ACE Tracks:

Adult Christian Education (ACE) are hour-long classes held on Sunday mornings at 10:00 AM, which also coincide with children’s Sunday School hour. These classes usually fall into two tracks:

  1. Biblical/Theological track: Focuses on a book or section of the Bible or a theological topic and seeks to increase our understanding while applying the relevance of this truth to our lives.
  2. Christian living track: Focuses on aspects of our contemporary lives (marriage, parenting, spiritual practices, work, discipleship, etc.) and explores the Scriptures for perspective.

Father’s Cupboard (October 1, 2023)
Come join this special class about our GRC food pantry, Father’s Cupboard.

Lord, Teach Us To Pray (September 17-October 15, 2023)
We will finally complete our walk through the Westminster Shorter Catechism!  Having previously looked at the Word and sacraments as means of grace, we will conclude with looking at the third means of grace, prayer.  What is prayer, and how are we to pray?  Join us for this five-week course in the Galway Conference Room. Taught by Elder Steve Hoogerhyde.

Shaping Our Children’s Hearts & Minds (September 17-24, October 8-15, 2023)
New Jersey public schools have definite convictions they intend to impart to students through educational goals and requirements. This class intends to empower families by providing information regarding school standards and curriculum, engaging this content from a Christian perspective, and encouraging the discipling and strengthening of our children and youth in the truth, wisdom, and knowledge of God.

Prior ACE Classes:

Family Worship (July 16-30, 2023)
Families will learn creative ways to worship together at home using Psalm 23 as their guide. Led by Karen Jacobsen, Director of Children’s Ministries. Held in the Sanctuary.

Our Guilt & God’s Grace (June 11-July 23, 2023)
We will resume walking through the Westminster Shorter Catechism.  Having previously looked at the Ten Commandments, we will consider how we are lawbreakers in need of repentance and faith, and how the Word and sacraments are God’s particular means of grace to us.  Join us for this six-week course in the Galway Conference Room.

Hosting Hope (June 18, 2023)
The second step in GRC’s Discipleship Pathway is to explicitly ENGAGE others with the gospel of Jesus and make space to ask questions. Come and learn about hosting Hope Explored, a 3-session series about how the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus in Luke’s Gospel offers us a joyful expectation for the future, based on true events in the past, which changes everything about our present. Led by Elder Peter Hwang

Life as a Witness (May 21-June 4, 2023)
As our Lord commissioned His first disciples our Brothers and Sisters in the Lord, He said, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

The root word used for witness is “Martys” or “Martur”. There is a death of self which our Lord calls us to in our everyday lives, at work places (specially), in our homes (importantly) and in our neighborhoods, where we spend our lives. Come be challenged as we study from the word of God examples of witnesses! 

Class Notes PDF

Conversations: Youth, Parents, & Faith Transformation (May 14-June 4, 2023)
Learn how parents’ relationship with God, as well as with their children, influence youth’s faith! Students, parents of children of all ages, and adults who work with youth will learn from several leaders in the church and share together in open discussions. Topics center around ways adults can pass down their faith to the next generation and how young people can live fully into being the church today.

The Spirit & The Flesh (March 26, April 2 & 16, 2023)
Scripture tells us that God is creative and that Creation was made without sin or error. Human creations are harder to evaluate. Can we just enjoy art – visual, performing and literary – or do we have to discern a religious message? What makes creative activity so attractive, or repulsive? In these three classes, we will examine the concepts of truth, beauty and goodness in artistic expression according to our personal experience and in the light of the Gospel.

Making Sense of the Prophets (January 8 through April 8, 2023)
The prophets are easily the least understood part of the Bible, and yet they provide the key to connecting the Old and New Testaments. This course will give you “handles” to make sense of this part of the Bible and illustrate principles for interpretation throughout the course from specific passages from these books. We’ll conclude the course by putting these principles into practice through a survey of Amos.

Blessed to be a Blessing (January 8 and 15, 2023)
This 2-week course will provide an overview of God’s heart for all people groups and the role each of us can play in fulfilling God’s global and historic purpose in missions.

What Your Money Says About You (September 18-October 2, 2022)
There’s an old joke that one way to get a person to look at his shoes is to mention money.  Join us as we look not at our shoes but at select passages in Scripture and talk through what the Bible tells us about our relationship with the money and resources that God has entrusted to us.  Elder Peter Hwang will be leading our discussion.  (Note: this 3-week course is free 😊)

Parenting: It’s Not What You Think (April 24-May 8, May 29-June 26, 2022)

Join us for this 8 week video based parenting class by speaker Paul Tripp. We will spend 8 weeks exploring and discussing:

  • How we give up trying to control our kids’ behavior and step into God’s calling for us as parents.
  • How we shape our kids’ character and learn how to lovingly expose the sin in their hearts and point them to Jesus.
  • How to help our children and family thrive during the teen years.
  • How to rest in God and experience abounding joy as a mother or father.
Missions Celebration (March 20-March 27, 2022)
Join in hearing encouraging updates from our missionaries and having a time of prayer for them.
Biblical/Theological Track – Tracing the Storyline of the Bible (February 20-March 13, 2022)
[Taught by Steve Sage and Steve Hoogerhyde]
This 4-week class is required for officer candidates and open to anyone who would like to explore the overarching storyline of the Bible, seeing how the different parts of the Bible fit together under the theme of the kingdom of God. All participants are required to purchase and read God’s Big Picture by Vaughan Roberts during the course.  Class time will be spent discuss themes from the reading.
Christian Living Track – E Pluribus Unum…in Christo: A Gospel-Centered Approach to Political Differences (February 20-March 13, 2022)
[Taught by John Gregory]
This class will cover how to keep a healthy spiritual perspective on political issues; how political ideologies tempt us to idolatry; and how Jesus calls us to forsake political passions even as we exercise our civic responsibilities.

TOPIC: Theological Foundations for Leaders (September 2021- February 2022)
Join Pastor Steve, Steve Hoogerhyde and our officer candidates for this 16-week discussion-based survey of our doctrinal beliefs. We’ll explore what we believe, why it matters, and how to live in response to the truth. All adults are welcome. Officer candidates will be completing assigned reading for each lesson; others are encouraged but not required to do the reading. Those who are interested should purchase their own copies of the Westminster Confession of Faith and John Frame’s book, Salvation Belongs to the Lord.  

TOPIC: Protect Young Eyes (March 5 – 26, 2021)
[Facilitated by Children’s Director Karen Jacobsen]
This series will introduce parents to the potential danger and challenges of their kids’ online use as well as how to teach their children how to faithfully and Biblically use technology to the glory of God.

1. 3/5/21 – Porn is the Norm
2. 3/12/21 – Technology is Re-wiring Your Kids’ Minds and Hearts
3. 3/19/21 – Where the Kids Are is Where the Predators Are
4. 3/26/21 – Technology is Fuel for Cruel Behavior

TOPIC: God’s Mission & You (Jan 22 – Feb 19)
[Taught by Pastor Steve and Steve Hoogerhyde]
This class explores our place in God’s mission by summarizing some of the key themes from the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement course hosted by GRC in Fall 2020.

1. 1/22/21 – God is a Missionary God
2. 1/29/21 – The Story of God’s Glory
3. 2/5/21 – The Story of God’s Glory Across Time and Around the World
4. 2/12/21 – Building Bridges Across Cultures
5. 2/19/21 – Being a World Christian

salt shaker and light bulb on chalkboard background

TOPIC: Living as Salt & Light in 2020 & Beyond (Sept 18 – Nov 20)
[Taught by Pastor Steve]
How we are to fulfill our calling to be “salt and light,” sent as ambassadors of Christ, and live for his kingdom mission. What does that look like in light of a global pandemic and social/racial unrest?  How do we build bridges in this polarized and scary time? Explore how to live missionally and faithfully engage our culture.

Part 1: Missional Preliminaries
1. 9/18/20 – Our Calling: Salt, Light & Ambassadors
2. 9/25/20 – Our Context: Increasingly Hostile & Socially Distanced
3. 10/2/20 – Our Attitude: Godly Distress vs. Personal Offense
4. 10/9/20 – Our Posture: How to Disagree Agreeably

Part 2: Pandemic
5. 10/16/ 20 – Opportunities for Engagement & “Three Circles Gospel Summary“
6. 10/23/20 – Meaningful Conversations
7. 10/30/20 – Equipping for Sharing

Part 3: Social Tension
8. 11/6/20 – Biblical Justice & Critical Theory
9. 11/13/20 – Engaging the Spectrum of Voices on Social Issues

TOPIC: Moralistic Therapeutic Deism (July 5 – July 26)
[Taught by Dr. Mo Hanna]
Moralistic Therapeutic Deism (MTD) is a term that describes the spirituality of our age: God wants everyone to be happy, nice, and feel good about themselves. It’s become the de facto belief system of the younger generations and increasingly even those in the church. This belief system is explored in detail, and in contrast to the Gospel, since so many of our friends, family, and neighbors are MTD  believers.


TOPIC: Knowing God in Daily Life (June 7 – June 28)
[Taught by Pastor Steve]
It’s a lifelong journey to connect the dots between what we know to be true about God in our heads with where the rubber hits the road in our lives. This class explored how themes from the “doctrine of God” can make a tangible difference in our daily lives.

TOPIC: Family Discipleship (March 29 – May 24, 2020)
[Taught by Pastor Steve]
These classes were a joint-effort between adults, Youth, and Children’s Ministry to provide hands-on practical training for parents on conducting family discipleship. An at-home curriculum was provided for families to use for discipleship relevant to the whole family (all age ranges).

Psalm 119 Curriculum:

TOPIC: Faith@Work (April 19 ~ May 24, 2020)
[Taught by Donald Thampy & Steve Hoogerhyde] 
How does your faith affect your work?  Does your belief in God have anything to do with how and why you work? How are you a witness at work? What makes work difficult, and how can work be fruitful and enjoyable? 

Looking for classes prior to 2020? Check out our ACE Archives.

Scroll to Top