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Why We Teach God made us in such a way that we need to rely on Him to answer the most important questions, like - Who am I? Why am I here? Who is God? What is wrong with the world? And God has answered these and the other most important questions in the Bible. The Bible was written by people, but it was written by people specially gifted by God to write truth directly from God Himself (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21). That's why the Bible says its words are the very words of God Himself (I Corinthians 14:37, for example). So that's why we teach: because God gives us His very words in a book, and God calls church leaders to teach this book to the church (I Timothy 4:13; II Timothy 4:1-2). This is why we at Mercy Hill Church are committed to teaching the Bible. How We Teach Here's how we teach (we donŐt do any of these perfectly, but this is our target): From the Bible. We do all we can to teach from the Bible itself. We try to focus on one passage, and avoid picking and choosing random verses taken out of context. Our goal is to focus on a powerful chunk of Scripture each Sunday Đ learn it and be changed by it. Some call this expository preaching Đ preaching which seeks to "exposit" a passage of Scripture. Honest, humble, authentic. We try to teach with humble hearts, being honest about our own sins and failures. We are not interested in putting up fronts, pretending, or playing games. After all, eternity is at stake. Relevant. Nothing is more relevant than the message of GodŐs Word Đ because it tells us how to be forgiven, changed, and brought into relationship with the Most Awesome Being in the Universe. But too often the way we teach the Bible makes it sound irrelevant. So at Mercy Hill we work hard to show how the message of the Bible impacts real life Đ whether itŐs handling the 280 commute, understanding same-sex desires, or dealing with our doubts. No clichs or pat answers. We arenŐt interested in teaching that sounds good. We want teaching that changes lives. For teaching to change lives, it has to give real answers to real problems that we all really face. Time for questions. Sometimes we open up for questions from the church community -- especially when covering controversial subjects. We do this, not because we have all the answers, but because we know GodŐs Word does, and we all grow through questions and hard thinking and earnest study. Culture-current. We try to show how the message of the Bible connects with questions being asked by Oprah or Linkin Park or the Dalai Lama. This is what Paul did when he quoted contemporary poets (Acts 17:28). To do this we sometimes play popular songs or movie clips which raise an issue, and show what GodŐs Word says about that issue. © 2007 Mercy Hill Church of San Jose Offices: 6455 Almaden Expressway Suite 207, San Jose, CA 95120 Phone: 408.997.9387 Fax: 408.997.6248 Email: Contact Form |
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