Theology of the Church, Mentor's Guide, MG03

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T H E O L O G Y O F T H E C H U R C H

about the Church at worship to “me at worship” is a strong one, and your ability in review and reflection with the students to keep them on the communal implications is important here.

These case studies highlight the concern of the nature of worship in our congregations. The need here is to enable your students to understand the general teachings, truths, and principles associated with the Church at worship, and their ability to apply these principles to real-life problems associated with the Church’s worship today. Each of the following case studies can be understood through an array of perspectives and principles covered in this lesson. The aim, of course, is not to give the perfect answer in order to clarify the situation or resolved the problem, but to help the students gain skill in addressing particular existential problems and concerns while keeping specific biblical principles in mind. Armed with the truth of the Word and the experience of Christian history and tradition, the students can use their own experience and understandings to help carve new directions to understanding and address these questions. Help them apply different principles to the situations and see how those principles make clear the underlying questions or concerns which need to be addressed. Always encourage the students to not simply study the word of God, making the most of their critical functions, but also to pray fervently over issues, and so exercise their spiritual gifts and capacities. All the issues we face as leaders will require our specific and ongoing intercession, and by emphasizing this in our lessons we train our students to never study the Bible without reference to the wisdom that only God can provide, the kind that will never make us ashamed but will enable us to represent God in the way he desires (James 1.5-8). Admitting that we do not understand something is never a problem to the Lord; God is beyond us and will provide us with wisdom if we search for it with all our hearts, and not simply with all our minds (Prov. 2.1-9). As the writer to the Proverbs suggests, we are never to lean on our own understanding as if we could conjure up solutions because we thought well (Prov. 3.5-6). Train the students, even after the Word has been

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Counseling and Prayer