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Forum Summary: The First 12%

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Author: Juliette McNair | Student, LivingEd-Charlotte 2020

Estimated reading time: 1 min.

“12 percent of your Living Education experience is already behind you.” Mr. John Strain, the Charlotte congregation pastor, spoke to us on September 22, prior to the Feast break.

This program is only 9 months long; it is a brief chance to accomplish something good. But do we know what we’re trying to accomplish? “Could you tell me why you’re here?” Mr. Strain asked. More importantly, how will we know if we’ve met our goal? Our speaker told us to make our goals measurable. Whether on paper or in a Word document, we need to have a model by which we measure our progress.  

Laying a foundation

This program is unlike Ambassador College: church resources and size don’t allow for it. But Living Ed gives us the same opportunity to build a solid foundation. Mr. Strain told us to build that foundation by learning doctrine, exercising communication skills, building lifelong friendships, and doing jobs that support the Work. He said that this is “the most concentrated period of time you will have in your life to study the Bible.” The foundation we build here will be the frame for everything we undertake in the future.  

This post is part of our new series of student-written content for LivingEd-Charlotte. These summaries cover topics originally presented by our faculty and guest speakers in our weekly Forum and Assembly. For more Assembly-related content check out our Second Thoughts posts

Forum Summary: What’s Your Worldview?

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Author: Juliette McNair | Student, LivingEd-Charlotte 2020

Estimated Reading Time: 1 min.

Mr. Peter Nathan, regional director of Europe, Africa, and the UK, spoke on the alternative worldviews—or “universes”—people have today. He posed the question, “Why is it that we come to very different conclusions?”

Two Realities

Mr. Nathan walked us through the history of Thomas Aquinas’ introduction of Aristotelian views into mainstream Christianity in the 13th century. The world, according to these philosophies, is made up of two realities: the spiritual and the natural.

As the centuries passed, humanist personalities like Charles Darwin contributed to an emphasis on the natural world over the spiritual. The subsequent secularization of society has closed off our “universe” from any spiritual reality. The modern world, as we know it, contains little trace of God or religion in its thinking.

Free from the trap

We are living in a sea of worldviews blinded from the reality of the spiritual. Mr. Nathan exhorted us to take on the responsibility of looking to God to provide “a perspective for interpreting every subject” and to grasp the spiritual metanarratives that accompany our physical realities. If we do this, we free ourselves from the blinded, closed-off universe in which our society is trapped. 

This post is part of our new series of student-written content for LivingEd-Charlotte. These summaries cover topics originally presented by our faculty and guest speakers in our weekly Forum and Assembly. For more Assembly-related content check out our Second Thoughts posts

Assembly Summary: “You Don’t Know”

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Author: Juliette McNair | Student, LivingEd-Charlotte 2020

Mr. Gaylyn Bonjour opened his session with a piece of advice: “You don’t know what people need, what they require, and how to help them…You don’t know…” On our own, we struggle to perceive other people’s needs and are often blind to our responsibilities toward them. We have little control over the events that will occur in our lives—we can’t even control how they shape us. Yet, Mr. Bonjour explained, there is purpose in this reality of life: to learn and gain understanding. For young people, striving to live up to God’s standards—in times of our lives when we just don’t know—Mr. Bonjour gave several solid principles to apply. 

The first is, find an older person at your work, and take care of them—do the heavy-lifting.

While Mr. Bonjour was specifically referring to a job he had in the past, the principle carries over for young people in the church. If we can learn from the experiences of older men and women, be it in a practical working capacity or regarding spiritual issues, we save time. We fast-track ourselves in our development, and we learn the lessons without the pain that may have accompanied our teacher.  

A second principle is be a multi-purpose tool.

The speaker compared a 3 mm Allen wrench to a pocket-knife that contained several different tools. Both tools have different utility—but the Allen wrench’s usefulness is extremely narrow. It can accomplish one thing. Mr. Bonjour encouraged us to be the pocket-knife. Pick up skills, however small they are, to become valuable to employers, to our family, and to the church.  

Mr. Bonjour read Proverbs 3:5-6, “Lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” Not knowing what’s going to happen or how to fulfill each other’s needs is just the way life works. God uses this reality to teach us, to challenge us, and to bring us to change. 

This post is part of our new series of student-written content for LivingEd-Charlotte. These summaries cover topics originally presented by our faculty and guest speakers in our weekly Forum and Assembly. For more Assembly-related content check out our Second Thoughts posts

Forum Summary: “Combat Distractedness”

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Author: Juliette McNair | Student, LivingEd-Charlotte 2020

Estimated Reading Time: 1 minute 40 seconds

The forum speaker for the day, Mr. Jonathan Bueno, spoke on the topic of maintaining focus in a world of distraction. Mr. Bueno explained that this distracted state is a way of life for many in our world, but a young person in God’s church cannot afford to lose focus on their purpose. The speaker outlined three categories of purpose in a Christian’s life: daily tasks, life goals, and the ultimate goal of being in the kingdom of God. So how can we combat our propensity to be, as “distracted” literally means, dragged away from our purpose? 

Two major distractions that draw people away from their goals are technology and entertainment. The average American household watches 8 hours of TV per day and iPhones are constantly in hand, grabbing attention with catchy alerts. Mr. Bueno calls these and other similar activities non-essential pursuits. He reminded us that the time spent on these non-essentials adds up. By spending our time in that way we willingly risk becoming, quite literally, chemically “hooked” on our distractions. Mr. Bueno quoted Deuteronomy 5:32, “… you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.” God wants His people to maintain their focus on the important things. Mr. Bueno used the parable of the sower in Matthew 13 to emphasize the danger that distractions pose to the young in the faith. The “thorns” of our day can easily choke out our understanding, simply by overwhelming us with notifications and endless choices.  

Mr. Bueno encouraged us to put God first, to be purpose driven, and to evaluate the distractions we allow into our lives by the word of God. We must not be drawn away from our purpose. Distractions kill, but “focus will bring us to the finish line.” 

This post is part of our new series of student-written content for LivingEd-Charlotte. These summaries cover topics originally presented by our faculty and guest speakers in our weekly Forum and Assembly. For more Assembly-related content check out our Second Thoughts posts.