Christian History Made Easy is a 12-session DVD-based study series that covers the essentials on Church history. The Complete Kit edition includes the DVD’s, PowerPoint presentation with PDF files, Leader Guide, Participant Guide, and Reference Handbook, making the Complete Kit an excellent choice for both individuals and small groups. The DVD sessions and the teaching sessions combine to make well over 12 hours of study.
The information includes:
- Major events in Church history
- Major characters in Church history
- Major Councils
- The formation of the Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox Churches
- The Reformation
- How we got the Bible in English
- How specific doctrines developed
DVD’s
The 3 DVD’s contain 12 sessions that make up six hours of teaching on Church history. The sessions are taught by Dr. Timothy Paul Jones. Dr. Jones covers the major points really well, showing plenty of visuals. He’s a good teacher and keeps the pace fairly fast- but not too fast. The sessions are broken up into periods of time, so each one includes a range of a hundred to a few hundred years and the major events that took place in that time frame. For example, the first session ranges from 1 AD to 100 AD.
PowerPoint and PDF’s
The PowerPoint presentation includes 300 slides, which is every slide you need to teach this course. It includes PDF files to support teaching and promoting the class. The files include the Leader Guide, posters, fliers, handouts, a bulletin insert, door hangers, post card, and banners. They mostly look like the DVD or book cover with a small box for your Church information.
Leader Guide
The Leader Guide is 95 pages and includes an introduction (which is a summary of the main points), an outline, a glossary of key terms, a list of what to study (including Scripture), Scriptures and terms to get the group to discuss, which video and slides to show the group, a teaching point, a summary, and an ending group discussion. Each point shows how much time to spend for that section. This is a very good teaching guide that gets the teacher prepared in not only the material but also in the teaching role.
Participant Guide
The Participant Guide is 127 pages and includes the same introduction, outline, and key terms as the Leader Guide. Next is an explanation of major events with questions to answer- making each session more interactive. Each section ends with a segment called “Family Time”. This section includes four sections within it: Get Together (an assignment for family members), Read Together (Scriptures to read), Learn Together (the main points with supporting Scriptures), and Pray Together (an ending prayer). I like this section because it gives the students something to take home to their families and supports family interaction. I recommend all families get together with some form of devotions and this section provides a good model that works for this course and any Bible study can be adapted to this format.
Reference Handbook
The Reference Handbook is 224 pages and is filled with color photos, charts, quotes, web links, questions and answers, maps, and facts. It is my favorite book in the kit and is worth buying as a stand-alone book if you don’t buy the kit. It has 12 chapters- one for each session. There is a chart for each chapter that shows important events, names, and terms in that chapter. There is a study guide and activity guide in the back, along with an index. The Reference Handbook is very detailed and colorful.
Conclusion
This is a very good series on Church history. It’s not too long but still covers the basics. It’s taught well and has many great supporting materials. This series is not overly doctrinal, but there is some doctrine taught- especially in the study guides (which include the creeds). Like all study material, I caution readers to do their own study of doctrinal points. This is an easy series to follow and has plenty of good quality teaching, visuals, and activities. I highly recommend Christian History Made Easy Complete Kit from Rose Publishing.
Where to Buy
Christianbook: Christian History Made Easy – Complete Kit
Amazon: Complete Kit for Christian History Made Easy 12-session DVD-based study
Rose Publishing provided this review copy for free. I was not required to give a positive review- only an honest review.
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