Adults

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.

Weekly Offerings

Our Spring 2021 Catalog for Adult Education Offerings can be found here. 

All classes are at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday mornings unless otherwise noted.

 

MEDITATING ON THE PSALMS

This class will give us an opportunity to specifically use the Psalms as part of our spiritual formation. Using prayer, meditation, communal reading and reflections, we will deeply engage a different psalm in each class. The participants will be prepared to begin another week of our journey of discovering ourselves and God through intimacy with the Psalms. 

Facilitator: Kendra Peeples
Dates: January 10, 17, 24, and 31

 

APPROACHING DEATH

Up until the 20th century medicine could do very little to prevent death or extend life. Dying, like being born, was generally a family, communal and religious event. Because many deaths occurred at home, people were likely to care for dying relatives and, thus, to have a fairly personal and direct experience with dying and death. Today, with the medical advancements of the last century the situation has changed dramatically, and death has become primarily a medical event.  The impact of this is to distance death from the rest of living. In recent years there has been a movement, sometimes called conscious dying, to remember what we have forgotten as a culture about death and dying. New practitioners called death doulas have emerged to accompany those who are dying by helping them consciously prepare for death and support them in finding meaning and agency in the process. In January, Mary Anona will complete a training course for death doulas. Join her as she reflects on the training and how we all might become more aware and intentional about the end of our lives.   

Facilitator: Rev. Mary Anona Stoops
Dates: February 7, 14, 21, and 28

 

WRITING AS SPIRITUAL PRACTICE
This course is designed for those who feel called to express themselves in spiritual writing.  It is for all experience levels who wish to improve their craft and more regularly engage in writing as a spiritual practice. In the course of four weeks, participants will explore a series of topics, engage in discussions with other participants, and respond to writing prompts. Participants in this course will develop an understanding of spiritual writing as a personal practice of discernment and as a corporate practice of giving voice to the word by sharing our work in community.

Facilitator: Beth Waltemath and others.

Dates:  Mondays in March, 7:00pm. There is expectation of very short reading and writing assignments.

Contact [email protected] for more details.

 

FAITH-BASED RESPONSES TO CLIMATE CHANGE

This class will examine various aspects of our responses to climate change.  We will start by looking at the theology of responding to climate change.  Future classes will focus on policy, environmental justice, and specific actions we can take.   We will look at the actions recommended in Drawdown Georgia, a collaborative effort between several Georgia universities and the Ray C. Anderson foundation, that builds on the work of Paul Hawken with Project Drawdown.

Facilitator: Codi Norred, Georgia Interfaith Power and Light and Annie Godfrey
Dates: April 11, 18,25 and May 2

THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF HOWARD THURMAN.

In this class we will discuss Thurman’s lifelong quest to “bring the harrowing beauty of the African American experience into deep engagement with what he called ‘the religion of Jesus.'” Thurman was a theologian, a mystic, a social leader, an academic chaplain and a pastor of a multicultural church throughout the early and middle part of the twentieth century. His work has grounded many in their own search to bring spiritual and social peacemaking together. We will explore Thurman’s life and legacy through watching a short biopic film, hearing from those impacted from this work, and discussing how his writings speak to us.

Resources:

Facilitator: Rev. Beth Waltemath, guest: Rev. Dr. Paul Smith.

Dates: January 10, 17, 24, 31

 

HOW TO BE AND RAISE AN ANTI-RACIST

“To know the past is to know the present. To know the present is to know yourself” writes Ibram Kendi and Jason Reynolds in “Stamped: Racism, Anti-Racism, and You,” their book on anti-racism for young readers. Racist ideas are woven into the history, laws, and social dimensions of our country. In this class we welcome those concerned about our racist past and present actions. We will discuss our future vision of equality and ways to be anti-racist. The class will use concepts and key readings from the resources to learn through experience and group sharing. We hope to engage a range of generational perspectives from parents of infants, elementary students, teens, young adults to teachers, aunts, uncles, grandparents and great grandparents. Please come ready to listen to the readings, to share from mistakes and memories, and to consider new practices in the journey of anti-racism.

Facilitators: Betsy Root Godfrey and April Biagioni

Dates: February 7, 14, 21, and 28

  

THE PURPOSE GAP WITH DR. PATRICK REYES

NDPC welcomes Dr. Patrick Reyes, Senior Director of Learning Design at Forum for Theological Exploration, to discuss his new book, The Purpose Gap. Patrick will share stories from the book about growing up in a marginalized Chicano community in central California, and the conditions that allowed him not only to survive, but to thrive. Join Patrick in discussion about how communities can live into their calling to create the conditions for marginalized young people to grow up to lives of purpose. Patrick will offer advice on creating safe space for failure, nurturing networks that support young people of color, and professional guidance for how to implement these strategies in one’s congregation, school, or community organization

Facilitator: Dr. Patrick Reyes

Dates: March 7, 14, 21 and 28 

 

BECOMING AN ANTI-RACIST MATTHEW 25 CHURCH AT NDPC

North Decatur Presbyterian Church has committed ourselves to being a Matthew 25 church (Session approved in November 2019).  What does this mean in our daily activities and in our corporate life together?  This class will explore the “Dismantling Structural Racism” component of being this type of church.  We will look at all the ways “structural” (or systemic or cultural) racism is embodied in our society, we will brainstorm ideas for dismantling these manifestations of racism and we will develop actions that we’ll propose that NDPC implement to lead us towards an end goal of being a beloved community that has eliminated racism as a sinful stain on our existence.

Facilitator: David Wilkes

Dates: April 11, 18, 25 and May 2

 

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 spring, we’ll be focused on sharing our stories and supporting each other in a pandemic. In February, we will invite others into our space of trust and sharing to discuss fostering anti-racist practices in our homes. 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

 

MAKERS MEETUPS 

We are a community of makers and making is a spiritual practice for many – making a meal, making a prayer shawl, making a garden, making music, poetry and art – making meaning in our lives and in Beloved Community. All are welcome to explore these practices and others in twice-monthly gatherings. Come as a regular attendee or as an occasional drop-in for the topics that interest you most: the specific focus for each session will be announced in the weekly Communicator, ranging from liturgical arts and craftivism to creative writing, cooking, and other hobbies and passions of our members and friends.

Dates and Times: 2nd and 4th Tuesdays – Twice monthly (morning and evening options)

Facilitator: Ellen Gadberry 

 

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 or TBA

See future Communicators for dates as NDPC eventually returns to on-site worship!