What is doctrine?

The Apostle Peter’s last exhortation to the church in his second letter is: “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity, amen”. The reason he begins with ‘but’ is because immediately preceding this he warns of the dangers for the Christian of being carried away by false teaching and losing their stability in the Gospel.

Don’t you love his prescription - grow in the grace of God that’s lavished upon us in Jesus, and grow in knowing Jesus! Result = deeper roots so that you’re not carried about by every wind of doctrine (Eph 4:14).

The word ‘Doctrine’ sounds weighty, one of those subjects best left to others to delve into, but when we understand at root it simply means ‘teaching or learning’ that suddenly makes it far more accessible! Our heart is for us all to grow in understanding what the scriptures teach and so we’re embarking on a multi-year study of the essential truths of the Christian faith, entitled, “Doctrine; for the Church, for the Future”.  

We’ll learn about the doctrine of scripture, the doctrine of God, the Trinity, the person and work of Christ, and many more and we’ll do this in manageable blocks of 4 or 5 consecutive weeks, beginning with an introduction to Systematic Theology on June 17th.

I remember many years ago, signing on with certain trepidation to a course of study like this, only to discover I loved learning more about what the bible teaches about all sorts of subjects and also discovering that learning in community only served to increase my joy in Christ.

Please consider signing up and I trust you will discover with the Psalmist that the testimonies of the Lord are my heritage forever; yes, they are the joy of my heart”!

If you'd like to sign up, you can do so here.