Course Review: Come to the Waters

Information about the Course

This is an advanced Lay Ministry course offered by BeADisiciple.com called Come to the Waters.  It is taught by Rev. Beth Galbreath, and United Methodist Deacon.  Steve and I completed the course in September of 2022.  It is a two week course with daily assignments for 12 days (Sunday is a sabbath, so no coursework).  It involves some reading (although not an overwhelming amount) and daily contribution  to a Discussion board where you post answers to questions and response to other people's posts.  Completing the course results in credit for an advanced lay ministry course.

Summary

Description from the website:  Deepen your congregation’s experience of baptism, confirmation and reaffirmation of baptism through this wide-ranging study of By Water and the Spirit, Scripture, Church history and United Methodist theology and practice of the sacrament. This course will reference, but go beyond, the official United Methodist teaching document on baptism. The course considers preparation of adults for baptism and the unique challenges of the digital – and pandemic – age.

Impressions

I found the information presented to be very good.  My knowledge base concerning baptism increased because of the course.  I found the study of baptism in the early church to be very interesting.  Discussion with other students was interesting and helpful.

During the time of the course, my mother was spending several days in the hospital.  The pressure of her hospital visit and this course were a difficult combination.  I was very glad to complete the course.  I was also happy that Steve took it with me.  We each completed our work separately and then shared it prior to posting - not to change it, but just to share it. 

Also, it was helpful to complete an advanced course on my own schedule and to be able to choose a topic that particularly interested me.  I like in person classes, but this online course met our needs in a way the current in person ones could not.

Posts about the Class

Posts about the class will have the tag cometowaters