The New Edition of Christianity Explored

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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.

19 Comments

      1. I’m almost sorry to get in on this, but I’m interested in that something unofficial, I’m in montreal city and I crave for french material. Could you fill me in?

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  3. my friend asked me a question the other day and it made me think. It was “Sam whats the diffrence between Alpha and Christianity explored, and wich one would you recomend i go to”

    ok i admit it…there was no friend it was just me… but i was thinking about the answer to the question?

    Any one have any thoughts ?

    S

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  4. The trailer looks great!

    Is it possible to get a version of the trailer to download so we can show it in church?

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    1. Hi Daniel. Well you’re certainly advertising your course early 🙂

      I’ll be in the edit suite finalising our trailers late this week / early next, and will make something available to download shortly after that, including an HD version.

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  5. I’m the priest of a high-church, Anglo-Catholic parish, a man of deep Arminian persuasion (should I admit that?), and I love Christianity Explored and Discipleship Explored, both of which I use in rotation for evangelism and beginning discipleship. Looking forward to Ed3 — looks stunning!

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  6. Pingback: Christianity Explored DVD | blog of dan
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  9. Hi Barry, We want to run Discipleship Explored in spanish but we can’t find that edition. How can we get an authorization to translate it and run it in our church?

    Thanks,

    Jesus Manuel

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  10. As an amateur filmaker, I love this trailer…really well edited…I also love the music which is perfect…was it specially commissioned?

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  11. Barry
    I’m happy you retained the music on the Official Leader’s trailer. Do I have to be a Pastor to lead this course? I think I could prepare to teach this and would be a great way to spread “The Gospel Of Jesus Christ”. After all, how many materials do you need…short, sweet and to the point is usually best.
    Looking forward to see the new DVD. Can it be purchased now and how can I distinguish it from the Previous version?
    Sincerely,
    JimEckland
    Would it be possible to teach it in 4 weeks if that’s all the time that is available?

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    1. Hi Jim,

      The course is available now from The Good Book Company.

      You don’t need to be a pastor, although obviously being “apt to teach” is important. Materials-wise, you just need a Leader’s Guide (for you), a Handbook (for each guest), and a DVD if you’re not delivering the talks “live”.

      If you only have four weeks, you could perhaps cover two sessions per week? The course has seven sessions.

      As for what distinguishes this DVD from the earlier one, in terms of internal content see above, and in terms of external content it has a mostly white cover. The old one was blue.

      Barry

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