ELEMENTS
By: Charlotte L Pound
You must ground new believers in Apostolic Truth—David K Bernard
“After investing in outreach and working diligently to instill a culture of friendliness and connection, sadly churches still lose many new converts in time. Retention requires systematic teaching that grounds new people in the Word of God. All churches need materials that cover Apostolic doctrine thoroughly and represent our churches credibly, that’s why there’s ELEMENTS.” So said Kaleb Saucer, Director of Sales and Marketing for PPH. He shared this information about the New Converts program called “ELEMENTS”.
“This program was written because people come into the church not only with doctrinal gaps or unsound biblical teaching but with addictions, stewardship problems, and relationship turmoil. Recognizing this sad reality, this curriculum includes a module early on to help new believers deal with life issues from a biblical perspective to establish stability.
“ELEMENTS includes components to help those new in the faith to develop life skills for overcoming the hurdles of their old lives. We recognized there was a major need for a solid solution to training new converts,” he said.
The program was based on a plan that our UPCI General Superintendent David K. Bernard used when pastoring in Austin, TX. It was written by many different authors from around the UPCI. All of the content was then taken, edited, and formatted into what we find in ELEMENTS.
Bro. Saucer shared the topics that are covered and what teaching helps are provided.“ ELEMENTS is broken into four different modules with each module having six individual sessions. The four modules cover Foundational Elements, Transformative Elements, Doctrinal Elements, and Lifestyle Elements. Before we even get to the in-depth conversations about our Apostolic doctrine and distinctives, we first address the very basic but real elements of the Christian lifestyle that dramatically impact the way they are used to living. This why the first two modules cover everything from the idea of grace and connecting with the Body of Christ, to healthy communication and emotional stability,” he said.
The teaching helps provided are in the form of student workbooks and introductory videos of testimonies to start the lessons. The videos are actually people telling personal stories related to the subject matter so the student can hear from someone who has been where they are,” he stated.
“ELEMENTS is specifically designed to be taught in a small group format. The hope is that it operates less as a lecture and more as a discussion that leads the learner on a journey of discovering biblical truths for themselves. In order to facilitate this, there are high-quality, full color teachers guides and student workbooks. Not only do these resources help facilitate the discussion, but they speak to the investment a church is willing to make in each student they are teaching,” he said.
Kaleb shared the kind of success and feedback the program has had. “The feedback we have received has been overwhelmingly positive. Hundreds of churches have already adopted this as their program for new converts and some have even chosen to take their entire church through it,” he said.
In ELEMENTS there are 24 lessons total. As for who should do the teaching, it is recommended that the pastor or an experienced minister/adult teacher be responsible for this class. The small group format will also help new converts connect to church leadership in a meaningful way.
The complete program can be purchased at Pentecostalpublishing.com/elements. The Master Bundle is $239.99 and includes 4 leader’s guides (one for each module), 20 participant guides (5 for each module), the media USB, and 20 completion certificates (5 for each module). Each item can also be purchased separately. For questions about ELEMENTS, please email customerservice@pentecostalpublishing.com.