During the Fall semester I am teaching classes on the Canons of Dort and Ecclesiology. At Danville Correctional Center I am teaching the class on the doctrines of grace to around 70 students on Mondays. I have half of the students in the morning and the other half in the afternoon. The men are learning about the history of the Pelagian and Semi-Pelagian debates. They are learning about how a Dutch Reformed minister named Jacobus Arminius instigated the Remonstrant movement in the Netherlands in the early 1600s. For many of my students it is a surprise, shock, and joy to learn about the doctrines of sovereign, unconditional election, a definite atonement, and the preservation of the saints. Our theme song for the semester is Amazing Grace! by John Newton. We are working our way through the Canons of Dort using a book that I have written and Rev. John A. Bouwer’s book entitled, The Golden Chain of Our Salvation: An Introduction to the Canons of Dort. I have a few students who cling to Arminian notions of conditional election and libertarian free will, but most of the students have shown themselves to be teachable and have begun to cherish the doctrines of grace.
I am teaching Ecclesiology in both Danville Correctional Center (on Wednesdays) and the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, IN (on Fridays). My students are learning much about how Christians ought to conduct themselves in the church, which is the pillar and bulwark of the truth. One of my students was surprised to learn that Christian discipline was a New Testament reality. He thought that discipline only happened in the Old Testament. We spend time talking about everything from church government, to the worship of the church, to the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, to the role of the special office-bearers in the church, to the importance of church membership. In class it came out that one of my newer students had been excommunicated in the past. He has now repented of his crimes and sins. He learned about how excommunication is meant to be the last remedy and, therefore, he needs to contact his former elders and work with them to be readmitted into the church. Since many American Christians can have a weak Ecclesiology, it is important for our neighbors in prison to learn about the nature and attributes of the church of Jesus Christ.
