CLARIFICATION ON FC3

Owing to the number of questions about the new Foundation course, here is the email of Jake Yap that discusses who is required to attend, how do we manage the catch up of the other covenanted members, what to do in case of absence, and so on.

Brothers,

FC 3 began last Sunday, January 10.  Based on the turn-out (more than 280 participants), and the responses I received from the brothers and sisters, I think we’re off to a good start.

Let me clarify some things about FC 3:

– It is our Senior Head Coordinator’s wish that all our covenanted members take FC 3.  However, because our venue (Hindang Herrera Hall) cannot possibly accommodate everyone, we announced that this FC 3 is being offered to Community Weekend Batches 1975-1990.  (Please note: We’re referring to the year they joined their Community Weekend, not to the year of their covenant acceptance.)

– The reason why we especially singled out Community Weekend Batches 2006 & 2007 is that these will be the next batches which might well be eligible for covenant acceptance this year or next year.  Now that FC 3 is a required formation course, it is vital that these batches don’t miss this chance to take FC 3.  As of now we do not know for sure whether we will offer FC 3 next year.  Hence, taking FC 3 this time should be a high priority for these batches.

– Allowable number of absences: As in other courses, we are following the general rule of not being absent more than 25% of the number of talks per course or module.  Applying this to the 3 modules of FC 3, we have the following maximum no. of absences:

• Module 1: Our Call (4 talks), maximum absence of one talk only
• Module 2: Vision for Christian Community (3 talks), max. absence of one talk only
• Module 3: Our Way of Life (7 talks), max. absence of two talks only

– The good news is this: those who were absent last Sunday, thereby missing two talks of the “Our Way of Life” module, can still begin attending at our next session, Jan. 24.  (Of course, they can no longer miss further talks, and they will need to make-up the talks they missed.)

– Speaking of making-up talks, I’d like to spell out our procedure: DVDs containing the two previous talks (raw video-recording, not yet edited) will be available from our sister, Emmie Catabijan.  (Emmie herself is attending FC 3.)  Those DVDs will be available on the Sunday when we have our next session (in this case, Jan. 24).  People can borrow (with a redeemable deposit of Php 100.00) or purchase (Php 100.00) a copy of the DVD, which they can make-up on their own.

– For underway members who are making-up talks by DVD, we apply our normal pastoral procedure: they need to do so together with their pastoral leader, discussing the talk after viewing it.

– Let me give you again the dates of FC 3:

Legend: Module 1 = Our Call = OC / Module 2 = Vision for Christian Community = VCC / Module 3 = Our Way of Life = OWL.
 
Jan 10  OWL  Talks 1-2
Jan 24  OWL  Talks 3-4
Feb 7   OWL  Talks 5-6
Feb 14  OWL  Talk 7 and VCC Talk 1
Mar 7   VCC  Talks 2-3
Mar 14  OC  Talks 1-2
Mar 28  OC  Talks 3-4

– Finally, the question might arise: Suppose a member missed one module entirely; can the member proceed to the next module?  The answer is: yes.

Thank you, brothers, for your kind attention to this matter.  Kindly forward this email to your leaders and members as broadly as possible, if it will help them to understand our approach to Foundations Course 3.

Yours truly,

Jake (Jan 10, 2010)

 

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