Adult Sunday School – Seeing Our Faith Through New Eyes
Last year, our Faith Formation class spent time exploring the many denominations within Christianity. We learned that while we may worship the same God and follow Jesus Christ, Christians can understand Scripture, worship, and theology in very different ways.
This year, we decided to look beyond Christianity and explore the major world religions.
And that raises a pretty important question: Why?
Why would Christians spend time learning about religions that are different from our own?
Perhaps the answer begins with something Jesus taught us: love your neighbor.
God created every person on this earth. Every person has a story, a culture, a family, a history, and a set of experiences that shape the way they understand the world—and their understanding of God.
What if someone was born into a particular religion in a country where they had very little exposure to other faiths? What if it was the only faith they had ever known? What does God think of that person? What does God think about their faith?
And what if learning about another religion doesn’t just teach us about them—what if it teaches us something about us?
That is exactly what our class discovered.
We began with Hinduism, and none of us expected that our very first class would change the way we thought about this entire study. We came expecting to learn about another religion. Instead, we found ourselves looking at Christianity through new eyes.
As we learned about another faith’s understanding of God, humanity, suffering, morality, and the search for meaning, we began to notice things about our own faith that we may have taken for granted.
We found ourselves thinking more deeply about the incredible blessings of Christianity: the invitation into a personal relationship with God, the life and teachings of Jesus, and the extraordinary gifts of grace and salvation.
We aren’t studying other religions because we believe all religions are the same. They aren’t. There are significant and important differences between them.
But we are asking questions.
Are human beings across cultures searching for answers to some of the same great questions? Why are we here? How should we live? How should we treat one another? What do we do with suffering? Where do we find hope? What does it mean to be a good person?
And perhaps most importantly, what can we learn about our own faith when we take the time to listen to someone else’s?
We are only one world religion into our study, and already we’ve discovered that this isn’t simply a class about other people. It is becoming a class about who we are—and whose we are.
Come. Listen. Learn. See your faith from a new perspective.
You don’t need to prepare anything. You don’t have to attend every class. There is no homework, no test, and no expectation that you have all the answers—or even that you speak at all.
We’re simply a group of people curious enough to ask questions, willing to listen, and interested in understanding both our neighbors and our own faith a little more deeply.
We hope you’ll join us.
Upcoming Faith Formation: Major World Religions
- October 4 — Buddhism
- October 11 — Buddhism
- October 18 — Judaism
- October 25 — Judaism
- November 1 — Islam
- November 8 — Islam
- November 15 — Christianity
Come for one class or come for all of them. Come explore, listen, learn—and perhaps see your own faith with new eyes.
*For families attending Adult Sunday School, childcare will be available every Sunday during the 10:00 a.m. Adult Sunday School hour. We look forward to growing in faith together this fall!