Every Sunday morning from 9:30-10: 30 am, adults have an opportunity to grow in faith by learning about God’s love and grace. We ascribe to the communal aspect of learning and transformation through meaningful relationships.
2019-2020 – God’s Creative Story
NDPC is a storytelling community. Every Sunday in worship, we choose part of God’s story from the scriptures to tell in words and images. We receive the story into our lives and let it intersect with our own life story. Stories – God’s and ours – are sources within which we discover meaning in our world.
We are delighted to announce that NDPC is the recipient of a Vital Worship Grant from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, Grand Rapids, Mich., with funds provided by the Lilly Endowment, Inc. This grant enables us to launch a year-long project called God’s Creative Story for 2019-2010. It will help us discover new ways to enhance our storytelling through visual media and creative expression in worship, and it will provide new opportunities for learning in adult education and liturgical arts.
- Ellen Gadberry welcomes you to creative arts gatherings – Liturgical Arts Group and Craftivists – at the church Thursday evenings where we will make beautiful artwork for wor- ship, for devotion, and to support our social justice initiatives.
- Every Sunday at 9:30 am, as part of adult education, Rick Neale welcomes you into a creative, rollicking conversation about the Artistry of the Bible – a “Bible study” for people who hate Bible study.
- During the year we will welcome three nationally known guest speakers for special presentations, each of which will offer us opportunities to engage Word and worship through visual arts.
In worship through the coming year, the preaching will focus on teaching our community to engage scripture by examining stories that evoke the Bible’s major themes: creation, covenant, prophecy, liberation, wonder, power, mercy, salvation, and community.
By the end of this church year, we anticipate that every member of our community will feel a deeper appreciation for God’s artistic and arresting, weird and wonderful, complex and creative story – and how our own story is bound up with God’s.
For more details about this project, go to our website – ndpc.org/story.
Weekly Offerings
Our Spring Catalog for Adult Education Offerings can be found here.
Year Long Classes
FORMING US PARENTING CLASS
Want to deepen your connections with other NDPC parents and dialogue about the hard and holy work of parenting? The NDPC Parenting class seeks to foster community among our families and to teach, encourage and support the spiritual formation of children and parents alike. This Fall, we’ll be focused on Sharing Our Stories, Parenting with Mindfulness, and Simplicity Parenting. All parents and those who love our NDPC children are welcome to join us!
Facilitators: Kimberly Broerman, John Morgan and others
Location: Parent Classroom in the Children’s Education Building
THE ARTISTRY OF THE BIBLE
The Bible is weird. It’s filled with quirky characters, and a lot of strange things happen. The Bible is also a big deal. But why? As part of our God’s Creative Story project (connected to our Vital Worship Grant), we will explore this inspiring, sometimes baffling, and often controversial book, using a variety of media and approaches. In our time together we will learn more about its amazing artistry, what’s in it, where it comes from, and the ways it influences our culture and our personal lives. For more information, see www.ndpc.org/story
This program is made possible through a Vital Worship grant from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, Grand Rapids, Michigan, with funds provided by Lilly Endowment, Inc.
Facilitators: Rick Neale, Ellen Gadberry and others
Location: Studio Classroom in Sanctuary Building
CRAFTIVISTS AND LITURGICAL ARTS – ON THURSDAYS!
Can God work through our hands to do good in this world while we craft? Join us for two distinct flavors of crafting— ‘Craftivists’ and Liturgical Arts—on Thursday evenings. Activism has never looked so beautiful. The mission of the Liturgical Arts Group is to support, enhance, and extend elements of worship in our community through the visual arts at North Decatur Presbyterian Church.
Dates & Times: 1st & 3rd Thursday, 7 pm (Craftivists);
2nd & 4th Thursday, 7 pm (Liturgical Arts)
Facilitator: Ellen Gadberry [email protected]
Location: Studio Classroom in Sanctuary Building
Monthly Classes
End of Life Conversations
The default position of our current medical system is often to treat illness and disease in order to extend life with little consideration of the toll on the well-being and quality of life of the patient. Given this, it is crucial that we have the conversations that allow us to consider and name our priorities for our healthcare and communicate our wishes with our loved ones who may be called upon to advocate for us in critical moments. NDPC members who treat patients facing critical medical decisions and will help participants to better understand the dying process, the medical system, and how to have these crucial conversations with family and practitioners. Mary Anona Stoops will explore the ways we cope and make meaning about death and dying.
Dates: January 5, 12, 19, 26
Facilitators: Lee Nichols, Jean Hill, David Markham and Mary Anona Stoops
Location: Parlor in Sanctuary Building
Just and Sustainable Food: Transforming our Food System
Avoiding meat and dairy is the ‘single biggest way’ to reduce your impact on Earth” (The Guardian, May 31, 2018). Are you alarmed by these kinds of headlines? Intrigued? Wonder how we ended up with ‘industrialized agriculture’ and ‘factory farms’ and what, if anything, you can do about it? Join us for a four-week introduction to the U.S. food system, its impacts on people and the planet, and what consumers and social movement organizations are doing to trying to transform “Big Ag.” I’ll draw on my recent PhD work in environmental history and sustainability/food justice activism but I promise not to overdo the powerpoint slides!
Dates: February 2, 9, 26 and 23, March 8, 15, 22, and 29
Facilitators: Rebecca Watts Hull, PhD.
Location: Parlor in Sanctuary Building
Violence, Non-violence and Peacemaking
This course will explore the call God makes for God’s children to be peacemakers (Matthew 5:9). The course consists of a field trip to the Legacy Museum and Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama on April 4, 2020 followed by 3 Sunday morning sessions at NDPC. The museum trip will begin our conversation of the use of brutality and terror to control our citizens. The following classes will explore other forms and causes of violence and its impact on individuals, groups and society as a whole. If you are not able to visit the museum with our group or if you’d like to prepare for its message ahead of time, we recommend reading Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy or going to see the movie which debuts January 10th. In our final classes, we will discuss the power of non-violence as a response to institutional oppression and terror and our role as individual peacemakers, in our church community and the broader society.
Dates: April 5, 19 and May 3
Facilitators: Members of the Peace and Justice Committee
Location: Parlor in Sanctuary Building
INQUIRERS’ CLASS
Are you visiting NDPC? Would you like to learn more about this church, who we are as Presbyterians (PCUSA), and what we are doing? We try to follow Jesus by doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God. Let’s get to know one another and talk about how we at NDPC approach this ancient call and how you can be part of our journey.
Facilitators: Pastoral Staff and Engagement Team
Location: Pastor’s Study
Dates: March 1, 8, 22
9:30 am to 11:30 am on Saturdays January 4 and May 2
Anticipated Class:
Racism – The Church’s Story
Join a small group of NDPC members in a conversation about race in DeKalb County with members from a majority black congregation. Please contact [email protected] if you are interested in participating. A time outsideof Sunday Mornings will be determined with interested participants
Facilitators: Rev. David Lewicki
Location and Dates: TBD