Epic: The Early Church

Epic: The Early Church is a 10 session, 45 minutes per video study. It is a "detailed view" of the Church's first 500 years.

Epic: A Journey Through Church History is a 20 session, 55 minutes per video study. It goes into a review of the first 2000 years of church history.

Either study can be done first depending on your group and time available.

If you have additional questions, please don't hesitate to give us a call at 1-800-376-0520, chat with us by clicking on the chat to the right, or email support@ascensionpress.com 

Thinkific may have issues streaming on Smart TVs. This is because Smart TV web browsers differ from standard computer browsers, and Thinkific does not support Chromium, which is the browser system used by most Smart TVs.

If you are having trouble loading videos on your Smart TV, you can try connecting a laptop or desktop computer to your TV using an HDMI cable and playing the videos from your computer. Many customers have found this to work well.

If you prefer to use AirPlay or screencasting from a mobile device, this may also work, as long as both devices are connected to the same Wi-Fi network.

Unfortunately, Ascension is not able to troubleshoot issues related to individual Smart TVs or casting devices.

There are three ways your group could view the study videos:

• You could watch the videos on DVD, gathered as a group.
• You could watch the videos streaming from our Thinkific website, gathered as a group.
• Each person could purchase the online access and watch the videos independently at home on the Thinkific website.

We strongly recommend purchasing the DVDs for in-person group viewing because this is usually the easiest method for volunteer leaders to manage and because the DVD sets can be reused later by other Bible study groups in your parish.

Online access to our studies do expire after one year (or two years, if you are using The Bible Timeline or Foundations of Faith). This access begins from the day you purchase your online access, or from the day you set up your access (if you are using a group enrollment link given to you from your small group leader).

After you purchase a product that includes access, check your inbox for an email from our partner Thinkific. In order to access your online study, you will receive a link in that email to create a free account with Thinkific and access your study.

You will then be able to access your online study at ascensionpress.thinkific.com.

(Note that if you have already created a Thinkific account through Ascension, you will not need to create a new one, but will then receive a link to access your online study directly.)

If you purchased multiple online course enrollments for your small group, you'll receive an email the day of your purchase with a link which you can then forward to your students. With this link, each student can create their account and access their online course.

The workbook is an integral part of the study, containing reflection and discussion questions. To get the most out of the study, we recommend each participant have a Bible, his or her own workbook, and for studies that include an additional reading book, we encourage a copy of that as well.

You can choose the study materials that best fit how you plan to journey through the study! 

If you are leading a small group, we recommend purchasing the program’s Starter Pack for yourself, along with a Study Set/Workbook and Online Access for each participant.

If you are journeying through the study on your own, we recommend purchasing a Study Set/Workbook and Online Access for yourself.

In addition, we recommend that everyone have a Catholic Bible and Catechism of the Catholic Church. We recommend the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Ascension Edition and The Great Adventure Catholic Bible, which incorporates the same color-coded learning system used throughout our studies.

Our online edition of a study includes a digital copy of your workbook. This workbook is in a read-only format, and therefore cannot be printed out as this is a violation of copyright and intellectual property law. This version of the workbook is also unable to save student responses.

If you would prefer a printed copy of your workbook and have ordered the online-only option in error, please contact us with your order number and we will be able to help you set up your order for the printed materials instead!