We commit ourselves to: A Life-long Journey in which “the greatest truths are given to the youngest child” and during which teens and adults can wrestle with their faith in order to more uniquely bear Jesus’ image to God’s beloved world.
Church of the Beloved believes that there should never be a point in our lives when we stop growing spiritually. At Church of the Beloved, no one has all the answers or is going to make you feel inadequate for what you do not know. We don’t make assumptions. Every opportunity offered for adults attempts to meet people where they are, and aims to integrate spirituality with the realities of daily life.
In our religious tradition, adulthood begins at sixteen years of age, so we do all we can to both prepare older teens for adulthood as well as treat them as equal adult sisters and brothers in Christ.
Christian Formation for Adults and Children is called the Beloved Beehive and follows the hospitality time immediately following worship.
On scheduled Sundays, older teens (15+) and adults meet for 20 minutes to participate in a topical study led by the staff. The enrollment is open and you are welcome to participate any of the Sunday mornings that adult formation is offered!
In addition to Sundays, many other faith-enriching and fellowship opportunities are offered for adults during the week. Many of these require advance registration.
Initial registration for adult formation this year will be on September 9, 2007 following worship and is ongoing throughout the year.
2007-2008 opportunities:
Sunday Morning Adult Formation
Beloved Pilgrimage (Sunday early afternoons)
Flyte (age 15-18 youth group)
Spiritual Living Book Club (Monday evenings)
Discoving the Bible (Tuesday evenings; possible morning option)
A Short History of Christianity (Wednesday evenings; possible morning option)
Crown Financial Management Bible Study (TBD)
Upcoming Congregational Fellowship Events
Beloved Men's Fellowship
Beloved Women's Fellowship
Beloved Pilgrimage to the Holy Land (December 26, 2009-January 4, 2010)
2007-2008 Sunday Morning Adult Formation
We gather for twenty minutes following worship and hospitality time to find a meaningful way to live life, to take Christianity seriously as a way of life. We will learn to use practices & activities, drawn from the wellsprings of ancient Christian tradition, that we do together in community. We will seek to deepen our Christian spirituality, through these shared activities, to form ourselves as people of faith in the midst of community.
Presentations for teens and adults will occur together with a separate breakout groups for those in high school and those who are older when appropriate.
Life Reflections [September 16, 23, 30, October 7,14,21]
We will learn to look at the world through God glasses, to think theologically. This helps us to close the gap between our experience of truth and the teachings of Jesus Christ. We will be equipped to use the themes of scripture to analyze anything—our lives, books, movies, etc.
Sunday, October 28, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) Holiday weekend
Sunday, November 4, All Saints Day Celebration and Baptism reception
Sunday, November 11, CMS Veteran’s Day Holiday weekend
Advent Intergenerational Event [November 18]
Sunday, November 25, Thanksgiving Holiday weekend
Drama Workshop with Friends of the Groom [Saturday, December 1]
Living the Faith, part 1 [December 2, 9, 16]
We will learn the use of celebrations and rituals, prayers and blessings, to enrich our daily living and mark important life transitions. This helps us to integrate our Christian life—at home, in worship and wherever we are. We will focus on our homes as centers of spiritual formation, where we engage in sacramental living.
Sunday, December 23, Worship with Bishop Gregg & “Hanging of the Greens”
Monday, December 24, Christmas Eve “Christ Mass” @ 7pm
Sunday, December 30, Xmas 6th Day (bring calendar/planner for new year blessing)
Saturday, January 5, Epiphany Pageant Rehearsal @ 10am
Sunday, January 6, The Feast of the Epiphany & Epiphany Pageant
Epiphany Intergenerational Event [January 13]
Sunday, January 20, CMS Martin Luther King, jr. Holiday weekend
Living the Faith, part 2 [January 27, February 3]
Wednesday, February 6, Ash Wednesday Liturgy @ 7pm
Scripture Study [February 10, 24, March 2, 9]
We will learn to engage in reflection-oriented Bible study. This helps us turn Bible study away from an exercise of the intellect in learning about the text toward the practice of listening to what God is saying through the text. We will nurture our ability to empathize with God’s people throughout the ages and with the gathered community, gaining new understanding of ourselves in the process.
Sunday, February 17, CMS Presidents' Day Holiday weekend
Sunday, March 16, Palm Sunday
Thursday, March 20, Maundy Thursday Agape Meal and Footwashing @ 7pm
Thursday, March 20, Maundy Thursday Watch (9pm-9am)
Friday, March 21, Good Friday Liturgy @ 7pm
Saturday, March 22, The Great Vigil of Easter and Festival Easter Party @ Sunset
Sunday, March 23, Easter Sunday
Easter Intergenerational Event [March 30]
Loving the Questions [April 13, 20, 27, May 4]
We will engage in Eastern Christianity’s quest for wisdom rather than certainty…mystery rather than always having to have the “right” answer. Through discussion and reflection on assigned experiments conducted in our daily lives, we will live into a spirituality of not having all the answers but trusting that our Lord Jesus is always present and faithful.
Sunday, April 6, CMS Spring Break
Thursday, May 1, Ascension Day worship @ 7pm
Sunday, May 11, Pentecost (Mother’s Day) Celebration
Pentecost Intergenerational Event [May 18]
Sunday, May 25, CMS Memorial Day Holiday weekend
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2007-2008 Weekday Adult Formation Opportunities
A variety of Sunday afternoon and weekday opportunities are available to help nurture your life in Jesus Christ. Try one or more and see the difference it can make in your faith life!
Sundays midday: Beloved Pilgrimage (Cohort A) @ Community House MS
11:45am-1:45pm
Living as a Christian in the adult world can be challenging. As older teens prepare in high school to enter this world of college and work, this inaugural offering of Beloved Pilgrimage, with Beloved’s key staff as primary presenters and guides, seeks to provide a framework for them, along with any and all other interested adults, to more effectively operate in this adult world with a firm grasp of their Christian identity.
Together, these younger and older pilgrims walk and learn from each other as they share in this transforming journey.
Year 1 (2007-2008), Experiencing God & Making Moral Choices
Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God will help participants learn to hear when God is speaking to them, encourage them to find out where God is working in the world around them, and experience the presence of the Holy Spirit as they join in that work. Life-changing in its scope, Experiencing God leads participants in an exploration of the seven vital aspects of our relationship with God: knowing, loving, hearing, joining, believing, obeying and experiencing. This segment culminates in YouthQuake, a national teen weekend held each January at Ridgecrest Conference Center. The remainder of the year we learn Christianity’s tools for making individual and corporate moral choices, ending in an urban plunge weekend experience.
A parent is encouraged to attend the non-weekend sessions with their teen during this year.
[September 23, October 7, 21, November 4, 18, December 9, 16, Youthquake '08 (January 18-20; $125/person), January 27, February 10, 24, March 9, April 13, 27, May 4, 18, and Urban Plunge weekend] Register
Year 2 (2008-2009), Becoming an adult Son or Daughter of the New Covenant
Anyone who has attended a bar mitzvah or bat mitzvah of a Jewish friend has experienced how important a rigorous time of preparation is in these young people’s experience of taking on the adult responsibilities of our faith. Building on insights gained from year one, participants will wrestle and dig deeply into a study of scripture and Christian doctrine, gaining a clearer understanding of how Christian identity and theology affects their current and future life choices. Attendance at one of two diocesan Happening weekends is encouraged.
Those who desire confirmation (confirming their baptismal vows as an adult) will assist in the preparation of particular Beloved Sunday worship celebrations, including (in the same way our Jewish sisters and brothers do) preaching the sermon on that day, before their confirmation at the bishop’s visitation to Beloved.
An adult (non-parent) sponsor is paired with each teen during this year.
Year 3 (2009-2010), Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus
Pilgrimage preparation sessions precede a Pilgrimage to the Holy Land with Derek and Clifford King Harbin from December 26, 2009-January 4, 2010.
This pilgrimage is open to all adults, but is limited to those teens who have successfully completed years one and two of the process.
Estimated cost is extremely reasonable (cover the total cost by saving approximately $90/month from September 2007 until the pilgrimage) and includes all expenses except a few lunches, tips and spending money for gifts. Some scholarship and fund raising opportunites will be available.
To view our Pilgrimage draft itinerary, click here.
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Flyte (age 15-18 youth group)
Integrated with Beloved Pilgrimage is Flyte, Beloved's newest adventure and service centered youth group for those 15-18 years of age. From movies to field games, whitewater rafting to skiing, the possibilities are endless...not counting the bonus of human needs projects we do in the name of Jesus that will count toward those High School Community Service Requirements!
Stay tuned to learn more about the Fall 2007 inaugural event of Flyte! • Return to top
Monday evenings: Spiritual Living Book Club @ Beloved Garden
7-8:30pm
(Beloved Garden is located next to Duron Paints on the Park Road side of The Terraces at Park Place (anchored by Bi-Lo), 9101 Pineville–Matthews Road. For a map, click here)
Not your mother’s book club or your father’s training seminar focused on intellectual information or discussion, but spirited engagement using imaginative activities to interact with the themes of each book, meeting about three times to fully explore each author’s spiritual journey. With Pastor Sally Brower as our guide, we will seek to understand our own diverse spiritual journeys by looking at the memoirs of best-selling authors. In the process we will become a spiritual community on pilgrimage together to a deeper, more meaningful life, helping each other to make sense of our doubts and questions, our longings and experiences, honoring our unique paths, finding new ways to navigate our fragmented world. A minimum number of advance registrants is required for each book study class to proceed. Purchasing of the books on your own is required.
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert [September 10, 17, October 22]
The Faith Club: A Muslim, A Christian, A Jew—Three Women Search for Understanding by Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver & Priscilla Warner [November 5, 26, December 3]
Blue Like Jazz: Non-religious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality by Donald Miller [January 7, 21 & February 4]
Lenten Study: Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation by Parker Palmer [Monday evenings, February 18, 25, March 3]
[Sunday middays, February 17, March 2, 16]
The Easter life is based on finding our true identity in God and in responding to the call God has given to each of us. Call engages us in such questions as “Who am I?” “What does God want me to do with my life?” “How can I make a difference in the world?”
Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott [April 28, May 5, 19]
To register for any of these offerings, click here. • Return to top
Tuesday mornings: Discovering the Bible @ Beloved Garden
10:30am-Noon
(Beloved Garden is located next to Duron Paints on the Park Road side of The Terraces at Park Place (anchored by Bi-Lo), 9101 Pineville–Matthews Road. For a map, click here)
In 26 sessions, spanning nine months, participants will gain clear knowledge and understanding of the entire story of God’s story of Salvation as recorded in the words of the Bible. No advance knowledge is assumed in this Kerygma Bible Study! With Fr. Derek Harbin as our guide, Discovering the Bible invites adults into a new adventure of learning as we explore biblical people, events, ideas and places. Some advance reading and summarizing work is required in advance of each session. $30 for materials; a minimum number of advance registrants is required for the class to proceed. [September 25, October 2, 9, 23, November 6, 13, 27, December 4, 11, January 8, 22, 29, February 5, 12, 26, March 4, 11, 25, April 1, 22, 29, May 6, 13, 27, June 3, 10] Register
An evening class option is available with enough participants. To indicate interest, click here. • Return to top
Thursday evenings: A Short History of Christianity @ Beloved Garden
7-8:30pm
(Beloved Garden is located next to Duron Paints on the Park Road side of The Terraces at Park Place (anchored by Bi-Lo), 9101 Pineville–Matthews Road. For a map, click here)
With chapters from this entertaining book by Stephen Tomkins to read at home before each session, and with Fr. Derek Harbin as our guide, this irreverent and fun study (can we really say this about history?) will explore our Christian heritage with the purpose of discovering how important it is to our lives today.
In the words of Tomkins, “I wrote the book for all the people who don’t know the story and who would enjoy it. They tend to have a fair idea of how it starts, with Jesus and his disciples, and parables, and pharisees. And they tend to have a fair idea of how it has ended up (so far), with George Bush and Bono and Benedict XVI, with tele-evangelists and terrorists. They just tend to be a little fuzzy about that two thousand year hiatus in the middle…Every one of us carries around in his or her head versions of the two stories that bookend, as it were, this book—the first Easter, and 9/11 and its continuing aftermath—and our choice of versions has untold consequences, for ourselves and others.”
Ideal for folks who have completed Kerygma or who are just plain interested in the topic! A minimum number of advance registrants is required for each book study class to proceed. Purchasing of the book on your own (around $15) is required. [September 27, October 4, 11, 18, 25, November (1), 8, 15] Register
A morning class option is available with enough participants. To indicate interest, click here. • Return to top
Winter/Spring 2008: Crown Financial Management Bible Study
(10 weeks; dates and times TBD)
Many people are experiencing financial challenges. But did you know that the Bible contains 2,350 verses dealing with money? Many Christians have been taught what the Bible says about how to handle the first 10 percent of their income. Although this is crucial, we need to understand God’s perspective of managing the rest of our money as well, regardless of whether we have very little or have been blessed with a lot!
Beginning in early 2008, Beloved’s Stewardship Education Team is sponsoring its second Crown Financial Ministries small group study at Church of the Beloved. The Small Group Study is an in-depth study of what scripture teaches about money and possessions. Graduates have confirmed that relationships are strengthened and individuals are finding their way out of debt. Participants are also becoming consistent savers, generous givers, and prudent consumers. Most importantly, people are entering into a closer relationship with Jesus Christ as we learn to apply his Word to our daily decisions. Groups meet for 2 hours every week and each session includes advance preparation, scripture memorization and interactive discussions. $45 individual; $55 couple. Space is limited so register early for a seat! Register
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