SF104: Developing Your Spiritual Life

Transcription

1 COURSE SYLLABUS VALIDATED STUDY OPTION SF104: Developing Your Spiritual Life Our Daily Bread Christian University FastTrax Course About This Course This is a FastTrax course, which covers the essentials of the subject matter in shorter segments of approximately 25 minutes or less. Validated Study Option Student Notification You are enrolled in the CUGN Validated Study Option and will be awarded a Course Completion Certificate once CUGN determines that you have successfully fulfilled all course requirements. You will not be awarded academic credit for this course. Academic credit courses can be transferred into select accredited degree programs with CUGN s affiliate schools. This course is not available for academic credit. Course Description Welcome to Developing Your Spiritual Life. Many believers long to grow in their walk with the Lord but don t know how. As a result, Bible reading and prayer may be inconsistent and not very meaningful. Fellowship with other believers seems less than satisfying, and even thinking of sharing Christ can be intimidating. If this has been your experience, then be encouraged. This FastTrax course is designed to help you grow spiritually by offering key principles on assurance of salvation, a meaningful devotional life, vital fellowship with other believers, and how to share the good news of Christ with others. The New Testament challenges each of us to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18). With this in mind, we offer the course Developing Your Spiritual Life. Course Objectives Upon completion of this course, the student should be able to: 1. Explain the motivation for spiritual growth and understand the relationship of prayer, Bible study, fellowship, and witnessing. 2. Understand how to prioritize and cultivate meaningful devotional time. 3. Explain how to enhance one s own prayer life and explain how Jesus Christ made prayer a priority. 4. Explain why church involvement is important and understand the benefits and responsibilities of church involvement. SF104 Course Syllabus 2015 Christian University GlobalNet/Our Daily Bread Ministries. All Rights Reserved. 1

2 5. Understand techniques for sharing a personal testimony of coming to Christ and explaining the gospel to someone. Course Methods Throughout this course, a number of methods will be used to engage the students in learning and processing information, interacting with other students (when possible), and applying the learning to their lives. These methods include the following: Media/Materials The course will include media presentations of lectures and supplementary materials to be viewed and/or read throughout the lessons of the course. Video-based teaching The primary teaching session in each lesson is provided in Flash (FLV) and HTML5 (MP4) format. For international or domestic students who do not have the bandwidth required to view the video (384 Kbps DSL minimum), we provide the option of reading the lesson from a transcript of the teaching video (found in the Class Time activity). Important note about the lesson lectures: The lessons are presented primarily in Question/Answer format, with numerous Scripture references included as support for each doctrine. Students are encouraged to move slowly through each lesson and use the pause button, allowing them to look up the related Scripture references. Or as an alternative, students may read the transcript of the lesson to review the Scripture references. This will strengthen understanding of the lesson content. Interaction Whether sitting in a traditional classroom or studying from a distance, students benefit from interaction and collaboration with other students. In order to meet this need in distance theological education, CUGN offers structures and resources to encourage effective community interaction in this course. Response Time This forum fosters peer-to-peer interaction in a global, threaded discussion. Students are required to respond to relevant questions posted by the instructors; students are also encouraged to read and respond to the posts of fellow students. Lesson Objectives At the end of each lesson, students should be able to accomplish the objectives listed below. Lesson 1: Beginning the Spiritual Life Explain the motivation for wanting to grow spiritually. SF104 Course Syllabus 2015 Christian University GlobalNet/Our Daily Bread Ministries. All Rights Reserved. 2

3 Gain assurance on how to be sure you are a Christian. Understand the relationship of prayer, Bible study, fellowship, and witnessing. Lesson 2: Making God and His Word a Priority Understand the priority of a relational approach to devotions. Pick a time of day and place for devotions that fits your personality. Learn how to exchange human strength for divine power. Cultivate two-way communication with God through Bible study and prayer. Access different devotional methods. Lesson 3: Learning to Pray Explain how Jesus Christ made prayer a priority. Follow the devotional guideline represented in the acrostic ACTS. Bring the divine dialogue with you into the day. Lesson 4: Connecting in the Church Explain why involvement in a local church is important. Define the visible and invisible church. List the benefits and responsibilities of church involvement. See why using spiritual gifts is essential to serving Christ effectively. Lesson 5: Sharing the Good News of Christ Share how you came to Christ through a simple personal testimony. Use The Roman Road to clearly explain the Gospel to someone. Effectively dialogue with someone who has expressed spiritual interest. Course Requirements The student must complete the course requirements within a 90-day period. Those requirements include: Viewing the Class Time lectures for each lesson Participating in the Response Time forum by posting answers to all questions Taking five quizzes and a final examination, scoring a 70% or higher average Additional information about these requirements is provided below. Class Time The Class Time section of the course includes the following: SF104 Course Syllabus 2015 Christian University GlobalNet/Our Daily Bread Ministries. All Rights Reserved. 3

4 Lesson Goals: The Lesson Goals describe the learning outcomes you should achieve by the end of the course. Lectures: The lessons in this course include minutes of lecture. These instructional lectures are required viewing, and can be watched as many times as needed. The same content is available in a text file (PDF) (located in the Class Time activity) for students who can benefit from this alternative medium. Each lecture includes an ungraded quiz that students can use to test their knowledge along the way. Lesson 1: Beginning the Spiritual Life Lesson 2: Making God and His Word a Priority Lesson 3: Learning to Pray Lesson 4: Connecting in the Church Lesson 5: Sharing the Good News of Christ Response Time Participants will interact with other students worldwide in an ongoing asynchronous threaded forum of several course topics in each lesson. In order to get the fullest benefit from the Response Time forum, students should complete the assignment after they have completed Class Time. Then they should return to Response Time after finishing the lesson to see how others respond. The following steps are instructions to the students for completing the assignment: Enter Response Time. Read the instructions and click the Discussion Question you wish to respond to first. Read the Discussion Question and share your thoughts with others. Repeat for each Discussion Question. Take the time to read other students postings. CUGN requires that students Response Time posts consist of at least 2 to 3 well-developed paragraphs. Think of posts as mini-essays, where you present an idea and support that idea with details, examples, personal experiences, etc. Objective: to develop critical thinking skills through personal interaction with the content of the course and the responses of others within a diverse community of learners. Quizzes and Exams The quizzes and exam will cover the material from the Class Time lectures. SF104 Course Syllabus 2015 Christian University GlobalNet/Our Daily Bread Ministries. All Rights Reserved. 4

5 Course Grading and Requirements Quizzes and Exam Quizzes Final Exam 40% of Course Grade 60% of Course Grade Other Course Requirements Course requirements noted in this syllabus will be validated before a Validated Course Completion Certificate is awarded to any student. SF104 Course Syllabus 2015 Christian University GlobalNet/Our Daily Bread Ministries. All Rights Reserved. 5