Teaching Notes for Lessons One and Two
The document called The Path to God (available as a PDF on the previous web page or here) provides an overview of how to become a Christian—an essential foundation to study before analyzing the individual parts of the Christian faith (lessons three through eight in the Becoming a Christian series). It would be a tragedy to miss the overarching message of the faith: people can know God through Jesus Christ!
The Path to God is structured differently and is longer than the other lessons in The Discipleship Series. Therefore, we suggest studying it with others over the course of two meetings. Print a copy of the document for everyone you anticipate will attend the first meeting, not only so they can follow along with your teaching, but also so they can reread the material in preparation for your second meeting.
During your first meeting, study pages 1–5 of the document—first reviewing and discussing the diagnostic questions on page 1, then working through pages 2–5. For these sections, take turns reading each paragraph aloud. Briefly pause for questions and comments as you go, but do your best to complete the first five pages in that first session.
At the end of the first meeting, ask group members to read the document thoroughly on their own and to come prepared to discuss the information on pages 6–8 (along with any preceding material you did not cover).
During your second meeting, briefly summarize pages 1–5, but study pages 6–8 in detail. Again, take turns reading each paragraph aloud and pause frequently for questions and discussion.
If your group requires three meetings instead of two to complete the study, it will still be time well spent.
Each of the remaining lessons in The Discipleship Series can be studied in 40–60 minutes.