeks to develop biblical solutions to social and economic problems through incubating programs that operate at the intersection of faith and social justice.
The Neo-charismaticmovement is a movement within evangelical Protestant Christianity that is composed of a diverse range of independent churches and organizations that emphasize the post-biblical availability of gifts of the Holy Spirit, such as speaking in tongues and faith healing. The Neo-charismatic movement is considered to be the "third wave" of the Charismatic Christian tradition which began with Pentecostalism, and was furthered by the Charismatic movement. As a result of the growth of postdenominational and independent charismatic groups, Neo-charismatics are now believed to be more numerous than the first and second wave categories. As of 2002, some 19,000 denominations or groups, with approximately 295 million individual adherents, were identified as Neo-charismatic.
David Christopher Knight Watson was an English Anglican priest, evangelist and author.
Maxie D. Dunnam (1934-) is a United Methodist Church minister, evangelist, Bible commentator and writer. He is a past president of World Methodist Council. He is currently President Emeritus of Asbury Theological Seminary.
Christian universalism is a school of Christian theology focused around the doctrine of universal reconciliation – the view that all human beings will ultimately be saved and restored to a right relationship with God. 'Christian universalism' and 'the belief or hope in the universal reconciliation through Christ' are concepts that can even be understood as synonyms. Opponents of this school, who hold that eternal damnation is the ultimate fate of some or all people, are sometimes called "infernalists."
Richard Ian "Rico" Tice is an Anglican clergyman and writer, co-author of Christianity Explored. He is currently associate minister at All Souls Church, Langham Place, London, and is well known in the UK as a speaker at evangelical Christian conferences and an evangelist of national standing.
Duraisamy Geoffery Samuel Dhinakaran was an Indian evangelical preacher. He was the founder of Jesus Calls Ministries and Karunya University.
Reformers is a non-profit Christian wholesaler and bookseller operating in Australasia, plus telephone, internet and mail order worldwide.
The Good Book Company (TGBC) is an evangelical Christian publisher, located in Epsom, Surrey, England. They are structured as a large unquoted, private company, limited by share capital. Their practices include publishing, mission outreach and training. The Publisher was declared runner up in the Christian Publisher of the Year Award by the Trade Body for Christian Publishing and Retailing in the UK.
The Centre for Missional Leadership(CML) was a theological centre specialising in applied theology. It was based in Watford, 20 miles northwest of central London, England. CML taught applied theology with the aim of equipping Christians for practical evangelism. Located on the Watford High Street, CML was an urban centre for Christian learning in the fields of applied theology and Christian mission. The centre trained Christians for ministries that are both in and outside the church. Many non-church ministries were also developed.
Life Explored is an informal Christian evangelistic teaching course developed by Christianity Explored Ministries and created by Barry Cooper and Nate Morgan-Locke and is presented by those two along with Rico Tice and published by The Good Book Company. The course is considered to stand within the conservative evangelical tradition.
The course has always proved incredibly popular with conservative evangelical churches.
Some courses are more catholic in tone (Knowing God Better), some are conservative evangelical (Christianity Explored), some are broad church (Emmaus) and some are charismatic (Alpha).