To All Generations Video Leader's Guide

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Models for introducing the Book of Confessions
to your congregation

  1. Show the video, To All Generations, once in its entirety to the session, and encourage your Elders to read the Book of Confessions
  2. In subsequent session meetings, highlight one portion of one confessional document at the beginning of the meeting.
  3. Show To All Generations in its entirety to every group in the church.
  4. Encourage people to take To All Generations home to watch, thus keeping your church video library in circulation.
  5. Some people will want to use the Book of Confessions and To All Generations as avenues for moving deeper into their faith. Using this guide, the Book of Confessions, and the Bible, meet regularly with this group.

Assumption

Wrestling with the grand themes and issues in the Book of Confessions, and using the Bible as the primary resource, will draw the spiritual wrestler closer to the Risen Christ.

Strong Recommendation

Everyone in the class/on session needs to have a personal copy of the Book of Confessions. Each person should stake his or her claim on their personal copy. Write in it. Circle words, underline phrases, scribble notes, cross out offending words, create a personal index, show coffee stains - do whatever it takes to stake a personal claim on your Book of Confessions.

Strong Suggestion

Read the Book of Confessions with three color highlighters at hand: yellow, red, and brown

  • When you encounter a phrase or sentence which enlightens or instructs you in a fresh way, mark it with the yellow highlighter.
  • When you encounter a phrase so deeply embedded in your belief system that you would be willing to die for that belief rather than deny it, highlight it with red.
  • When you encounter a phrase or paragraph you absolutely do not believe, and in fact would personally delete from the Book of Confessions, highlight it with brown.

General Discussion Questions

  1. After viewing the video, To All Generations, allow a period of time to free associate. What images, people, events, ideas, most readily come to mind?
  2. In a general way, compare and contrast all the documents in the Book of Confessions. For instance, note the various literacy formats (creeds, confessions, catechisms, statements) and their lengths; consider the different language styles; comment upon the themes emphasized in some but not in others; reflect upon the distinct historical settings for each of the documents, and the issues and key questions unique to each.
  3. Which document struck a resonant chord, and prompted the thought, "I'd like to revisit that creed, confession, or catechism?"
  4. What person or event in the video To All Generations especially interested you, and why?
  5. Recall that a "confession" is a statement of belief. What basic ingredients of your own confession did the video stir up?
  6. Why do you need a confession of faith? i.e., why do you need to know what you believe? What are the ethical implications of your personal belief system? What are the eternal implications of your personal belief system?
  7. Name and discuss some of those places in the Bible where individuals, and communities, made their confessions of faith in God and in Jesus Christ?
  8. What does it mean to be a confessional church?
  9. What is the role of the Book of Confessions in the life of your particular congregation?