Adult Faith Formation
Late Spring / 2025
11:00–12:00 / Sundays / April 27, May 4, 18, June 1
Book Discussion:
The Good and Beautiful God: Falling in Love with the God Jesus Knows
LEADER: Linda Smith
MEETING SPACE: The Church Office
As we look at our core Mennonite beliefs, we know that Jesus is our foundation and Jesus has told us that He is the picture for us of God. Our ideas have formed who we are and how we live. The Good and Beautiful God is a deep, loving, and transformative book written by James Bryan Smith which will help us explore new ways to understand God as Jesus did and to explore the truths of our own spirituality.
Two notes: 1) books will be available at our first session; 2) this book discussion group will meet for this four-week series and will continue meeting through April and May as part of our final 5-week AFF set of classes for the year.
MEETING SPACE: The Church Office
As we look at our core Mennonite beliefs, we know that Jesus is our foundation and Jesus has told us that He is the picture for us of God. Our ideas have formed who we are and how we live. The Good and Beautiful God is a deep, loving, and transformative book written by James Bryan Smith which will help us explore new ways to understand God as Jesus did and to explore the truths of our own spirituality.
Two notes: 1) books will be available at our first session; 2) this book discussion group will meet for this four-week series and will continue meeting through April and May as part of our final 5-week AFF set of classes for the year.
Have We Trials and Temptations? How the New Testament Views Adversity
LEADER: David Morrow
MEETING SPACE: The Old Chapel
Peirasmos is the New Testament Greek word for trial or temptation, any situation of adversity that tests our faith. In this four-week study, we will explore key passages in the New Testament to understand how Jesus and his disciples responded to peirasmos and how we might respond in faithfulness and faith. Please bring your Bibles!
MEETING SPACE: The Old Chapel
Peirasmos is the New Testament Greek word for trial or temptation, any situation of adversity that tests our faith. In this four-week study, we will explore key passages in the New Testament to understand how Jesus and his disciples responded to peirasmos and how we might respond in faithfulness and faith. Please bring your Bibles!
PMC Menno Pride Conversations
LEADERS: PMC Menno Pride Committee (Blaine Greenway, Diana Platas, Andrew Harnish, Lois Gearhart, Kai Cheang, Sylvia Shirk, Kristen Swartley)
MEETING SPACE: The Front of the Sanctuary
The Menno Pride Committee will be offering a discussion-based class to help us engage in ideas of queer theology, community, and history at PMC and the wider world. The Menno Pride committee also wants to hear from you PMCers. What is on your hearts and minds in these challenging times about how to support our LGBTQ+ friends? What would you hope to see the Menno Pride committee doing?
MEETING SPACE: The Front of the Sanctuary
The Menno Pride Committee will be offering a discussion-based class to help us engage in ideas of queer theology, community, and history at PMC and the wider world. The Menno Pride committee also wants to hear from you PMCers. What is on your hearts and minds in these challenging times about how to support our LGBTQ+ friends? What would you hope to see the Menno Pride committee doing?
Tuesdays in June...
This evening on the news on PBS I listened to an interview with the Pakistan Ambassador to the United States. He thoughtfully stated the case for beginning a war with India all the while continuously saying, "We are a peaceful people." I immediately began to do what I do so often just now, I asked WWSHD, "What would Stanley Hauerwas do?" Hauerwas, a Methodist (Episcopalian wannabe) theologian, recently retired from Duke University, Time Magazine's greatest American theologian, self-described high-church Mennonite, and writer of the following book… War and the American Difference: Theological Reflections on Violence and National Identity.
CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE (and to sign up)
CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE (and to sign up)
Adult Faith Formation Resources from Past Classes
What is Faith Formation?
Faith Formation at Portland Mennonite Church strives to form a bridge between our Christian faith and everyday lives. Our programs are intended to invite people of all ages to grow in faith. At PMC we are striving to be an Anabaptist community, together, with our children, by the grace of God, that is shaped by the life of Christ, that acts with the compassion of Christ, and worships in the name of Christ.
