You’re not supposed to say “Sunday School” these days, I’m told. It sounds too institutional to lost people. You’re supposed to say “Adult Bible Fellowship” (ABF), I’m told. I’m not there yet, unfortunately, and keep calling my Bible Fellowship group a “Sunday school class,” just like it says in the old King James.
Whatever you call it, this class…er, group…at the Ninth and O Baptist Church is one of the great joys of my life. Every Sunday morning, this group, ranging from a Metro Louisville police officer to a fourth-grade public school teacher to a seventy-something longtime member of our church to the seminary student new to the community, gathers to sing, pray, and to hear Jesus proclaimed from our Bibles. The members of this class are abuzz with ministries, ranging from the evangelization and discipleship of homeless people downtown in Louisville to caring for one another’s physical and spiritual needs throughout the week.
As of this morning, the class has now launched a website. I resisted this for a long time, as fearful as I am of the ways the Internet destroys community in the name of saving it.
This site, however, as envisioned and put together by some key leaders in our class, avoids the pitfalls, I think, and can serve as a tool to get information to class (sorry, group) members. It can help organize us for ministry and keep us updated on those we’ve sent off on the mission fields of North America and around the world.
I appreciate greatly the long labors of Robbie Sagers, Phillip Bethancourt, Jedidiah Coppenger, Chris Burke, Timmy Brister, and Ben Dockery. I hope you will benefit some from the Dean’s Class website at www.deansclass.com. If you’re ever passing through Louisville, stop in and see us. We’ll have plenty of coffee for you. And we promise we won’t call it “Sunday school.”
