Let me tell you about a new men’s discipleship cohort I’d like to form at Goshen:

It’s a group for younger men (i.e., 40s and under) to study the Bible and theology together, for the purpose of growth in faith and understanding, and to help equip participants for spiritual leadership.

We would meet over a series of Saturday mornings in the spring and fall, in each season to read and respond to a significant Christian book.  What I have in mind for the first round of this men’s group in fall 2024 is to read and discuss J. Gresham Machen’s classic, Christianity & Liberalism (for an intro to this important work, see here; and see a few of my remarks here).

We would get together approximately every other Saturday from 8:00-9:30 a.m. this fall for seven sessions (possible dates are Sept. 14, 28; Oct. 19, 26; Nov. 9, 16; Dec. 7).  And then, Lord willing, we’d aim for a similar sequence of gatherings in the spring of 2025.

In any given meeting, one or more of us would summarize and note highlights in a chapter of the book, and then for most of the time we’d explore questions about the material and have open discussion.  I am eager to see how the Lord would help us grow in faith and discernment as we grapple with Scripture and theology together.

Would you be interested in participating in this men’s group?  And if you are but the proposed dates and/or times are problematic, please tell me what might work better for you.  Then, in the near future, I’ll follow up and pin down a schedule that works for most/many, and we’ll go with that.

If you have some level of interest or you’re just curious, feel free to jump in and see what you think—and then decide if you want to continue on.

All for now.  Looking forward to hearing from you!

Your brother in Christ,

Peter (peter@goshenbaptist.org)

Pastor Peter Nelson, Goshen Baptist Church