Christian Education

Jesus commanded his disciples, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations . . . teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Mat 28:19-20, ESV) This makes perfect sense when we remember that another word for “disciple” is “student.” In one sense, Jesus was commanding his students to, “Go therefore and make students of all nations.”

The preaching and teaching ministry of First Baptist Church is designed “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” (Eph 4:12-14, ESV) This is accomplished through:

• expository preaching
• a Sunday-morning study (all ages meet together)
• weekday classes
• semimonthly discussions
• a monthly journal

The goal of these things is not only to grow in our understanding of God and our obedience to him, but above all to grow in our love for God. At First Baptist, we take the imagination seriously.

Expository preaching: Expository preaching brings the Bible to bear in all of its power upon all of life. The expository preacher chooses a passage from the Bible, explains it in its context, and exhorts his hearers to think, feel, and do what the text teaches. He tries to avoid taking the passage out of context, or using it as a pretext to launch off into something that has little or nothing to do with the text itself. You can listen to some of these sermons here on this website.

Sunday-morning study: Over the last few years our Sunday-morning study has covered the feasts of Israel, the geography of the Holy Land, our church’s doctrinal statement, methods of biblical counseling, how to be changed into the image of Christ, how to read the Bible to get the most out of it, a biblical study of The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas À Kempis, and a survey of the Old Testament.

Weekday classes and discussions: Twice a week in the pastor’s study, students meet to learn Greek grammar. A larger group meets twice a month for a “music/book discussion.” We are currently watching the video lecture series, “How to Listen to and Understand Great Music,” by Robert Greenberg, and discussing Richard Weaver’s Ideas Have Consequences (building on our previous discussion of C. S. Lewis’ The Abolition of Man).

Monthly journal: Finally, Pastor Mitchell publishes a monthly journal, The Pastor’s Quarry, containing devotional and historical essays as well as poetry. You can read past issues of this journal here on this website.

We want to meet people where they are, and hope to provide something for everybody, children, adults, new Christians, and mature Christians.

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a brochure about First Baptist Church.

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Contact us!

First Baptist Church, 1620 10^th Avenue, Granite Falls, MN 56241-1024 
 320-564-3748 | pastor@firstbaptistgranitefalls.org