Network Teachings
“We believe that true Christian unity only comes about by holding to the ‘whole counsel of God,’ rather than simply trying to find a few things upon which we agree.”
- From “Our Beliefs”, Joshua Church, June 6, 2022.
Full Quote: “We believe that true Christian unity only comes about by holding to the ‘whole counsel of God,’ rather than simply trying to find a few things upon which we can agree. At the same time, we do not claim to be perfect in this affirmation of our beliefs. While they are communicated imperfectly, this document represents our best understanding of the teachings of the Bible and we believe these truths passionately. They are the grounds of our unity.”
The Network holds unity in high regard, best shown through Sándor Paull’s teaching on unity from the 2018 Network Leadership Conference (on Leaving the Network), though it appears regularly in other materials. The above quote is on a page with a slim set of their beliefs, but as you work through the materials you will find that they take an expansive view of unity and require agreement on much more.
On this page, I am sharing the three types of trainings that are uniform across all the churches in The Network:
The Series and Learning to Pray for Others
Membership Bible Training (MBT)
Small Group Topics.
This page has limited commentary about the content, only the metadata about where and when these were taught, and expectations for members. The MBT Sessions link to commentary and full audio, and I’ve linked a blog post that discusses the content of the Small Group topics more in depth.
It is my view that, precisely because The Network believes these things so strongly, these materials all should have been made public by The Network themselves, years ago. A Christian church should have no reason to hide any of its beliefs or practices.
Browse by teaching type
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The Series & Learning to Pray for Others
Each church regularly cycles through the four-part “Series” and also adds “Learning to Pray for Others” once or twice a year.
Agreement with the teachings of “The Series” is required for membership, while completion of “Learning to Pray for Others” is required (but not sufficient) to be “released” onto the prayer team.
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Membership Bible Training
The seven-part Membership Bible Training is offered at most churches once a year.
Completion of this training and agreement with the teachings is required for membership.
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Small Group Topics
The 24-topic Small Group rotation cycles every two years. Small Group Leaders are provided four recommended passages for each topic, one for each week of the month, along with notes for some of the passages, and a sample discussion outline for one of them.
The Series and Learning to Pray for Others
About these Trainings
These trainings have all existed in a form similar to the below since 2012 or earlier. Edits may have been made along the way - these documents are all from 2015 or later. They are more likely to have been earlier in that time period (2016/2017) than later, since that is when my wife and I went to the training at Vista Church, but I cannot say for sure. The exception is the “Beliefs” document which was provided by someone at another Network Church. I am not sharing anything about when it was, though an internal note references “Our Values” being “Approved by Network Team - September 2015.”
The Series
The Series (at your church it’s likely called “The Vista Series” or “The Blue Sky Series”) is offered at least twice a year at most churches, roughly one training available per month, though typically the training is canceled at least once or twice per year, so they don’t make it through three times. There are four parts to it. Training is, as far as I am aware, offered after church on one Sunday each month, and lunch and childcare are typically provided. The training typically lasts two hours.
Completion and agreement with the teachings of The Series is required for membership, as members commit: “I have finished the <church name> Series and Membership Bible Training, and hold to the clear Bible teaching taught in the trainings” (See it on Leaving the Network) Please note that a simple “I don’t agree, but won’t cause trouble” isn’t good enough. Luke Williams, Lead Pastor at Vista Church makes this explicit during Membership Bible Training.
What follows are the handouts for these trainings. I’m unaware of the pastor’s teaching of these ever being recorded.
Learning to Pray for Others
This training is taught once or twice each year. The handout is shown below, while I’m unaware of any recordings existing for this.
Members are not required to have completed this training. It is required to be “released” onto the prayer team, but is not the only requirement for that.
The below document was sent to me by Luke Williams, Lead Pastor at Vista church, on October 29th, 2019 as part of the prep for the November Small Group topic which was “Hands-on Prayer.”
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Subtitle: “Growing in Forgiveness and Maturity”
Description: “‘Freedom’ is about the process that Jesus leads us through in order to change, heal, and mature that we may have real life. We discuss what the Bible says about sin and Jesus’ solutions for our lives.”
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Subtitle: “Understanding involvement at <church name>.”
Description: “‘Community’ will communicate the vision God has given us, so that you may more fully commit yourself to Jesus and to his church. The purpose of this Membership Manual is to help you understand who we are and to understand the responsibilities and benefits of committing to membership. We will cover some of the information in detail during the session and we hope that you will read the rest on your own.”
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Subtitle: “Finding your spiritual gifts and how to use them.”
Description: “‘Serving’ is all about discovering your spiritual gifts and how to use them.”
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This one was provided by someone from a church other than Vista Church, but I have every reason to believe its authenticity. I have stripped all metadata and censored the church name (including removing the title page and membership form) to protect the source.
Subtitle: “Learning what we believe and how we live it.”
Description: “‘Beliefs’ will cover core truths of Christian belief and how we live out our faith in the midst of the local church.”
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Date of document: October 29, 2019
Membership Bible Training
About these Trainings
I believe that Membership Bible Training was first taught in early 2014. That was definitely when it was first taught at Blue Sky Church, by Steve Morgan (who was Lead Pastor there at the time). It is a seven-part series, and appears to be taught off of an outline given to all those who teach it. However, unlike the Series and Learning to Pray for Others, the outlines are not distributed.
It is typically offered once per year (or was at Blue Sky Church and Vista Church), from late January to early March. The sessions are typically offered on weeknights starting sometime between 6 and 7 (I’m not aware of any exceptions to this). Some snacks may be provided, dinner is typically not.
Those who desire to be Members are required to attend at least five of the sessions in person, but can listen to up to two of them as recordings afterwards if they miss them. Those who are going through MBT are told that it’s fine if they skip small group while going through MBT. Childcare is sometimes but not always provided (at Vista Church, it was in 2019, but was not in 2020, despite parents wanting to attend in 2020 - they were expected to find their own childcare).
Each session lasts around two hours, and may or may not have worship or prayer before or after it.
These trainings are not made public, and the beliefs stated on each Network Church’s website do not come close to outlining all of the beliefs contained in them.
Participants are also given a copy of Christian Beliefs, by Wayne Grudem and Elliot Grudem and are expected to read sections of it prior to each training.
At completion of membership, members are given a copy of Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem, and many references to this book are made during the training.
Completion and agreement with the teachings of The Series is required for membership, as members commit: “I have finished the <church name> Series and Membership Bible Training, and hold to the clear Bible teaching taught in the trainings” (See it on Leaving the Network) Please note that a simple “I don’t agree, but won’t cause trouble” isn’t good enough. Luke Williams, Lead Pastor at Vista Church makes this explicit during Membership Bible Training.
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Taught by Luke Williams, Lead Pastor of Vista Church and member of the Network Leadership Team.
Recording, Transcript, and Analysis
Topics Covered
What is the Bible?
Who is God? And what is He like?
Cultural Issue: Relative Truth
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Taught by Landon Nagata, former Staff Pastor at Vista Church.
Recording, Analysis and Transcript is split into three posts:
Topics Covered
Deep Dive: About Young Pastors
“What is Creation?”
Small Group Topics
About Small Group Topics
The Network uses a 24-topic rotation as its Small Group Topics. Each month covers one topic. A typical month would look like this:
Week 1: All small groups from a given night gather at the church for “Discipleship Community” (DC) instead of normal Small Group. The “DC Pastor” will teach on the topic for the month in a normal sermon-style teaching, talking about a text from the Bible that relates to the given topic.
Weeks 2-4: Small Groups meet regularly, in groups of 4-20 people (sometimes more, but they aim for somewhere around 8-15). Each week, the Small Group Leader will lead a discussion on a text from the Bible that relates to the main topic for the month.
Sometimes: Sometimes a 5th week of the month will provide an opportunity for a Small Group Party.
These are not strictly held - some small groups will vary from the topic, or choose a different passage. Others adhere strictly. In some churches, Discipleship Community doesn’t exist (usually due to not having a space to hold it in), so the group just meets normally in Week 1.
The full rotation takes 2 years, and has been used since at least 2013 as far as I can tell - 2015 at latest.
Each small group leader is provided with a document each month, which contains:
The topic and goal for it.
The text that will be taught from during Discipleship Community
Three suggested texts to use for discussion, as well as notes on key points to hit from the text
A sample discussion which expands the suggested text to use and includes questions to ask.
Leaders are also trained using the materials seen on Leaving the Network. Of particular note is the training on “Leading the Meeting.”
I have provided a short analysis of these topics on my blog including a full listing of passages used and a discussion of what’s in, or more importantly, what’s not.
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Goal of the Month: To understand the truth claims the Bible makes regarding itself, the difference between the wisdom of man and the wisdom of God, and that truth from the Bible is meant to be lived out.
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Goal of the Month: To understand that as Christians we have to live with an awareness of the spiritual reality and all of its implications in our everyday lives.
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Goal of the Month: To understand what the Bible says about Christians and repentance, why we need to repent, and God’s promise to us regarding repentance.
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Goal of the Month: To understand the purpose for spiritual gifts, how to exercise our spiritual gifts with humility, and how spiritual gifts can help us grow in maturity in the midst of the church.
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Goal of the Month: To understand the nature of the church, the importance of Jesus as the one who establishes his church, who grows his church, and who is the cornerstone of the church.
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Goal of the Month: To understand why serving is important for the Christian and some of the essential aspects regarding Christian service
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Goal of the Month: To understand how to fight temptation, to examine our own weaknesses to temptation, and to remain faithful to God in a culture full of temptations
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Goal of the Month: To understand the nature of prayer, the necessity of prayer, and prayer in the midst of trials and hardships.
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Goal of the Month: To get a more complete understanding of salvation, including the necessity of regeneration, the evidence of salvation, and the hope that comes with salvation.
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Goal of the Month: To get a more complete understanding of salvation, including the necessity of regeneration, the evidence of salvation, and the hope that comes with salvation.
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Goal of the Month: To understand the role of hands-on prayer in the church, the importance of a right expectation while praying for someone or being prayed for, and the power of praying for someone with laying on of hands.
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Goal of the Month: To understand whose idea was behind church planting, the reason to plant churches, and what it takes to be a part of a church plant team
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Goal of the Month: To have a proper understanding of what genuine Christian love looks like, where it comes from, and how do we put it into action.
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Goal of the Month: To help the group members understand Biblical leadership and how to respond rightly to leaders in Jesus’ church.
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Goal of the Month: To help the group members understand who Jesus was, his mission, and his work on the cross.
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Goal of the Month: To observe the different aspects of worship, to examine our own hearts and attitude toward worship, to learn to align our worship to reflect that which is described in the Bible.
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Goal of the Month: To understand the purpose God has for our lives and how we may live it out
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Goal of the Month: To see our present suffering rightly through an eternal framework, to remember God’s faithfulness to the believer, and learn to deal with our emotions rightly in times of trouble.
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Goal of the Month: To understand and live out a Godly balance between hard work and rest as we grow closer in relationship with God
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Goal of the Month: To help the group members understand the Biblical view of Godly character, which is more than being nice or honest
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Goal of the Month: To encourage us to invite peopleto Jesus by understanding God’s role in saving people and our role inthe process of evangelism.
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Goal of the Month: To understand that God’s grace is unmerited, undeserved, and unparalleled.
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Goal of the Month: To see rightly the relationship between God, us, and our money.
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Goal of the Month: To understand what faith is and how faith is exercised by the knowledge that Jesus is our life and our resurrection, by realizing our true identity before God, and by trusting that God’s timing is perfect.