Children need milk, but they must mature to solid food. Likewise, all Christians, including adults, ought to progress from the “basic principles” to become “skilled in the word of righteousness” (Heb. 5:12–14). Knowledge can puff up (1 Cor. 8:1), but our aim in teaching is love (1 Tim. 1:5) and to equip the saints for ministry (Eph. 4:12). Those who remain immature in the things of God are at risk of being tossed around by false and deceitful teachings (Eph. 4:12–14) and led astray from the faith (2 Cor. 11:3–4). Thus, our goal in Immanuel Adults is to present men and women mature in Christ (Col 1:28) who can stand firm and hold onto truth (2 Thess. 2:15).
*Children are welcome to attend if accompanied by parents.
Immanuel Adult Education rooms occur during the Sunday School hour, 9:00–9:55a, and consist of 30 minutes of teaching followed by 25 minutes of prayer. Classes are taught in six-week cycles, followed by a week of fellowship and reflection. Adult Education runs weekly through a comprehensive four-year curriculum, aiming to teach the “whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27) in that time, covering topics under four major categories: Foundations, Bible, Doctrine, and Christian Living. A variety of topics are thus taught, including The Doctrine of Sin, How and Why to Fast, Who was Spurgeon, An Overview of Matthew, Sharing Your Faith, and Spiritual Disciplines.
Each Immanuel Adult Education room is led by a room host who seeks to cultivate community and hospitality while facilitating the teaching and prayer time. We urge all who can to “pick a room, not a class” as each room will receive all the same teaching over a four-year cycle. In this way, individuals can develop deep relationships with others in the room as they are strengthened in their faith. We would love for you to join one of our rooms in order to develop deep relationships with those in the room, as you become more grounded and rooted in the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.
Spurgeon Room // Room 205 // Hosted by Corbin & Melanie Kitzmiller
Foster Room // Room 208 // Hosted by Adam & Tiffany Turner
Huntingdon Room // Room 118 // Hosted by Gene & Kimberly Cone
"We are thankful to be in an Adult Education room! We have felt invested in by different members of the body as they exercise their gift of teaching and explain God's Word with clarity. The teachers care for our room as they go out of their way to answer challenging questions and make sure we understand the teaching. The consistency of our room hosts has also been wonderful as they lead us in prayer each week and diligently seek to promote fellowship in our room."
Derek & Bonnie Hougland // Immanuel Members
Prayer is a massively important and effective work that is often neglected to our detriment in our Christian life. For that reason, we offer prayer rooms during the Sunday School hour. These prayer rooms are 55 minutes devoted solely to corporate prayer for:
Hsi Room // Room 210 // Hosted by Andy Bryant & David Tyrrell
Judson Room // Room 211 // Hosted by Dominic Cedillo & Jay Shreve
We return to the states only once every few years. For a church like Immanuel, many are being trained to either take or support ministry positions elsewhere. This means that a significant number of the members are new each time we come back to Louisville. Despite this, I have often introduced myself to a brother or sister at Immanuel and they have said, “We’ve never met, but I’m familiar with your ministry and I’ve been praying for you in the prayer rooms.” I cannot describe how encouraging this is to our family. While "out of sight" is often "out of mind," prayer rooms keep our family and ministry before the eyes—and on the hearts—of the congregation.
Brothers and sisters here in Mozambique often struggle with being a few lone Christians in a sea of witchcraft and Islam. Many times when there have been pressures on these believers to submit or return to the local majority, we have been able to encourage them by saying that we will call upon believers in America to pray also for their specific situation. This has helped open their eyes to the broader body of Christ around the world—to show them that they are a part of a body bigger than even their whole village. Further, God has answered your prayers time and again in specific areas of our ministry to glorify himself and to sustain the local believers.
Each time my family has returned to Immanuel, we have stepped back into the prayer rooms ourselves. We value the opportunity to take part in discipleship classes, and we also have joined in the nursery work. But there is just nothing like those prayer rooms. It deepens our intimacy with a small group of brothers and sisters—most of whom we wouldn’t otherwise know well. It is almost like a second Gospel Community Group. Prayer is not glamourous, but it is glorious. Opening hearts together, weeping together, and crying out together is difficult to do in a large church, but the prayer rooms give an opportunity to be intimate in the midst of a very large body. We are so very thankful for the prayer rooms and for all who take part in them. We pray that more and more will do so.
Nate & Jenni Schoen // Missionaries