Future Perfect // Present Tense

It’s been nearly eight years since the last edition of Christianity Explored was published. Today I’m delighted to announce that a third edition is almost ready for release. (If you don’t know what on earth CE is, Kevin DeYoung offers a helpful post on his blog.)

And here’s the official trailer that will feature on the new DVD.

We’ve made some significant changes, based on years of collated feedback. Some of the changes are under the hood, but some are much more conspicuous. For example:

• the DVD has been completely reshot. It retains the best script elements from before, but adds a wealth of new material. Visually, we’re in very different territory.
• each session (Bible study + DVD + discussion) focuses on only one theme, making the course leaner and more logical.
• the session on Grace has been completely rewritten, the session on Resurrection completely reworked, and there is a brand new session based on Jesus’ parable of the sower.
• we’ve simplified the resources by incorporating the How To Run The Course book into the Leader’s Guide. That means you only need two booklets (one for the leader and one for the guest) plus a DVD to run Christianity Explored.
• up to this point, CE has been a ten week course. Now, it’s a more streamlined and manageable seven. In addition, there are now only three sessions on the Day Away instead of four.
• unlike the previous edition, every session – including the Day Away – is now grounded in Mark’s Gospel. So although the course is shorter, the walkthrough of Mark is more thorough.

The new session titles are Good News, Identity, Sin, The Cross, Resurrection, Grace, Come And Die. And if that last one isn’t a beckoning title, I don’t know what is. Incidentally, the three Day Away sessions are The Sower, James And John, and Herod.

The distinctives of Christianity Explored are still very much the same.

• It’s an evangelistic program grounded in the exposition of Mark’s Gospel
• It offers a clear exploration of sin so that the sheer wonder of God’s grace can be understood
• It gives an honest explanation of the cost of following Jesus
• It presents a compelling portrait of the identity, mission and call of Christ

You might also be interested to know that we’ve stayed with the “classic” NIV text, rather than switching to any of the newer iterations. (Read this for some of the reasons why.)

God-willing, the third edition of Christianity Explored will be published by The Good Book Company this coming May.