Education
Good News for Ordinary People
Where Faith and Life Connect
Draw nearer to God by exploring the Bible and experiencing the power and possibility of Scripture. Express your faith in new ways through personal study and small group discussions. Adult Education offers Bible studies, book groups, classes, and events to deepen your faith and help you apply it to your daily life.
Living the Message
Stories That Shape Us
This year’s Living the Message will be co-taught by multiple Mount Olivet pastors who will each share a biblical story that has shaped them over the course of their lives. These are among their favorite stories, but also more, as they are the stories that have shaped our pastors’ sense of who God is, what our lives as Christians can be like, and how we can view the world differently because of the biblical witness. Our pastors will open up these passages in a way that they hope will allow these same powerful stories to shape you as well, bolstering your faith, renewing your sense of God’s presence in your life, and inviting you to lives of greater meaning and purpose in light of God’s promises. Join us!
- October 7: 2 Kings 22: Know Your Story, Know Yourself with Pastor Lose
- November 4: John 11: Lazarus Just Laid There with Pastor Dixon
- December 2: Ester 1, 4: Vashti and Esther: For Such a Time as This with Theresa Latini
- January 6: Genesis 1 and Isaiah 40: When Everything Is Lost: Exile and Creation with Pastor Grangaard
- February 3: Genesis 50: “You Meant It For Evil” – God’s saving work in the face of suffering with Pastor Cieslik
- March 3: The Book of Job: No One Cares About Job Until They Need Job with Pastor Olson Popp
- April 7: John 20:24-29: Resurrection Is Not Reversal: Doubting Thomas with Pastor Grangaard
- May 5: John 21, Mark 16: Just the Beginning… with Pastor Lose
In-Person presentations:
- 6:30-7:30pm on the first Tuesday of the month
- Held at the Mpls Campus, Room 207, except for Nov 2025 and Apr 2026 which are at the West Campus in the Rehearsal Hall.
- NEW THIS YEAR: Videos will be filmed live at the in-person presentation and emailed by the second Monday of the month.
All are welcome at any time!
Questions? Contact Katie Stevenson, Coordinator of Adult Education by email or at 612.767.2232.
The Ten Commandments
Words of Faith, Words of Life: The Ten Commandments Rediscovered
A Word with Your Pastors Class
Do you know the Ten Commandments? Of course you do! Most of us learned about them during confirmation and could recite many of them – especially the “thou shalt not” ones! – by heart. But do you really know the Ten Commandments? That is, do you know why God gave them to the people of Israel? Do you know what their purpose was and continues to be? Do you know how influential they were in the theology of Martin Luther? Do you know that the “thou shalt nots” we know so well were not so much intended as prohibitions but as invitations to lives of greater freedom and joy? Do you know….
Do you see what I mean? Many of us know the Ten Commandments at face value but have not necessarily explored the gift they were intended to be… and still can be. So come and join Pastors Cieslik, Dixon, Lose, and Olson Popp for a four-week immersion into those familiar verses and discover anew the Ten Commandments as “words of faith and life.”
October 15/16: Your Neighbor’s Best Life Now with Pastor Lose
October 22/23: God, God’s Name, and How to be Holy with Pastor Cieslik
October 29/30: Parents, Murder, and Adultery, Oh My! with Pastor Olson Popp
November 5/6: Theft, Gossip, and Coveting, Oh My! with Pastor Dixon
- In-Person presentations held:
- Mpls: Wednesdays, 10:30-11:30am in Room 207
- West: Thursdays, 10:30-11:30am in the Rehearsal Hall
- Filmed live at Mpls. Videos will be sent out one week after each Mpls class date.
Register Here for the Mpls Campus Classes
Register Here for the West Campus Classes
You can register for videos using either link.
Questions? Contact Katie Stevenson, Coordinator of Adult Education by email or at 612.767.2232.
Book Discussions
Evening and Daytime Options
Come and enjoy a lively discussion of a new book every month. The same book will be discussed at the evening and daytime options. New members are always welcome! You can join in for one discussion – or all!
Daytime Discussions: 10-11:30am the second Tuesday of the month; Mpls; Bonnie Morris, facilitator
Evening Discussions: 7-8:30pm the second Wednesday of the month; Mpls; Mary Slinde, facilitator
Register here for Daytime Discussion
Register here for Evening Discussion
Or contact Katie Stevenson at katies@mtolivet.org | 612.767.2232.
Upcoming Books:
2025
June 10/11: The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters
July 8/9: The Women by Kristin Hannah
August 12/13: The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery
September 9/10: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
October 14/October 8: March by Geraldine Brooks
November 11/12: Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
December 9/10: Table for Two by Amos Towles
2026
January 13/14: Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon
February 10/11: Master Slave Husband Wife by Lyon Woo
March 10/11: Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted by Suleika Jaouad
April 14/April 8: James by Percival Everett
May 12/13: The Day the World Came to Town by Jim DeFede
June 9/10: The Measure by Nikki Erlick