The Training Ground is a course designed by a group of evangelical churches in East London to help Christians of every sort both to grasp God’s word and to share it more clearly – whether at home, at work, at church or wherever you are
The first Training Ground programme began in September 2015, and will finish this July.
With God’s help we plan to repeat the course again over the next two years, beginning in September 2017 and finishing in July 2019.
There will be 18 sessions per year on alternate Saturday mornings during term time, from 8.30 am to 11.00 am. The course takes place at Osborne Square Church in Dagenham.
The course costs £240 per person for the full two years. This includes not only the teaching but also textbooks, course notes for each session, tea, coffee and biscuits. Recordings and notes can be accessed on our website.
Costs can be paid in annual or termly instalments. If you want to participate but have a problem with the cost, please let us know.
Over the two year programme we cover six main topics, three in each year
| First year - First semester | ||
|---|---|---|
| Dates | Bible Overview | Christian Truths and the Gospel |
| 8:30 - 9:50 | 10:10 - 11:00 | |
| 30 September 2017 | The pattern of the kingdom (Roberts, ch 1) | Introduction & Revelation (Grudem, preface & ch 1) |
| 14 October 2017 | The perished kingdom (Roberts, ch 2) | Revelation (Grudem, ch 1) |
| 28 October 2017 | The promised kingdom (Roberts, ch 3) | God & creation (Grudem, ch 2 & 3) |
| 11 November 2017 | The partial kingdom I (Roberts, ch 4, pages 59-76) | God & creation (Grudem, ch 4 & 6) |
| 25 November 2017 | The partial kingdom II (Roberts, ch 4, pages 76-91) | Humanity & sin (Grudem, ch 7) |
| 9 December 2017 | The prophesied kingdom (Roberts, ch 5) | Humanity & sin (Grudem, ch 8) |
| 13 January 2018 | The present kingdom (Roberts, ch 6) | Person & work of Christ (Grudem, ch 9) |
| 27 January2018 | The proclaimed kingdom (Roberts, ch 7) | Person & work of Christ (Grudem, ch 10) |
| 10 February 2018 | The perfected kingdom (Roberts, ch 8) | Person & work of Christ (Grudem, ch 10) |
| First year - Second semester | ||
|---|---|---|
| Dates | Reading the Bible | Christian Truths and the Gospel |
| 8:30 - 9:50 | 10:10 - 11:00 | |
| 24 February | Reading the Bible (Beynon & Sach, ch 1, 13) | Person & work of Christ (Grudem, ch 11) |
| 10 March 2018 | Meaning (Beynon & Sach, ch 2, 7, 9) | The Holy Spirit & his work (Grudem, ch 12) |
| 24 March 2018 | Flow (Beynon & Sach, ch 4, 5, 15) | The Holy Spirit & his work (Grudem, ch 13) |
| 21 April 2018 | Context (Beynon & Sach, ch 3) | The Holy Spirit & his work (Grudem, ch 14) |
| 5 May 2018 | Literary devices (Beynon & Sach, ch 6, 11, 12) | The Holy Spirit & his work (Grudem, ch 15 & 5) |
| 19 May 2018 | Words & tone (Beynon & Sach, ch 8 & 10) | The church (Grudem, ch 17) |
| 2 June 2018 | Application I (Beynon & Sach, ch 14 & 16) | The church (Grudem, ch 17) |
| 16 June 2018 | Application II (Beynon & Sach, ch 17) | The last things (Grudem, ch 18) |
| 30 June 2018 | Christ in all the Bible (Roberts, ‘Epilogue’) | The last things (Grudem, ch 19 & 20) |
| Second year - First semester | ||
|---|---|---|
| Dates | Serving Jesus well | Communicating God's truth |
| 8:30 - 9:50 | 10:10 - 11:00 | |
| 15 September 2018 | Knowing God | CGT option 1 |
| 29 September 2018 | Local church | CGT option 1 |
| 13 October 2018 | Discipleship | CGT option 1 |
| 10 November 2018 | Prayer | CGT option 1 |
| 24 November 2018 | Evangelism | CGT option 1 |
| 12 January 2019 | Fellowship and the Lord's Table | CGT option 1 |
| 26 January 2019 | Serving and glorifying God in the church and in all of life | CGT option 1 |
| 09 February 2019 | Stewardship, sacrifice, dying to sin and self | CGT option 1 |
| Second year - Second semester | ||
|---|---|---|
| Dates | Understanding our world | Communicating God's truth |
| 8:30 - 9:50 | 10:10 - 11:00 | |
| 23 February 2019 | Secularism, the expulsion of God, modern 'tolerance' | CGT option 2 |
| 9 March 2019 | Islam | CGT option 2 |
| 23 March 2019 | Atheism and agnosticism | CGT option 2 |
| 27 April 2019 | Life and death: abortion and euthanasia | CGT option 2 |
| 11 May 2019 | The media and their impact on us | CGT option 2 |
| 25 May 2019 | LGBT issues and Christian responses | CGT option 2 |
| 8 June 2019 | Religious pluralism: are there many truths? | CGT option 2 |
| 22 June 2019 | Human nature and human 'rights' | CGT option 2 |
| 6 July 2019 | Culture & ethnicity, & crossing cultural boundaries | CGT option 2 |
