Many Christians have a good understanding that salvation is by grace through faith, and that there is nothing they can do to earn their salvation.
However, many have fallen into the trap that once saved, they must try to maintain God's acceptance by working hard and doing the right things. They focus so much on how well they are behaving as children of God that they miss experiencing life in the reality of God's grace. In the end they become stressed out, burned out, or fed up with trying to act like they think Christians should act but never quite managing it. Tragically they usually come to believe that they will never be "good enough."
This course is designed to help Christians understand what it means to be God's child, to help them receive the assurance of what makes them acceptable to God, to point out the things that don’t affect their acceptance, and to encourage them to deal with any hindrances that may be stopping them from walking in the fullness of God's grace every day. The intention is that they will then be free to glorify God in their behavior, not because they feel they have to but because they want to.
A natural follow-up to the Alpha or Freedom in Christ Course (sold by Gospel Light in North America as the Beta course), The Grace Course has been developed by Freedom in Christ Ministries. The Leader’s Guide provides all the material necessary to lead the course and includes a CD with PowerPoint presentations developed to make the lessons quick and easy for the leader. Participants are not required to prepare before the sessions but a Participant’s Guide that emphasizes the take-away of each lesson is also available. The DVD is hosted by Steve Goss and Rich Miller and shows them teaching the entire course supplemented by interviews of the leaders.
Materials to promote the Grace Course are available at www.ficm.org.
Steve Goss is director of Freedom in Christ Ministries U.K. and presents the Freedom in Christ course. He has a background in marketing. He is married to Zoe, and they have two daughters.
Rich Miller is coauthor with Neil Anderson of Walking in Freedom, Breaking the Bondage of Legalism, and other books. He oversees Freedom in Christ's USA office and
Jude Graham has grappled with the question of legalism versus grace for many years. She heads up Freedom in Christ's team in Northern Ireland and is a regular speaker at events for church leaders.
