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Reviewed by Anne Boling for Readers' Favorite
Recently, I was asked to teach a Wednesday evening class at church. I love teaching, so that was not the problem. The problem was what to teach and how to work it into my schedule. I, of course, turned to my good friend Beth at the conference Media Center. As usual, she pulled a rabbit out of the hat.
Christianity’s Family Tree by Adam Hamilton is an excellent small group study. The leader’s guide was invaluable. It clearly laid out the lesson plan. The guide suggests an opening prayer, followed by a question to get the group warmed up. Each week we listen to Adam Hamilton bring a message on the denomination of the week. The message is between 14-20 minutes. Do not try to do this study without the DVD; it adds depth. Following the DVD, there are discussion questions and a group activity. A take-home handout and a prayer end the session.
My suggestions are to stay one week ahead of the handout. While most of our class members had the member’s book, few read it. It really is not necessary to this study. We did not use the Pastor’s Guide in our study. There are eight different denominations covered in this study: Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Lutheranism, Presbyterianism, Anglicanism, Baptists, Pentecostalism, and Methodism. I was surprised to find that the class on Presbyterianism had the most discussion. The content of this study is interesting and brought a lot of discussion. At the end of each class, I ask what they felt was the emphasis of the denomination? What they are taking away with them? Reverence, missions, sovereignty are just a few of the answers.
Our class enjoyed the group activity. One night we served each other communion. Sometimes we broke into groups for discussion. The best night was when we brainstormed missions. One member approached me a few weeks later to share with me her new outlook on missions.
Christianity’s Family Tree is user friendly! It does not take a lot of preparation to lead this class. Hamilton laid it out nicely, and I just followed the guide. I had to condense each class into one hour. It would have been more effective to have 90 minutes. All in all, this is an excellent study.
