Church History
(Fall 2024 - Spring 2025)

This Sunday (09/22), we start a new series for our equipping hour focusing on Church History. We want to encourage all to learn about this important topic which deeply affects every believer in Jesus Christ. The history of the Christian faith affects how we read the Bible. It affects how we view our government. It affects how we worship. Someone has said that the history of the church is our family history. Past Christians are our mothers and fathers in the faith, our aunts and uncles, our in-laws and—in a few cases—our outlaws! 

Have you ever been asked “Why are there so many different churches?” The answer is found somewhere within two millennia of political struggles and personal skirmishes, and we want to invite you to join us in this journey.

The main textbook for this class is "Forerunners of the Faith" by Nathan Busenitz, and supplemental reading is "Christian History Made Easy" by Paul Timothy Jones. You can see the schedule for the school year on our church website.

 

[1] Nathan Busenitz and John MacArthur Jr, Forerunners of the Faith: 13 Lessons to Understand and Appreciate the Basics of Church History (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2020). Amazon price: $10.99 https://a.co/d/aoWKlrJ

 Forerunners

[1] Timothy Paul Jones, Christian History Made Easy, Rev., Bible Basics (Torrance, CA: Rose Publishing, 2009). Amazon price: $9.94 https://a.co/d/1NOa7KY

Church History Made Easy

Lesson

Time Period

Date

Suggested Reading

Why Study Church History?

-

09/22/2024

Forerunners: pp. 8-10

Made Easy: pp. 6-8

Biblical Framework for Church History

-

09/29/2024

10/06/2024

Forerunners: pp. 13-19

 

From Pentecost to Patmos

 

1st century

10/13/2024

10/20/2024

Forerunners: pp. 21-27

Made Easy: pp. 10-16

Early Church Fathers - Disciples of the Apostles

2nd century

10/27/2024

11/03/2024

Forerunners: pp. 29-34

Made Easy: pp. 16-20

Pre-Nicene Church - Contenders for the Faith

2nd -3rd centuries

11/10/2024

11/17/2024

Forerunners: pp. 35-40

Made Easy: pp. 21-32

Rome’s Persecution and Constantine

2nd -3rd centuries

12/01/2024

Made Easy: pp. 33-38

Council of Nicaea - Defending the Deity of Christ

4th century

12/08/2024

12/15/2024

Forerunners: pp. 41-48

Made Easy: pp. 39-46

Augustine, Chrysostom and the Post-Nicene Fathers

4th -5th centuries

01/05/2025

01/12/2025

Forerunners: pp. 49-58

Made Easy: pp. 48-62

Controversies and Councils – Late Patristic Period and Early

Middle Ages

5th- 8th centuries

01/19/2025

01/26/2025

Forerunners: pp. 59-64

 

Schisms, Scholars, and the Crusades

6th-12th centuries

02/02/2025

02/09/2025

Forerunners: pp. 65-70

Made Easy: pp. 64-90

Forerunners to the Reformation

13th-15th centuries

02/16/2025

02/23/2025

Forerunners: pp. 71-78

Made Easy: pp. 92-104

Protestant Reformation

 

16th century

03/02/2025

03/09/2025

Forerunners: pp. 79-84

Made Easy: pp. 106-20

The Puritans and the Great Awakening

17th-18th centuries

03/16/2025

03/23/2025

Forerunners: pp. 85-88

Made Easy: pp. 122-48

The Modern Missions Movement

18th-19th centuries

03/30/2025

04/06/2025

Forerunners: pp. 89-94

Made Easy: pp. 150-64

The Battle for the Bible – Modernism x Fundamentalism

19th-20th centuries

04/13/2025

04/20/2025

Forerunners: pp. 95-100

 

The Birth of Evangelicalism and Pentecostalism

20th century –

Modern Day

04/27/2025

05/04/2025

Forerunners: pp. 9-14

Made Easy: pp. 166-88