Please suggest material for group study of church history

[Ryft]

I am leading a small group study with members of my local church that is presently exploring the issue of gospel-centered discipleship and will be for several weeks. However, the group has expressed a very keen interest in learning about the history of the Christian church once this study is done. Yes, all two thousand years of it. They have expressed shame about the fact that they know essentially nothing at all about church history and they want to remedy this ignorance. This is one of my favorite subjects so I am only too pleased at their choice.

However, I have no material for a study like this. When I had researched church history personally it was a laborious task spanning years on the internet. Obviously that will not translate well to a group study setting. So what I am looking for is some kind of study material on this subject. Workbooks, DVDs, what have you. If you are aware of anything like that, please offer your suggestions, including links to the materials. And no, cost is not an issue; i.e., I am not necessarily looking for free material.

Thank you in advance.

 

[Gforce9]

There are a lot of good material out there. Recently, our group has gone through a church history DVD from W. Robert Godfrey from Ligonier Ministries. That has been good. Ligonier has a lot of good material like that, too. Search that website and I'm sure folks will chime in about other great resources.......

 

[lnoles68]

There are a number of church history course available via the web from a number of different seminaries. Some of them are just MP3s and some include notes. I've co-lead a Church History lunch discussion group for more than 5 years using the lectures available online.

Biblical Training.org
Church History I | BiblicalTraining.org
Church History II | BiblicalTraining.org

Covenant Seminary
Covenant Theological Seminary / Ancient & Medieval Church History
Covenant Theological Seminary / Reformation & Modern Church History

Reformed Theological Seminary
A number of courses available via iTunesU

Westminister Seminary - Philadelphia
Has lecture series on periods in Church History available via iTunesU

In the past when I have co-taught a Church History class for Sunday School, I used the following text for material supplemented by articles from Christian History magazine.

Church History in Plain Language, 3rd Edition: Bruce L. Shelley: 9780718025533: Amazon.com: Books

This series interests me, but I have not looked at it thoroughly.

Complete Kit for Christian History Made Easy 12-session DVD-based study: Dr. Timothy Paul Jones: 9781596365254: Amazon.com: Books

Lewis Noles
Athens, GA
Member, Beech Haven Baptist Church

 

[lnoles68]

I agree that Ligonier has some really good church history materials, as well.

Search Ligonier.org for "Church History"

 

[reaganmarsh]

If you're interested in a text-based approach as opposed to video, Chapel Library prints a 2-volume CH survey entitled "A Glorious Institution: The Church in History" by Stanford Murrell. Available at Chapel Library :: Home.

If I remember correctly, they also produce an accompanying study guide suitable for discussion/group study.

 

[Ask Mr. Religion]

Sign your class up and then you can all meet in a virtual classroom via Ligonier Connect:

Take Church History I: Ancient Church, an online course from Ligonier Connect by Dr. W. Robert Godfrey

Take Church History II: Medieval Church, an online course from Ligonier Connect by Dr. W. Robert Godfrey

Access to all courses in the catalog is also possible for a whopping $9 per month. A very good deal.

 

[Bill The Baptist]

Mark Dever has some good resources available for free. His core seminars come with handouts and lesson manuscripts that you can download and print out. Capitol Hill Baptist Church » Core Seminars

 

[PuritanCovenanter]

I did this course over 20 years ago with supplemental reading from Kenneth Lattourette. I love Gerstner. http://www.ligonier.org/store/handout-church-history-mp3-dvd/