Classes

Where every book study is a Bible study.

“My mind has been challenged and awakened by our time together. I have become so bored with Bible studies. Even thinking I know more than I do! But you have awakened me to dig deeper. It’s not just a story, but a journey of God’s people. I keep discovering pieces that put the puzzle together into a beautiful story of the unconditional love of our God. I can’t wait until next week.”

All classes meet online using Zoom unless otherwise noted in the description. After registration, you will receive confirmation within moments. A couple of weeks prior to the first class, you will receive an email that will provide all the details you will need for the class. You will be sent a Zoom link on the day of the class. Due to generous financial donations that support Wakening Ministry there is no cost for these classes. If you like the experience, consider joining the Giving Circle.

All times are Eastern Time.

Wakening Ministry Community
(and growing)

 “I want to say thank you to everyone for welcoming me to this class, and to my sister for her constant invitations until I said yes. I was really unsure of doing a “bible study” because that felt complicated and the idea refreshed some past church hurts. But this group is just an amazing group of people that felt so welcoming and started to heal some hurt I have had from church. So thank you.”

🤍  Abbie 

CURRENT & UPCOMING CLASSES

Cherished Belonging

4 Weeks, Tuesdays
March 4, 11, 18, 25
7:30 – 9:00 pm ET

Over the past thirty years, Gregory Boyle has transformed tens of thousands of lives through his work as the founder of Homeboy Industries, the largest gang-intervention program in the world. The program runs on two unwavering principles: 1) We are all inherently good (no exceptions), and 2) we belong to each other (no exceptions). 

Boyle believes that these two ideas allow all of us to cultivate a new way of seeing the world. Rather than the tribalism that excludes and punishes, this new narrative proposes a village that cherishes. Pooka, a former gang member, puts it plainly: “Here, love is our lens. It is how we see things.”

In Cherished Belonging, Boyle calls back to Christianity’s origins as a spiritual movement of equality, emancipation, and peace. Early Christianity was a way of life—not a set of beliefs. Boyle’s vision of community is a space for people to join together and heal one another in a new collective living, a world dedicated to to kindness as a constant and radical act of defiance. As one homie, Marcus, told a classroom filled with inner-city teenagers, “If love was a place, it would be Homeboy.”

Lent: 24 Hours That Changed the World

6 Weeks, Mondays
March 10, 17, 24, 31

7:30 pm – 9:00 pm ET

Newly released in paperback, Adam Hamilton guides us, step by step, through the last 24 hours of Jesus’ life in his popular, heartbreaking, and inspiring book.

No single event in human history has received more attention than the suffering and crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth. In this book, Hamilton will help you experience and understand the significance of Jesus’ suffering and death like never before. He retraces the day that changed human history in his usual style that speaks to both long-time Christians and those who are simply curious about the story of Christ’s crucifixion.

This new edition includes devotions for each chapter and travel notes from Adam’s trip to the Holy Lnads.

The Screwtape Letters

Monthly, First Thursdays
January – May 2025
2025: 1/2, 2/6, 3/6, 4/3, 5/1
7:30 pm – 9:00 pm ET

The Screwtape Letters is a brilliant and satirical look at spiritual warfare and the dynamics of temptation. Screwtape, a senior demon in the bureaucracy of Hell, writes letters to his incompetent nephew Wormwood, a junior devil. The younger demon’s assignment is to corrupt a young man living in London during the tumultuous days of World War II. 

This Bible study will expand upon C.S. Lewis’s thoughts found in each letter and the unique insight into the battles being waged in the spiritual world. Led by Julie Westhofen, hosted by Linda Zastovnik.

Julie Westhofen is often found surrounded by books, with an insatiable desire to learn. She has a passion for women on their own spiritual quest: Biblical, historical, fictional and living. After being exposed to C. S. Lewis’ Narnia, where animals talk and trees walk, nature became her everyday sanctuary. she loves to share what she learns with others, and to hear how the experience of others can teach her.

COMING SOON

Field Notes for the Wilderness

It’s hard to leave a faith that has raised us. Maybe it’s even harder to stay. But what can feel impossible is living in the tension. Living with a faith that evolves.

Sarah Bessey is an expert at faithfully stumbling forward. As a New York Times bestselling author and co-founder of Evolving Faith, the foremost community for progressive Christians, she has been trusted by thousands of people to pursue a reconstruction of faith centered on compassion, truth, and inclusion. Bessey has found a deeply underserved and underestimated remnant in the wilderness of Christianity who are still devoted to Jesus, deeply rooted in the Gospel, fascinated with Scripture, and committed to reimagining their faith.

In this groundbreaking and nurturing book, Bessey becomes a shepherd for our curiosity, giving us a table for our questions, tools to cultivate what we crave, and a blessing for what was—even as we leave it behind.

The Chosen: Season 2

The Chosen is a drama based on the life of Jesus and those who knew him. Set against the backdrop of Roman oppression in first-century Israel, the series shares an authentic look at Jesus’ revolutionary life and teachings. You will view the video on your own during the week and meet online to dig into a few scenes, side by side with the Bible. No book required other than the Bible.

The Journey

It’s a story you know by heart, but The Journey combines historical information and archaeology with Adam Hamilton’s thoughtful, conversational teaching style to give you a new perspective on the story of Mary and Joseph’s journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem.
Journey to the Holy Land with pastor and best-selling author Adam Hamilton retracing the actual path of Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem.

Building the Bridge: Part 1

Hailed by many as the best modern book on Christian spirituality, Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster explores the classic spiritual disciplines or practices of the Christian faith. Dividing the disciplines into three movements of the Spirit, Foster shows how each of these areas contribute to a more balanced spiritual life. Part 1 includes the inward disciplines of meditation, prayer, fasting, and study which offer avenues of personal examination and change. We will read & discuss the chapter one week and practice it and meet to share our experiences the next. 

The Prayers of Jesus

Come as you are and when you can. 

Prayer was the backbone of Jesus’ life and ministry. From his baptism to his crucifixion, the Gospels portray Jesus as a man of prayer who knew and deeply valued intimate communion with his heavenly Father. What can we learn from the prayers he prayed? This study will reveal new insights into prayer and the character of God. 

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