HEADSHIP IN THE CHURCH

 

Instructor:  Sarah Sumner, Ph.D., MBA

Dates & Times:  Tuesdays at 2:30 - 4:10 pm PST

 

Believers around the world worship Jesus as Lord and Savior, yet few pause to marvel at His Headship.  Headship is a distinct reality—different from Christ’s Lordship and His Saviorhood.  “Christ is the Head of the Church” is not a religious saying; it is a revolutionary truth. Theologically, biblical headship is distinguished from complementarianism and egalitarianism, and all other “isms.”   Headship pertains to intimacy and shows why Christianity is relational. Because headship is inherently communal, it carries us through the chaos and heartache of sin, into the refreshment of repentance, and onward into the laughter of reconciliation that celebrates the victory of love.  In this eye-opening book, Sarah Sumner guides us into seeing what headship is for God, for Christ, and for husbands—and how it fosters life for all believers.

SELF-RESPECT

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Instructor:  Sarah Sumner, Ph.D., MBA

Dates & Times:  Mondays at 4:45 - 6:25 pm PST

 

Is selfhood a gift from God, or a temptation to be resisted? Christians know that selfishness is sinful.  But what does it mean to be human—if not to be a self?   And how can believers live selflessly without losing personal presence or the capacity to flourish?  In this piercing study, Dr. Sarah Sumner (PhD, Systematic Theology, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) confronts widespread confusion about what it means to love others “as yourself.”  Drawing primarily on Scripture, she develops a theology of holy self-respect that frees men and women from embracing the false choice between prideful self-approval and fearful self-erasure.  With clarity and practical insight, she shows how a right understanding of self grounds moral responsibility and makes genuine love of neighbor possible.

THE ELEGANCE OF GOD

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Instructor:  Sarah Sumner, Ph.D., MBA

Dates & Times:  Tuesdays at 4:30 - 6:10 pm PST

 

God’s sustaining presence permeates the world, yet many people live as though it does not. “The world is charged with the grandeur of God,” and still countless lives are marked by quiet desperation, born of inattention to the comfort of God’s nearness.  Post-Eden, this is the human condition—though it does not have to be.  Even though people so often give in to anxiety, we can instead relax into a posture of listening and thoughtfulness that consoles the human spirit. By noticing God’s handiwork, we revere God more and find ourselves less defensive and able to believe His Word.  In this contemplative study, theologian Sarah Sumner (PhD, Systematic Theology) invites readers to lift their eyes—to look at the stars, attend to the moon, and ponder the deep coherence of divine design: the structure of creation, the structure of salvation, and the structure of life with God. The result is a steadier vision of reality, a calmer trust in God’s Providence, and greater willingness to follow the narrow path that leads us home.