Stephen Kneale

Why we have a theology breakfast every week

As regular readers will know, a couple of years ago we started our Theology Breakfast. This is an hour’s theological bible study before our Sunday morning service. The setup is simple enough. We usually have a cursory bite to eat on a pastry or something whilst we dig into some theology for an hour.

What prompted us to do this was (hold your breath for this) an, at the time, well publicised Christian twitter thread in which the theological deficit in most UK churches was highlighted. The thread made some excellent points. As I have said previously here:

Most of our churches have a theological deficit and no obvious place in which it can be made up. Sunday sermons, whilst vital to the life and health of the [local] church and no doubt containing plenty of theology, are not designed primarily for theological input. Rather, they are designed to look at a particular passage of the Bible, hear what God would have us hear from it and then aims at change in those hearing it. Whilst theology no doubt underpins our sermons, they are not – and ought not to be – strictly speaking, theological input.

Sermons are ultimately seeking to explain a particular Bible passage and aim at applying the implications of that passage to those listening to encourage, challenge and ultimately build up in Christ-likeness those who are listening. The sermon is not primarily aimed at teaching theological concepts and cannot adequately do so, but is aiming at biblical understanding and application. It was our view that sermons cannot adequately address the theological deficit and most churches (ours included) had nowhere else this lack was being met. Our answer to that problem was our theology breakfast. An hour’s study before the Sunday service in which we can look into the theological concepts that underpin, and are even present in, our sermons but that we cannot adequately think through in the sermon itself.

We are now running a two-year rolling syllabus consisting of five different theological tracks. People can jump onto the programme at any time in the year. We have just reached the end of Year B and are about to roll back round to Year A. There may be points at which someone might join where some things make less sense than others because what we are doing may reference and build on earlier sessions. But generally speaking, you can jump on any time and, whenever you start, if you keeping coming for the entire 2-years you will cover all five tracks. In theory, because much of what we are looking at is foundational doctrine and theological concepts, you could keep coming and re-engaging with the material and benefit.

Over the two years, the tracks we cover are:

Year A

  • Bible Themes (Systematic Theology)
    • Doctrine of Scripture (x2)
    • Doctrine of God (x2)
    • Doctrine of Mankind
    • Doctrine of Sin
    • Doctrine of Christ (x2)
    • Doctrine of the Holy Spirit (x2)
    • Doctrine of the Church (x2)
    • Doctrine of Eschatology (x2)
  • Bible Overview (Biblical Theology)
    • Introduction – How to read the Bible
    • Genesis – Creation (Gen 1-2)
    • Genesis – Fall (Gen 3)
    • Genesis – Primeval History (Gen 4-11)
    • Genesis – Abraham, Patriarchs & Covenants (Gen 12-50)
    • Exodus – Deuteronomy
    • Joshua – 2 Kings
    • Exile & After (Chronicles, Nehemiah, Daniel)
    • Prophets
    • Wisdom
    • Gospels
    • Acts
    • Romans
    • Epistles of Paul
    • Epistles of Peter
    • Epistles of John
    • General Epistles
    • Revelation

Year B

  • Bible Framework (Historical Theology)
    • Introduction to the Five Solas
    • Sola Scriptura
    • Solus Christus
    • Sola Fide
    • Sola Gratia
    • Soli Deo Gloria
    • Introduction to the Doctrines of Grace
    • Total Depravity
    • Unconditional Election
    • Limited Atonement
    • Irresistible Grace
    • Perseverance of the Saints
  • Bible Reading (Hermeneutics)
    • What is the Bible & how do we approach it?
    • Authorial Intent
    • Context
    • Structure
    • Linking Words
    • Parallels
    • Narrative Commentary
    • Vocabulary
    • Translation Comparison
    • Tone & Mood
    • Repetition
    • Quotations & Allusions
    • Genre
    • Exemplars
    • Redemptive-Historical Reading
    • Self Insertion
    • Application
  • Biblical Church (Ecclesiology)
    • The Visible Church
    • Conversion
    • Baptism
    • Membership
    • Lord’s Supper
    • Discipleship
    • Discipline
    • Independency
    • Leadership
    • Gospel Unity

The programme is designed to teach the core doctrines we believe, highlight how we read the bible as a unified whole, understand the historic Protestant and Reformed doctrines to which we trace our heritage, help everyone realise they can read and understand the Bible for themselves and to see how our particular ecclesiological tradition relates to our theological and doctrinal beliefs as a church. We are not easily able to do all this in Sunday sermons alone so theology breakfasts are designed to help tackle some of that gap.

We have just finished our Year B and are about to return to Year A. It has been great to teach the full two years through. It has been particularly encouraging to see members engaging with theology and for them to see how it impacts on the passages we look at on Sunday morning. There is little more exciting as a Bible teacher than when you see lights going on and people making connections in sermons that they wouldn’t necessarily have made before and understanding the theology that underpins what the biblical writers are saying without us having to outline it all in detail in the middle of the sermon.

It has similarly been encouraging to see a broad range of people studying with us. There are those with theological degrees and those who have only been believers a very short time. We’ve even had children jump into the theology breakfast and benefit as well as those for whom English is not a first language. Naturally, it can be difficult to get it at the right level for everyone, but being able to take in this range of people and to see folks benefit suggests we aren’t too far off.

I am hoping those who have done the two years through will not be minded to stop coming now we return back to the beginning. Not least, these are such core beliefs and doctrines that it is really good to refresh ourselves with these things regularly. Every two years doesn’t feel like overkill. I am similarly hoping for folks who haven’t done it at all will also want to join with us.

3 comments

  1. Hi Stephen – how do you actually do this? Do you use a book, syllabus etc or do you personally just research each doctrine and teach it at the breakfast? And how do you split the hour up in terms of teaching, questions, discussion etc?

    • I have written the entire 2 year syllabus myself. The only one where we effectively follow a book (though I have edited it and altered it heavily to suit our format) is the hermeneutics track. Other tracks we may have landed on one or two books that provided the essential foundations for what is being taught, but it is all written by me.

      The hour is essentially a scratch and sniff, Q&A, Bible study I.e. ‘turn to this verse, what does it tell us about X?’ now compare verses a, b and c. What else do we learn about this doctrine. Its essentially that for an hour.

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