WELCOME AND INSTRUCTIONS
I am so grateful and excited that you have decided to take this course. It means that you are interested in being a part of the culture change in overcoming abortion and its roots in the church. For the class to be as effective as possible in your own experience as well as the collective experience of all participants, there will be some preparation required for each class – reading parts of this manual each week and the accompanying book, Memoirs of a Christian Who Chose Abortion. The chapters in that book are short, and I think you will find them engaging.
Everything you read will make the class material more understandable and aid you in class discussions that will center on the reading material. I promise that not a moment of your time in preparation will be wasted. It will not only help you discuss the topics intelligently but also equip you to become a safe person with whom people in your church and community, experiencing untimely pregnancies or struggles with past abortion, can be vulnerable.
Here are some useful tips:
- For all but Class 1, there will be discussion questions based on the stories you read. These are listed in the Workbook section for each class. It will help you better engage in the discussion if you write your answers to these as you read. Some of the questions do not relate directly to the story, but you can write your thoughts down to share in class.
- In the back of this manual you will find two appendices that we will not discuss in class but can be useful tools to help you personally become a safe haven. Both of these appendices are essentials in preparing you to Be the SOLUTION!
- Appendix A – ABC’S OF BLOODSTAINED ALLIES will help you discover and identify the characteristics of being clothed with Christ vs having footholds of the enemy. We all are capable of having both.
- Appendix B – LISTENING SKILLS can be helpful for improving your ability to be a good listener.
- This book will become much easier to use if you make it spiral-bound. You can take it to Office Depot or other office supply story that provides printing services and they will do that for you for a reasonable price.
- During the Video teaching times of the classes, you will follow along in your Workbook section and fill in the blanks. There is also space to take extra notes.
- We hope that you will be motivated by this class to pursue the next course, Be the SOLUTION, and become a commissioned Hope and Grace Advocate or Ambassador to serve your church and community. At the end of this book are pages describing SafeChurch Project to learn more about why SafeChurches are needed and Becoming Commissioned Advocates or Ambassadors, which will give you links to documents you will need.
- There is also a Course Feedback Form that we encourage you to fill out as you go along. Tell us what you like about this course and ways that we could improve future classes. If you wait until the end, you may forget important information that could help us a great deal.
The Get EQUIPPED course is 8 weeks, meeting once per week. Please read the Class Guidelines beginning on the next page, then complete the Preparation for Class 1 beginning after the Class Guidelines before the first class. Then, each week you will see what to read for the next class. If you have any questions, please contact your class facilitators. If at any time you are struggling with an aspect of this course, please connect with a class facilitator or feel free to contact me directly by email: joni@hopeandgraceglobal.org.
May the Lord bless you on this journey and empower you by His Spirit to transform your heart in this area and your circle of influence.
In His Amazing Grace,
Joni Shepherd